[NTLUG:Discuss] Need advice: hosting email at home

[Travis Bell]

Greetings fellow NTLUGers, I was wondering if I might pick your brains.

I want to host my email on my home server.  This machine is on battery backup
and losing power isn't a problem unless the power goes out for an extended
period of time.  The one problem I could face is that I'm on AT&T Broadband
and they have changed to using DHCP.  However, in the entire time since they
changed this policy, my IP has never changed.  Whether this has to do with the
server never rebooting or them setting insanely long leases I do not know.

On to my question: What is the best route to take to ensure that I don't lose
email in the case that either my connection goes down or my IP actually does
change (whilst I change my DNS records)?  What potential problems exist that I
haven't thought of when using my idea listed below?

This is what I figure I should do:
Primary NS: ns1.granitecanyon.com (service restarted every 24 hours)
* Have 2 MX records
  - List my server as highest priority
  - List a friend's mailserver (on NT - blech) as next priority
Secondary NS: ns2.granitecanyon.com
* Same as Primary NS

With this setup is there a way to have the secondary mail server move mail
back to my server once it's back up?  When you have 2 MX records, does that
mean it will always send to highest priority unless it can't, or would some
mail go to the next server even if mine is up?  Should I change one of my Name
Servers to my server or leave them at granitecanyon.com?  Any and all
suggestions are welcome!

I need to get this all set up and going by April 30 when AmExMail dumps my
@usa.net account...


Travis Bell
tjbell at usa dot net
http://www.mudpoet.org (down 4 now)