Re: GLUG: IMAP server recommendations ?

[Neil Blakey-Milner]

On Wed 2001-04-04 (10:41), Eugene van Zyl wrote:
 Hi,
 
 Any recommendations for a IMAP server (on Debian 2.2)? IMAP4.7c (I
 think this is UW IMAP?) seems to intergrates relatively painless and
 support most IMAP features (although I couldn't find anything on
 shared folders), courier-imap seems technically better(?) but
 confusing to set up especially making use of extended features like
 its altered maildir standard for shared folders, I can't seem to
 figure out what else this might break when using this? Also it's not
 very clear with courier where exactly the mail folders are going to be
 stored, /var/spool/mail or $HOME/?  UW-IMAP indicates that folders are
 stored in $HOME/ and it automatically picks up mail from
 /var/spool/mail as well as $HOME/mbox, this doesn't indicate whether
 these mail are then transported to an imap folder or left there (btw
 this is makes me lean toward it for easier integration).

UW IMAP has had a bad security run.  It doesn't have much in the way of
flexibility; it requires you to change the way you run things.

 Then there's cyrus(cyris ?) imap as well. Couldn't really make much
 from its docs though.

Cyrus is the better mature IMAP server.

 If someone that's running an imap server could give me some advice on
 what/how to install and set up partitions for storage, and in general
 which package gives the least headaces configuring. I also need to
 supply webmail access so would welcome any recommendations.

I'd recommand Courier-IMAP; it's almost free (GPL), it's fast, and it's
modular and flexible.  It can integrate into almost any situation, and
can do IP-based virtual hosting, or username-based virtual hosting, and
lots more.  It's also designed in such a way that security problems are
less likely - on one setup, only the port connector (tcpserver from
ucspi-tcp) ran as root.

It interacts with at least phpgroupware (a nice product, actually - cd
/usr/ports/*/phpgroupware  make install, and access from
http://localhost/phpgroupware/ on your nearest FreeBSD machine), and
also has it's own direct-access webmail client, sqwebmail, which shares
authentication and such modules with courier-imap.  They're both part of
the Courier Mail System.

 Also, is running POP3 and IMAP simultaneously possible/a big no-no?
 What caveats/issues are there?

I think all have POP3 connectors - Courier-IMAP definitely does.  It
also supports STARTTLS and IMAPS and POP3S service.

Neil
-- 
Neil Blakey-Milner
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

RE: GLUG: IMAP server recommendations ?

[Eugene van Zyl]

Thanks, I'll courier looks like it then :-)

With exim I saw the debian docs for courier indicate that I set Exim up for
maildir delivery - will the POP3 server pick the mail up correctly from the 
maildir
then? also will the pop client (if not set to leave a copy on the server) kill 
the
mail from the user's maildir, i.e. he won't see it with IMAP afterwards? is 
there
a way to control this behaviour?

Thanks :-)

Eugene

Re: GLUG: IMAP server recommendations ?

[Neil Blakey-Milner]

On Wed 2001-04-04 (15:59), Eugene van Zyl wrote:
 Thanks, I'll courier looks like it then :-)
 
 With exim I saw the debian docs for courier indicate that I set Exim up for
 maildir delivery - will the POP3 server pick the mail up correctly from the 
 maildir
 then? also will the pop client (if not set to leave a copy on the server) 
 kill the
 mail from the user's maildir, i.e. he won't see it with IMAP afterwards? is 
 there
 a way to control this behaviour?

Oh, that's something I forgot to mention - Courier-IMAP only does
Maildir.

At least to my knowledge, the default password/pam modules for
Courier-IMAP will look in ~/Maildir/ (maybe it can even pick more up
from PAM) for the mailboxes.  POP3 and IMAP use the exact same
configuration, so if one finds it, the other will.  IMAP will use
Maildir+ folders inside the Maildir, which obviously won't be
available directly via POP3.  I'm sure minor module hacking could do it,
maybe there're already examples.

As for POP3, the server doesn't enforce deletion, it'll do whatever the
POP3 client tells it to.  Most probably don't set the Leave mail on
server button, you may have to explain to your users to do so.

I'd recommend moving over to a virtual user system (ie, no real user
account on the machine).  In that case, userdb, or whatever, can specify
where exactly the Maildir will be, and things like that.  Or use LDAP,
or the myriad other options (vpopmail, c.).

Neil
-- 
Neil Blakey-Milner
[EMAIL PROTECTED]