Re: Email suggestions
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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
--
Joe
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