Hello All,

At one time I started a post like this and it was recommended to start a poll (which is a good idea but since I know nothing about the different mail programs I wouldnt have a clue on how to start a poll on it).

This is my question. I need advice on which mail program(s) to learn/use. I have used Novell GroupWise in the past and I am pretty proficient at it but need an open source solution. I have heard of Sendmail, Postfix, and qmail. I don't know if there is others or not.

1.) I would like something that has lots of support and third party add ons. (examples like anti spam programs, etc.)

2.) Not too difficult to setup.

3.) Can handle multiple users with each user belonging to multiple domains. (example: User1 needs to have an account with abc.com and abc.org)

4.) To expand on number 3 it would need to be able to handle multiple domains.

5.) Security is a must. Would like to close it down as a open relay.

6.) Of course it would need the capability to send and recieve mail from the Internet.

I would also like some good recommendations for clients based on Windoze. (I know this is a bad thing to most of you but most of my clients still use Windows 2000 or XP.)

If possible I would like the client to be able to send from different domains when needed.

I know this is a lot but any help would be apprectiated.

Thanks,

Zych

My recomendation to suit your needs is this:

Postfix as the MTA (Mail Transfer Agent). It supports plug ins, is easy to configure so it won't be an open relay.
Maildir's as the method for local mail storage.
Cyrus SASL for doing authentication for users to use your SMTP server from outside networks.
Courier-IMAP for SSL imap.

Any client that supports imap with ssl will work for getting your mail.

I am a sendmail fan. Then again I have never used anything else. It is quite capable of accomplishing all these tasks (I do so). While many people currently recommend other mail agents, I do believe these recommendations stem from the complexity of sendmail in an environment that does not require the fine-tuned configuration or flexibility that sendmail has.

Well you two have made my delima worse. I was thinking it would probably come down to these two. I have heard Sendmail has some security issues but has more third party add ins. (I don't know this but that is what I have heard.)

Postfix is easier to use with more security but less third party add ins. (Also from what I have heard.)

Are these statements correct? I have heard that Postfix is based on Sendmail. If so does it support most of Sendmails third party add ins?

Thanks,

Zych

Postfix is not based on sendmail.
It's an alternative to it.
I would highly recommend sendmail.
I use it and it is the industry standard. If you've ever sent an e-mail, it probably was processed by a server running sendmail.
Postfix doesn't necessarily have more security, but its author claims that it is easier to administrate.
For more info on mail clients, try Todd Verbeek's site at microsoft.toddverbeek.com. Go to the Microsoft Exchange section.
Okay, okay, I know that it's anti-Microsoft, but it does have some great info about different mail servers.

Sendmail is hardly the "industry standard" anymore. Qmail and Postfix are both better at handling large amounts of messaging (sendmail is making strides...). Postfix is generally probably the easiest to get working well (qmail is very easy to configure, but a pain to patch before installing).

And of course the biggest complaint I have is lack of support for Maildir's in sendmail. Maildir's are far superior to mbox if you worry at all about having a little bit of data corruption make a HUGE mess of your e-mail or if you use NFS.

To name major installations of postfix off the top of my head:
Georgia Tech (at least 20,000 users, very heavy usage)
The company I work for (at least 1000 users)
Any MacOSX Server installations using the base installed mail server.

That might be the case, but sendmail is still the base for most e-mail servers.
It's a trusty and very significant tool.

That is true, Sendmail certainly is used on a lot of installations. But that doesn't make it the best tool, nor does it mean it is the best option. It might be what a lot of experienced UNIX admins are most used to using (because it has been around for so long) but that alone doesn't make it better.

I use postfix because it is a drop in replacement for sendmail (so the users don't notice the difference) and it provides me with some better technical features (better virtual mailbox support... in my opinion, support for plugins, Maildir's, faster performance) and it is certainly proven to be at least as stable and secure as Sendmail (it doesn't run suid, so some might argue it is by default more secure).

http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Mail/mtas.html has some decent information about some of the differences between Postfix, Qmail, and Sendmail.

Those are all good reasons for using postfix. I'm just familiar with sendmail, and I like it a lot. It works well and I can rely on it.

I really can't imagine anything being much easier to set up than sendmail. I'm definitely new to linux (been working with it for about 4 months) and I've set up a total of 3 linux mail servers all running sendmail. I guess I'm going to have to give postfix a try, on my test box.

Thanks for all the great help guys. Do you have any recommendations for a post office (MDA)? I would like something that is IMAP compatible and it would be nice if it had groupware (ie calendar, etc.) functionality.

Thx,

Zych

edit: sorry I was calling the MDA a MUA.