Re: Email suggestions
On 6/1/2013 1:52 PM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 01 Jun 2013 11:40:50 -0400
Jerry Stuckle <jstuckle@attglobal.net> wrote:
Hi, all,
I hope this goes through - I've been having problems lately.
I have a production VPS I'm going to upgrade to Wheezy. However,
this VPS has been live for a number of years and has multiple
modifications to config files (i.e. dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config
won't even run).
It's probably worth trying to fix this in the long term. It is possible
to put most customisations into 'include' files and macros. But there
was an exim4 change in a previous upgrade whereby previously-used
debconf statements broke the initial configuration, leaving a
partly-installed and totally jammed exim4. There was no way to use a
previous template file, so I started with the new approved template and
modified it accordingly. This kind of thing can happen when the
configuration file specification changes between versions, and if you
can't adapt fairly quickly to a new configuration file format, you may
be in trouble.
Yes, this is when it broke. But I never fixed it because I didn't want
to break the production system. But now it's time to clean things up a bit.
So I think the best way to go is just start with a new server, get it
running, then migrate everything over. The old server is running
Exim4 and qpopper, using MySQL for authentication and mail routing
(this I want to keep).
Exim4 is doing fine, so I will probably keep that (although I'm open
to other suggestions). However, I've been using qpopper for pop3 but
want to switch to imap.
If your exim4 is as heavily-customised as you say, it's probably going
to be a big job learning another mail server well enough and quickly
enough to duplicate the changes.
True; I'm planning to stay with Exim4 unless there's a definite reason
to change.
One question: I've been using mbox format because I like keeping the
incoming email out of the user's home directory. Additionally, many
of the users never sign onto the system other than for email (i.e. no
ssh, ftp, etc.), so they really don't need a /home/xxxx directory.
However, it seems Maildir is becoming more common. Which do you
think would be better?
Imap uses a nested directory structure within the Inbox for emails,
which of course you don't have to use, you can keep everything in the
Inbox. This directory structure maps perfectly to a filesystem
directory structure. There's no real difficulty mapping to mbox,
Thunderbird for example uses an mbox file for each imap directory.
This is the only change needed when switching exim4 to imap, by the
way, a directive to use Maildir. At the time I switched to imap, long
ago, Maildir was not optional, and it may still not be with all imap
servers.
Yes, my current system keeps mbox format in /var/mail. Looking at imap,
it keeps each user's email in /home/~user/mail... Personally I like the
former - it's easier to back everything up. But I could deal with the
latter if necessary.
Next question: Typically mail is not left on the servers, which I
understand is one of the advantages of imap. I've been using POP3
(qpopper), but are there other reasons for going to imap?
It's vital if you use more than one client workstation. You can mess
about with telling pop3 clients to leave mail on the server, but that
is a troubleshooting mode and causes more trouble than it's worth, as
not all clients deal with it well. With normally-configured pop3 and
multiple clients, your email will end up scattered around them. You
also have the option of webmail if the mail all lives on the server,
and of course you know where it all is for automatic scheduled backups.
Again, that's not a problem because mail is not left on the servers. And
leaving email on the servers would soon require a lot more disk space,
wasting it because they'll never be read (again), anyway. And we're
soon talking gigabytes of disk space being wasted.
One more question: with the above in mind, which would you recommend
for a imap or pop3 server? I've looked at dovecot and courier; both
seem to work. Is there a difference?
I've used courier for some years, I don't think dovecot was available
when I set things up, and I've seen no reason to change from courier,
as it has always Just Worked.
Sounds like a good testament. Thanks!
And finally - I'm planning to (finally) implement TLS for security
(haven't been using it until now). Or is there something better you
recommend?
Where is the server? My email never goes beyond my own network or a
VPN connection, so I've never bothered encrypting it there. If someone
is intercepting it, I have more worries than whether they are reading my
email. I don't think there is any problem implementing TLS, and I am
not aware if there are alternatives.
The server is in a data center. not on our local network.
I appreciate the suggestions; I've done a lot of searching and
everyone claims to be "best". I'm not a newbie at all (been
programming for over 45 years), but a bit naive on the Email side.
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