Borgs8472
asked on
Suitable SMTP Gateway for ecommerce?
So we have an environment consisting of about 10 IIS webserver servers, each running local IIS SMTP.
A frequent requirement we have from customers or during troubleshooting is logging confirming sucessfully email sending. Whilst IIS SMTP is pretty good at logging failures, it doesn't log sucesses and its resending methology is questionable in my opinion. I wouldn't mind some stats to get a better idea of the volumes of mail our customers send out too, failures etc.
What I want to do is add a dedicated mail server to our environment. It can either be a windows app or Vmware applicance, (or a linux app if you really must). The machines would be VMs in any case.
Uptime is a must, it must have higher uptime than our webservers, so I think I might need some kind of active/active two machine setup with a virtual IP as well. Or can IIS try the smarthost then fall back on direct send?
As this is only relaying emails from webapps, no spam filtering is required or mail box type features.
So, suggestions for apps / deployments?
A frequent requirement we have from customers or during troubleshooting is logging confirming sucessfully email sending. Whilst IIS SMTP is pretty good at logging failures, it doesn't log sucesses and its resending methology is questionable in my opinion. I wouldn't mind some stats to get a better idea of the volumes of mail our customers send out too, failures etc.
What I want to do is add a dedicated mail server to our environment. It can either be a windows app or Vmware applicance, (or a linux app if you really must). The machines would be VMs in any case.
Uptime is a must, it must have higher uptime than our webservers, so I think I might need some kind of active/active two machine setup with a virtual IP as well. Or can IIS try the smarthost then fall back on direct send?
As this is only relaying emails from webapps, no spam filtering is required or mail box type features.
So, suggestions for apps / deployments?
I have used qmail with great success as a mail gateway on the edge. I made sure it had large enough drive space to accommodate plenty of logs and was able to go back almost 2 weeks. I selected qmail as our option based on research from the following chart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_mail_servers
I have no reservations recommending qmail and having it run in a vm it will be very quick indeed.
I have no reservations recommending qmail and having it run in a vm it will be very quick indeed.
Additionally, if you need this in an active/active configuration, you could either use HA with your esx's (hope you have the shared storage!) and depend on a single guest or if you have an old LB laying around, put it on the inside between the IIS farm and the qmail boxes. However...in 2 years have not had a single problem with qmail so it might be overkill....
HI,
I have suggested the easiest possible solution which is robust and reliable, I do agree with egrylls that qmail is the best MTA but its is fairly complicated to install/troubleshoot for new users. And i think qmail should be used when you wish to run dedicated Mail server for very large setup, where you needs full fledged mailing solution.
If you still wish to setup qmail then http://www.qmailrocks.org/ is the best starting point.
I have suggested the easiest possible solution which is robust and reliable, I do agree with egrylls that qmail is the best MTA but its is fairly complicated to install/troubleshoot for new users. And i think qmail should be used when you wish to run dedicated Mail server for very large setup, where you needs full fledged mailing solution.
If you still wish to setup qmail then http://www.qmailrocks.org/ is the best starting point.
Hi,
Iredmail is a google project and they have also integrated in OS itself and guide is here
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/iRedOS_Installation
Iredmail is a google project and they have also integrated in OS itself and guide is here
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/iRedOS_Installation
Hi,
Sorry i mean its hosted on google code project and the support for iredmail is also good.
Sorry i mean its hosted on google code project and the support for iredmail is also good.
Personally I would use Centos and postfix. You can also install webmin with the postfix modules for a web interface to configure and monitor queue etc. RRDtool and Mailgraph will produce some nice graphs over time that shows you what's going on. There are many free shell scripts available to run as a cron job that will send you daily statistics and errors via email. If you look around, I'll bet you can find a VM image already designed for this built with GPL/open source for free.
BTW, Howtoforge has a lot of great tutorials on building Linux machines and if you subscribe you can download the pre-built VMware images that you could just customize. Just look for a SMTP gateway config for protecting an exchange server or something similar that you can point IIS SMTP at with Smart Host.
Did you look on WMware's sight at the free VMware images? They may already have something you can download for free.
One last thing, the only way you can be absolutely sure the the VM is secure and clean is to build or install from original verified sources.
BTW, Howtoforge has a lot of great tutorials on building Linux machines and if you subscribe you can download the pre-built VMware images that you could just customize. Just look for a SMTP gateway config for protecting an exchange server or something similar that you can point IIS SMTP at with Smart Host.
Did you look on WMware's sight at the free VMware images? They may already have something you can download for free.
One last thing, the only way you can be absolutely sure the the VM is secure and clean is to build or install from original verified sources.
ASKER
Hi
Thanks for your suggestions so far, but I really wanted to avoid
a) a linux installation
b) installing a full mail server solution
I think the term I'm looking for 'robust mail relay server'. So that's what I'm looking for now.
Thanks for your suggestions so far, but I really wanted to avoid
a) a linux installation
b) installing a full mail server solution
I think the term I'm looking for 'robust mail relay server'. So that's what I'm looking for now.
Borqs,
Try this...http://www.mailenable.com/... There is a free version available that you can test to make sure it can handle the load you are projecting and it runs on Windows. It scales pretty well and I set this up for a client a few years back as a stop gap until they installed a Barracuda. They ran on it about 6 months and were really happy with it. It's a pretty simple to install, robust and keeps running with minimal maintenance.
Try this...http://www.mailenable.com/... There is a free version available that you can test to make sure it can handle the load you are projecting and it runs on Windows. It scales pretty well and I set this up for a client a few years back as a stop gap until they installed a Barracuda. They ran on it about 6 months and were really happy with it. It's a pretty simple to install, robust and keeps running with minimal maintenance.
HI,
If you neither wish to install linux nor a full mail server (even in windows) then pl. visit http://www.blat.net/
And if you are ready to install a mail server on Windows then pl. visit http://www.emailman.com/win/servers.html and choose suitable software as per your requirement.
If you neither wish to install linux nor a full mail server (even in windows) then pl. visit http://www.blat.net/
And if you are ready to install a mail server on Windows then pl. visit http://www.emailman.com/win/servers.html and choose suitable software as per your requirement.
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Install Linux and then install iredmail its very easy to setup and very very robust,reliable for more details pl. visit.
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/Installation