[brluglist] converting from M$ Exchange to UNIX mail server

Sat Mar 16 10:55:07 CST 2002

Thanks for all the helpful feedback.

Concerning a global address book: isn't LDAP used for
that? 

The company I work for is still pretty small (~15
employees, all fairly technical), but we are starting
a growth phase so now is the time to drop the M$ Tax.
I can see that the functions we currently use multiple
servers for can be combined into fewer or even one
server. I know one of the features of Outlook/Exchange
that employees use a lot is the address aliases for
fellow employees, but that could be set up easily on
each mail client. I imagine most employees will
continue to use Outlook, though some use Netscape
Navigator and even AOL(!).

The thing that surprises me after thinking about it is
that M$ Exchange does not do anything that can't be
replaced. I mean, it seems to me that once Lotus Notes
was crushed in the marketplace, M$ focused it's
attention elsewhere. M$'s attitude at first with
Exchange was that it would be a kickass groupware
platform, but it ain't. As others have pointed out,
there are many features of Exchange and Outlook that
nobody uses.

Most of the employees do not use shared calendaring.
We do use Exchange public folders a bit, but it can be
replaced with other tools. What's the status of iCal?
Are there any free iCal servers out there?

Documenting the process would be the smart thing to
do, though I can't promise anything. I'm already a
year late on documenting another project. :)

John Hebert

--- CMB <cmbanker at softhome.net> wrote:
> I was not aware that mcafee had a linux product.  I
> hope it works better
> than their exchange product.
> 
> (I like the idea of not having to pay M$ for
> anything new; I wish my
> ccompany were in a position to knock off exchange
> too)
> 
> Anyway, it depends upon how users are abusing
> outlook/exchange.   Over here,
> all are using a companywide global address list;
> some have special mail
> folders; some are using calendaring (some shared);
> nobody in their right
> mind (take that with a grain of salt at my
> company-nobody is in their right
> mind) is using that infernal journalling; I and a
> couple of others have a
> few of those "pop notes" (I'm sure those are stored
> as messages)
> 
> Outlook has alot of functionality that is provided
> either by local files
> (contacts, local address list, journal, messages,
> calendar) or an exchange
> server ( global address list, address
> synchronization messages between
> servers, journal, messages, calendar, etc)
> 
> If users are using the functionality that can't be
> represented as a message
> in a folder (and I believe calendaring messages
> can), that info will have to
> be ported to local  files and not the new IMAP
> server.
> 
> Synchronization of shared lists could be an issue
> that could be fixed on the
> client sie.
> 
> Just my $0.04
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dustin Puryear" <dpuryear at usa.net>
> To: <brluglist at brlug.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 9:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [brluglist] converting from M$ Exchange
> to UNIX mail server
> 
> 
> > At 07:29 PM 3/15/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> > >I am aware that Exchange has all sorts of
> connectors; but, I was not
> aware
> > >that it had an IMAP connector.
> >
> > Exchange offers IMAP access for mail
> retrieval--not an IMAP connector.
> > Exchange also offers other types of services, such
> as POP2, POP3, NNTP,
> and
> > LDAP.
> >
> > >Remembering  your main goal is to convert over as
> much of the pertinant
> > >folder structure and messages as possible despite
> differences how a
> folder
> > >is used, you would want to get at the folder data
> by the most flexible
> > >means possible.
> >
> > I'm going with Tim's suggestion of using POP and
> fetchmail or the
> > suggestion to use IMAP. With IMAP it is very
> possible you could maintain
> > each user's folder layout without configuring
> procmail per user. John,
> when
> > you do this make sure you document each step. This
> would be an excellent
> HOWTO.
> >
> > >Remember that IMAP will probably not cover
> calendar, journal, or other
> non
> > >message email objects too well.
> >
> > This remark reminds me of a conversation I
> recently had. The main problem
> > that we have when we push UNIX and Linux as a
> messaging platform is that
> > our solutions either offer mail, directory
> services, or both, but normally
> > nothing else. Users want ease of access to related
> application--they want
> > to be able to share calendars; drop customer
> messages into shared,
> archived
> > folders; look up the phone number help desk; and
> read the latest spam. You
> > can't do this with UNIX tools currently. Now, you
> can say that integrating
> > all of these services into a single client
> application isn't necessarily a
> > good thing (and I would disagree), but the real
> point here isn't whether
> > you like the idea or not, but that users just want
> it.
> >
> > So until we have an application that behaves like
> Exchange-Outlook, we can
> > only offer parts of the total package. Certainly,
> we already have
> > applications that will provide Exchange-like
> services. What we need is a
> > client piece to tie it all together. I don't see
> anything like this being
> > developed. Even the touted Evolution (which I
> loved when I was using Linux
> > as my desktop) doesn't even plan on supporting
> this functionality, unless
> > they have recently revamped their design goals.
> >
> > >You'd be also giving up any server side
> virus/worm protection (unless
> > >there are O.S. tools to do this out there that
> I'm not aware of-
> ***SCREAM
> > >AT ME PEOPLE IF YOU KNOW OF SOMETHING LIKE
> THIS***)
> >
> > Are you asking if there are anti-virus tools for
> Linux mail servers? If
> so,
> > yes, there are. Try McAfee's Linux product or
> Sophos. I am pretty sure
> > there are others out there.
> >
> > Regards, Dustin
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Dustin Puryear <dpuryear at usa.net>
> > Information Systems Contractor
> > http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear
> > PGP Key available at http://www.us.pgp.net
> > In the beginning the Universe was created.
> > This has been widely regarded as a bad move. -
> Douglas Adams
> >
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