mail server recommendations?

[W.D.McKinney]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Cody Baker [mailto:cody at wilkshire.net]
>Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 12:21 AM
>To: freebsd-isp at freebsd.org
>Subject: Re: mail server recommendations?
>
>Hello,
>    I put my personal recommendation in to qmail.  I have 10 + servers 
>running qmail, some with 3000+ users.  We use vpopmail for a mysql based 
>single UID/GID solution.  For POP3 access we're using the integrated 
>qmail-pop3d, and courier-IMAP for IMAP.   Virus scanning / MIME-magic is 
>done via qmail-scanner and clamscan.  Many people chose to use 
>qmail-scanner with spamassassin as spam-gateway, although we've chosen 
>to implement it with some custom scripting in the general area of 
>qmail-local.  I am particularly fond of qmail because once it's setup 
>it's very easy to use, and is ROCK solid.  I

Hi Cody,

You are correct as this is my experience also. The real problem is that it works so well I have forgotten a lot as I don't have to meddle with anything.
For our twist, we installed a Brracuda Networks gateway in front of our MTA's and off-loaded the spam and virus stopping work, so qmail purrs.
Dee


t may not have been updated 
>in years, but that's because there really hasn't been a call for it; it 
>was rock solid  and secure years ago and still is.  The longevity is 
>wonderful.  I've installed qmail on machines years ago, and still 
>haven't had the need to reinstall/update qmail.  We've had machines 
>which have been traveled from freebsd 4.1 to freebsd 4.9 through years 
>of make worlds, but qmail is running on the same, identical, and secure 
>source it was in the beginning.  It does have a lot of patches, and yes, 
>the documentation on some of the patches is lacking in places.  At the 
>same time there's a patch for almost anything you can imagine, so you 
>don't have to wait for the developers of your favorite alternative MTA 
>to incorporate the requested feature.  One of the things I like the most 
>about qmail is its incredible scalability.  Qmail on a system of 4 users 
>will run quietly and out of your way with a relatively small footprint.  
>If your 4 users divide and multiply to 40, 400, 4,000, or 40,000 you can 
>keep using qmail and it will keep up with you and your fans.  Some 
>really big names in mail use Qmail, "Yahoo! mail, Network Solutions, 
>Verio, etc." according to qmail.org.  Qmail is a tweaker's MTA, I 
>haven't come across a mail situation yet where qmail hasn't had some 
>appropriate place in the configuration.  It's modular, so you can pick 
>and chose the parts you want, remove, replace, or rearrange the others.
>
>I've heard good things about combining it with postfix, although I can't 
>claim to have attempted this myself. 
>
>Thank you,
>
>Cody Baker
>cody at wilkshire.net
>
>Arie Kachler wrote:
>
>> Hi Michael,
>>
>> I've researched mail systems myself for quite some time now. We 
>> currently use Sendmail + a custom pop3 server. We don't use system 
>> accounts. Sendmail is showing its age, mostly in the way it scales. 
>> It's difficult to integrate with any database backend. LDAP is your 
>> only solid option, but I'm no fan of LDAP.
>> We are about to migrate from Sendmail and have considered Qmail and 
>> Postfix. Qmail is great. The only reason we did not choose it is 
>> because most features are patches of different authors and the quality 
>> and documentation of the patches varies. It makes us a little nervous 
>> to patch so much.
>> So we've decided on Postfix+mysql+courier-imap. Postfix seems to have 
>> everything we're looking for: security, speed, sql backend, no system 
>> accounts, and quotas. We're still testing it, but it seems to behave 
>> very well under heavy loads.
>> Regarding virus and spam filtering, we are doing it on Sendmail boxes 
>> now, which simply forward to other servers for pickup via pop. That 
>> will not change when we migrate since milter works well and there is 
>> no need for a sql backend on these boxes.
>> We never looked at Exim. Some people like it. We just never got around 
>> to it so I can't give you any information on it.
>>
>> Hope the info helps.
>>
>> Arie Kachler
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi folks,
>>>
>>> I've already tried Google, and found a lot of discussions that are
>>> either a) old, or b) don't quite match our requirements.  So:
>>>
>>> I'm looking for a decent solution for a mail server software package.
>>> We need SASL, IMAP, pop3ssl, antivirus, and mime-type filtering.  In
>>> an ideal world, we'd have the ability to create mail accounts without
>>> creating user accounts.
>>>
>>> I have to admit that I'm partial to sendmail simply for the milter
>>> interface that lets me plug in, say, MIMEDefang, clamav, and all sorts
>>> of other nifty stuff.
>>>
>>> What are people using these days?  What sucks the least?  Any opinions
>>> from folks who have been there welcome.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> ==ml
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Michael Lucas        mwlucas at FreeBSD.org, mwlucas at BlackHelicopters.org