Newbie Needs alot of help

[sirzrx]

Hi guys, im very new to this linux and email server thing. our exchange license almost expires and im seeking new alternatives, zimbra looks promising but i have never ever setup a email server and some concepts are very new to me, im doing some tests firsts before doing any decision,i have managed my self to setup the zimbra server i can recieve any mails but cant send mails, and the pop3 and imap thing dont work, let me explain my case:

1) we dont own a domain yet, so i registered one at dyndns "test.gotdns.com" is my domain for tests.

2)i downloaded the virtual appliance for some testing.
Configure Email:
mail relay "test.gotdns.com"
mail from "admin@test.gotdns.com"
my first confusion i have read the help article but i just dont get it

Configure Networking
Host Name test.gotdns.com
DNS Search Domain localdomain <----is that correct?
DNS Server(s) 192.168.152.254 <---- thats my router IP or what dns server should i put here?

IP Address 192.168.152.253
Netmask 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.152.254 <---my ip router gateway

Configure Proxy
Blank, i have no idea what it is

some text scrolled and "done" u now can log in to the admin site

2)i went to my router and redirected all the ports to 192.168.152.253

3) i went do the admin site and i can see 1 domain, 1 server
domain:
virtual host <--
Server:
General---> LMTP advertised Name , LMTP bind address <-- blank ATM
Services--->all marked, imap pop proxy & SNMP unchecked
MTA----->Relay MTA for external delivey, and MTA trusted domains "Blank"
IMAP-----> Defaults
POP-----> address, adverticed name in blank
Volumes--> default

Zimbra seems to work fine, i can access to the ZCS via web from my house, my GF's House, with my admin account, and i can recieve mails. but i dunno why cannot sent any mail, they are in the queue line with the following error "Connect to mx1.hotmail"(hotmail.com) or "Connect to as.lajat.com.mx"(lajat.com.mx), this is what i did, and im stuck, any suggestions? thanks for any help in advance.

[phoenix]

As you are behind a NAT router you will need to set-up a Split DNS so the mail can be delivered to your server. Which operating system are you using?

[sirzrx]

router DD WRT
Zimbra virtual appliance running under VMWARE 6 on W2k3

[phoenix]

You still need the Split DNS. Is a VM intended to be the final set-up for Zimbra or will it be installed on real hardware?

[sirzrx]

i dont intend to install linux in a separate computer , if i use zimbra ill run it via vmware.

[phoenix]

i dont intend to install linux in a separate computer , if i use zimbra ill run it via vmware.

If that's the case, I'd suggest you download the free VMware Server (or whatever VM you choose as long as it can run a linux o/s) and install a copy of CentOS5 in that and then install the current version of Zimbra. The VMware Appliance isn't kept as up-to-date as the normal releases. You'll also need plenty of RAM on this server.

[sirzrx]

any other suggestions?

[phoenix]

any other suggestions?

What's wrong with the one I've given you above? The VMware appliance is only meant for testing and if you want to use this for a real mail server then I'd suggest following the above advice, it'll save wasted effort in the long run.

[sirzrx]

i started to download cent OS 5, ill try it and see how it goes.

[phoenix]

It should be fairly straightforward, there's a 'how-to' for Zimbra & CentOS5 in the forums, do a quick search for it and post again if you have questions about the install.