I set up exim + dovecot on behalf of qa-site.  I’m pretty happy with the results so far.  Installation was a snap, as well as configuration was practically pain free (thanks in part to google as well as this mini howto on behalf of SMTP auth.)
I created SSL keys on behalf of both exim as well as dovecot (that are practically identical) using this command:
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout exim.key -out exim.crt -days 365 -nodes
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout dovecot.key -out dovecot.crt -days 365 -nodes
and then edited the configuration files to point to them:
exim.conf:
tls_certificate = /usr/share/ssl/certs/exim.crt

tls_privatekey = /usr/share/ssl/private/exim.key
dovecot.conf:
ssl_cert_file = /usr/share/ssl/certs/dovecot.crt

ssl_key_file = /usr/share/ssl/private/dovecot.key
in exim.conf, I also made the following changes:
primary_hostname = qa-site.com #this would have used `uname -n` by default


uncommented:
auth_advertise_hosts = ${if eq {$tls_cipher}{}{}{*}}
and commented:
#auth_advertise_hosts = 
and then added:
plain:

driver = plaintext

public_name = PLAIN

server_prompts = :

server_set_id = $2

server_condition = “${if pam{$2:$3}{1}{0}}”
login:

driver = plaintext

public_name = LOGIN

server_prompts = “Username:: : Password::”

server_set_id = $1

server_condition = “${if pam{$1:$2}{1}{0}}”


in addition, to utilize maidir, I edited exim.conf to include:


 local_delivery:

driver = appendfile

# file = /var/mail/$local_part

delivery_date_add

envelope_to_add

return_path_add

group = mail

mode = 0660

maildir_format = true

directory = /home/${local_part}/Maildir

create_directory = true

check_string = “”

escape_string = “”
in dovecot, I just had to set:
mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
I created a .muttrc file to read my Maildir:
set mbox_type=Maildir

set folder=”~/Maildir”

set mask=”!^\.[^.]“

set mbox=”~/Maildir”

set record=”+.Sent”

set postponed=”+.Drafts”

set spoolfile=”~/Maildir”
I now have working TLS with SMTP auth, POP3 as well as IMAP access through remote thundirbird/outlook as well as local mutt clients.  They both utilize PAM system-auth by default (exim needed read access to /etc/shadow.)
The next steps are to set up procmail to utilize spamassassin as well as clamav to filter incoming mail, as well as set up a webmail client.  I mentioned on my spikef2163i5 blog that I’m looking on behalf of webmail application recommendations.  I’m leaning towards v-webmail.
One last thing shall be to set up virtual domains, so that, on behalf of example, cuencatravel.qa-site.com can have it’s posses email setup.