On Mon, Aug 16, 2004 at 02:49:34AM -0700, pesoy misak wrote: > Dear all > > Well I just got a little story behind this question. I just succeed > convince my customer that trying to do web design using ASP.net to use > Linux using PHP yeaaahhh Linux Rulez. now seems I got a bit problem trying > to convince this administrator to change all the system using linux. he is > asking about the mail server for replacement for their exchange server > 2003 that he said is the best (may be true) I just want to debate with > this guy since I haven't much experience with mail server. he want to know > the capabilities of each linux mail server and compatibilty and how much > can the mail server handle like how much email etc, etc and how much size > that it could handle
The first thing to realise is that most Linux mail servers aren't an integrated whole -- you build them together from the relevant bits -- pick an MTA that best suits your needs, bolt an MDA for your desired message storage format (if it's not supported natively by your MTA), and then put an IMAP/POP server on for retrieval. This mix and match approach is useful, because you can (for instance) support sites with a relatively low rate of incoming mail, but a high rate of client-side IMAP access by choosing the right tools for the job. There are a couple of integrated mail systems -- I think cyrus 2 is like this, and there's XMail and Courier, and a bunch of commercial ones like Communigate are like them. I hate the really tightly bound ones, because they're a big black box -- hmm, like Exchange. Basically, you can easily build a mail server which will handle several times the volume of mail that Exchange will for a fraction of the *hardware* cost, let alone the licencing fees. On the other hand, there is one thing that Exchange does that nobody else has managed to provide -- the complete basic "groupware" functionality and integration with Outlook. Outlook is (incomprehensibly) popular, and a lot of companies want/like the integrated shared calendars and address books, which really nothing else does. And, when it comes down to it, your average click-monkey can usually fix what's wrong with an Exchange server by either pointing and clicking (thus accidentally fixing whatever they accidentally fucked up in the first place) or by sacrificing a goat and reinstalling at the correct phase of the moon. No actual thought required in either case, which is an unpleasant side effect of running a decent mail system (or server in general). Oops, I think I'm frothing a bit. Hope I didn't get any on the carpet. - Matt
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