On Fri, Aug 10, 2007 at 12:16:39PM +0100, Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
> When I initially set up our mail server I followed the instructions at
> http://www.qmailrocks.org/ and ended up with a system that does
> everything we want plus quite a lot of things we don't need (virtual
> domains for one).
>
> I'll be leaving the organisation in the near future and I want to make
> sure that the server is as easy to manage as possible. Qmail is a
> nightmare because it can't be updated automatically, you need to
> download Qmail itself then apply all the patches needed to make it useful.
>
> So, I'm planning to migrate to exim because that's well-supported on
> Debian, which is what our server runs.
>
> Our current setup is using Qmail (for SMTP and POP3), vpopmail,
> Courier-IMAP, clamav, spamassassin and SquirrelMail.
>
> I'm planning to move to exim (for SMTP, dropping POP3), no virtual
> domains, Courier-IMAP and SquirrelMail. I'll probably add virus and
> spam scanning once the system's working.
>
> Does anyone have any experiences of problems and pitfalls I'm likely to
> encounter.
>
> Fortunately, we don't have many users just now, so moving everybody's
> mailbox to their home directory and fixing permissions isn't a huge job.
Hi Kevin,
I suspect configuring exim will be the biggest challenge. The other
apps will require very little if any modification. For example, exim can talk
to Courier for delivery just fine, so there is no need to muck with your
user's maildirs.
Squirrelmail is just an IMAP client so that will not have to be changed at all
unless you use certain plugins that are qmail or vpopmail specific. (note,
I've never used vpopmail so I can shed no light on that).
Clamav and SpamAssassin will probably not require any modification
either.
I personally see this as a 3 part project:
1) Configure exim with the appropriate anti-spam/malware measures.
2) Configure exim to do deliveries correctly.
3) Handle any authentication issues.
I would recommend scanning the wiki (
http://wiki.exim.org/) first. I
think you'll find a lot of tidbits that will help with items 1 and 2.
Auth issues can be tricky and it all depends on how things are currently
setup for you.
Since you use debian, you may want to join the pkg-exim4-users mailing
list if you plan on configuring exim the debian way. I personally use 1
large conf file rather than the split files. Old habits die hard.
To me, the biggest problem is any learning curve for exim. The more
familiar you are with exim, the smoother the transition will be. In any
case, with proper planning I don't think you'll find the transition too
difficult.
thanks,
mikeS
--
Michael F. Sprague | mfs@???
http://www.saneinc.net | System and Network Engineering (SaNE), Inc
Providers of the SpamOnion anti-spam service
