Webserver is very simple under linux. Email server under Linux is a little trickier. I had looked into it before but never attempted under linux. For a linux Webserver all you have to do is start the Apache service and you are good to go. Email servers are different as I believe 1 program handles the smtp and a different program would handle the pop3.

Using Windows Server 2003 Enterprise both are actually very simple and straight forward now that Microsoft added a POP3 server to WSEE 2003.

1 thing to keep in mind is if you set up a mail server you will probably still want to use your ISP's outgoing mail server as your outgoing server. I noticed when I set up my own mail server recently that verizon would not accept emails from my domain. Although I was able to send to several other domains fine. That said, you can still use your mail server for receiving. If possible you may even want to disable your outgoing mail server or spammers could possibly be able to use your server to send out spam.


Have you purchased a domain yet? Are you running off a static or dynamic IP? If your IP is dynamic you will want to register with a site like DynDNS.org so you can get your domain updated regularly with your latest IP Address. Depending on your router you can have the router handle this for you. I purchased a Domain through Dotster for a small yearly fee and paid a one time $40 fee to DynDNS.org to keep my address on their DNS servers. I am not sure if they still offer that service as a one time fee anymore. It may have moved to a yearly fee.

I hope this answers some of your questions.