After a spending a few weeks on this list, I have come to realize that many
people have some confusion as to the purpose of this list and it's relation
to Ipswitch. Every few days, it seems, someone comes ranting and raving
about how terrible Ipswitch's support is and how horrible Imail is. We are a
support LIST, not a support group. ;-)
Ipswitch's support policy of an annual contract is not unheard of in the
software industry. And when a product as complicated as an email server is
involved, it is perfectly understandable that phone support is free only for
the first 60 days after purchase. That should take pretty much anyone past
the setup/configuration stage where most of the problems occur. If you feel
that you might need ongoing support, then the support plan is not a bad
deal.
I had a devil of a time configuring my MX records to work properly, but it
was my fault, not IMail's. And when I tried to get an external database up
and running in SQL Server 7.0, I was lucky to find Mr. Nice's odbcuser.dll.
(Why Ipswitch doesn't have a functional SQL7 driver is a mystery, but they
don't). Again, Ipswitch clearly states that they don't support 7.0, but even
so I was able to get some help over the phone. Ipswitch's phone support is a
dream compared to some companies that I've had to deal with in the past.
I suppose, that since people sign up for this list on Ipswitch's site, they
assume that it is an alternate means to receive support from the company.
Well, as most of us realize, it's not. The people who read and reply to this
list are customers, not support personnel. Why Daniel from Ipswitch
participates on this board is beyond me, but it is a bonus that he does. The
list is not moderated.
As far as the "obscurity" of the alias maximum, you can't blame Ipswitch.
Before I installed the product I actually read the manual. And I even caught
the warning on page 63 about aliases with more than 50 entries being a
problem. As a stated limitation of the software, admins should be aware of
it. If you are going to be responsible for a mission critical function like
email, then it is your responsibilty to become aware of potential problems.
That said, I do think that problems caused by exceeding this limit should be
addressed by Ipswitch by either fixing things so there is no limit, or by
introducing some sort of error checking to prevent large aliases.
But the point is that this is a known problem. There are quite a few
articles in the knowledge base on this topic. It is stated in the manual.
Sure, it's a problem, but sometimes you have to figure out how to deal with
problems. That's why we are paid the big bucks :-)
Some of the people on this list are incredibly knowledgeable and they spend
no small amount of time helping people out. However, nobody wants to hear
anyone rant/whine about Ipswitch/Imail on the list. Maybe Ipswitch needs to
clarify the purpose of the list and set some guidelines for posting.
I know that this has bordered on a rant, but this list is a great resource.
Some of the recent posts have gotten out of line. Or at least they should
have been sent directly to
http://www.ipswitch.com/cgi/askatech.pl?action=build the email form for tech
support.
Phew. I feel much better now. Thank you for your attention.
David
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