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Webmail Solutions Include In Linux Distributions

Hi,

I need to (quickly) provide a webmail solution. I have configured Windows 2000 Server and hMailServer top part of the solution, and intend on installing Squirrelmail to provide the Web interface.

Am I better off installing a Linux distribution which includes an IMAP mail server and Squirrelmail? I read on the Squirrelmail page that the Linux versions of Squirrelmail may have more features. I am thinking if one of the Linux distributions installs and configures such an environment, I could minimize the opportunity for me to go in and really screw something up!

I would only be interested in a free Linux distribution, as the financial resources available to provide this solution are minimal.

Thanks In Advance,

- Michael

kiitii

Try CentOS Linux,
The performance is as stable as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Coz once Red Hat releases any package, it has to be "open-sourced".
Centos guys download those redhat source-code and compile into "rpm" package.

So conclusion, it is as stable as RedHat EL, and you pay 0 cents.

www.centos.org

During installation, the final step, when asking for packages.
Remember to select
Web Server,
PHP,
Mail, Squirrelmail, Dovecot(IMAP4/POP3) server.

After finish installation, run this command from terminal.
/usr/share/squirrelmail/config/conf.pl

And i guess you will know how to configure the squirrelmail to point to your WindowsServer.

Good Luck.

p.s. Personally speaking, use which ever platform you are familiar with. Coz eventually you will be the one who handle the server.

mjs082969

ASKER

I will give that a shot. What version of CentOS would you go with? Is 4 too new to be completely stable?

Thanks Again,

- Michael

kiitii

nope!
version 4 is stable, dont worry about tat

mjs082969

ASKER

I thought I would provide an update, in the event this questions helps someone other than me in the future...

I did set up CentOS last night, with the options specified by kiitii.

At first squirrelmail wasn't responding at all. Starting the Apache service helped. And so did copying the squirrelmail folder to the web content directory. So now, rather than receiving a "page not found" type error, I receive a blank page!

I imagine that at this point, I just need to get my mail server applications, sendmail and dovecot, configured properly. And get squirrelmail pointed in the right direction.

- Michael

kiitii

Opps Mike,

You shouldn't be copy the squirrelmail folder to /var/www/html/
Since, in /etc/httpd/conf.d/squirrelmail.conf already has an entry
Alias /webmail /usr/share/squirremail/

All you need to type in your browser's url is http://192.168.0.1/webmail
That will do !

If you need help on sendmail, you can just post it here.
Else, sendmail is running by default, and listen to 127.0.0.1:25, your squirrelmail will NOT have any problem of SENDING out email. but receiving email is an issue.

Dovecot,
just edit /etc/dovecot.conf
protocols = imap imaps pop3 pop3s

# service dovecot restart
# chkconfig dovecot on

That's it!
You are done.

- Linus KT Lai

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

kiitii

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mjs082969

ASKER

As a note, I did not go ahead with CentOS. I had much better luck using a combination of Windows 2000, IIS, Mercury, and SquirrelMail.

I believe that Mercury is simpler to understand than SendMail. I believe that in order to implement SendMail, one needs to go through and modify an ASCII file with configuration options. Mercury is straightforward and simple. Both solutions are free AND robust.

I followed the FAQs identified on the SquirrelMail web site. I believe that I had made one failed attempt with these products previously, and I believe it may have had to do with the manner in which I had configured Perl and PHP (these tools are necessary for SquirrelMail).

Anyhow, I found the combination of tools that I used to be fairly straightforware, with minimal need to poke through ASCII files. The system has been up in production mode for a few days now, and it appears to be working fine.

The system is a pokey Celeron 400 w 128 MB RAM. The mail system is only used by 20 people, but it appears to be performing OK... for now... {crossing fingers} {holding breath}

Thanks Again, and sorry I slacked off in my ocrrespondence.

- Michael