mail server recommendations?

[Troy Settle]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael W. Lucas
> 
> 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
> 

Michael,

In a previous position, I went from Sendmail to Postfix (cleanest
replacement).  I was very happy with Postfix and it's features at the time.
I left that position to open my own company, and decided on Qmail+Vpopmail.
This worked well for a time (about 2 years), but became cumbersome as I had
to add patches (smtp check user, smtp auth, etc) and virus scanners.
Towards the end, it was getting downright ugly.

Last year, I built a new mail server using Exim Courier-IMAP.  All user
records are stored in a MySQL database, quotas are supported on both
per-domain (kernel), and per-user (application) basis.  Virus/Spam/MIME
scanning us handled by the Exiscan extensions to Exim, allowing rejection at
the SMTP level.  Between Courier and Exim, quotas are fully implemented on a
per-user basis, and by using separate UIDs for each domain, I can enforce
quotas on a per-domain basis in the system.

Having used the 3 major MTAs (sendmail/qmail/postfix) over the years, I'm
here to tell you that you absolutely cannot go wrong with Exim.  Once I had
this thing built, it was literally forgotten until recently when some topics
came up on the exim list that prompted me to make a few minor changes to the
config, which increased performance enough that I got more than a few
comments on it.

Finally, on the pop3/imap side, I've used UW, qpopper, cucipop, tpop, cyrus,
qmail-pop3d, and Courier-IMAP.  I really enjoyed learning about Cyrus and
getting it going, but I found it to be far too complex at the time (in like
98?) to be of practical use to me.  IMO, Courier-IMAP is hands-down the best
thing you can do for your mail server, no matter which MTA you end up going
with.

Good luck,

--
  Troy Settle
  Pulaski Networks
  http://www.psknet.com
  866.477.5638