Posted by
Cliff
on from the if-you-can't-arrange-to-exchange-Exchange dept.
itwerx asks: "A client of mine is wedded to Exchange 2000 for their email server but would like to move away from Outlook Web Access (OWA) for security reasons. Thereareseveral possibilities but I'm wondering what experience the Slashdot community has had with these (or other) options."
I've been using IMP for quite some time, and many large ISP's also use it. It's actually quite mature, and easy for end-users to learn. A post further down claims that installation is difficult, but I have not found that to be the case - in fact it only took about 20 minutes.
Note that IMP (email) is only one module of Horde. Adding the modules together and it trumps what MS WebMail offers by quite a bit.
I'll second the suggestion for IMP - it rules. One other thing, though - as PHP doesn't support persistent IMAP connections, you'll find that it can be quite slow in some cases. The Horde project has recently released a Imap Proxy, which speeds things up a fair amount, and reduces load on the servers. It works very nicely, and is extremely simple to set up.
Oh, and I have heard of people having bad experiences using a PHP accelerator with Horde, although I've had it running with no problems here. YMMV, etc....
Exchange Server 2003
by
matts.nu
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Re:Exchange Server 2003
by
walt-sjc
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Not to be a troll, but do you REALLY believe that? After all, MS has chosen functionality / features over security on a regular basis. If they were TRUELY serious about security issues and providing good value to their customers, they would offer patches for their existing products as opposed to forcing people to buy a new version to get a secure platform. By the way, I'm talking about patching design flaws, not bug fixing.
MS has not offered security up front. They have been pushed / shamed into it - kicking, screaming, and dragging their feet.
Microsoft's mission is to make as much money as possible. Their customer's needs and desires are secondary. Note that MS is not alone here. The standard business model of (most) commercial software is to sell upgrades. This is one of the main reasons that Open Source is taking off.
SquirrelMail - Webmail for nuts
by
geirt
·
· Score: 4, Informative
We have used SquirrelMail for som time now, and our users are very happy. Stay with open standards (IMAP/SMTP/LDAP), and you can replace components in a system (eg. Exchange) without changing everything.
SquirrelMail is a standards-based webmail package written in PHP4. It includes built-in pure PHP support for the IMAP and SMTP protocols, and all pages render in pure HTML 4.0 (with no Javascript) for maximum compatibility across browsers. It has very few requirements and is very easy to configure and install. SquirrelMail has a all the functionality you would want from an email client, including strong MIME support, address books, and folder manipulation.
I was looking around for a webmail, and all I could find was IMP and squirrelmail. Believe me theyre both not quite mature, although I saw IMP running for years at Plattsburgh State. Installation of either is a ROYAL pain and not standardized, so you have to design your server, OS and other settings for the webmail system. for eg, for Squirrelmail you have to use courier imap and either courier mta or qmail. For IMP, you need certain versions of PHP with certain compile flags plus install HORDE. Last year this was complicated dont know now..
I made my own webmail for the site Hazara.org and Changezi.info in PHP4. Took maybe a weeks worth part time work and I got it a perfect fit (except for downloading attachments). I tried to make a custom C-compiled CGI-based webmail system for qmail using XML, but had a tough time looking up docs for the c-client libs to be able to read Maildirs directly. Gave up on it after trying to use the IMAP method, still on the lookout for c-client docs now.
Please post any free solutions you come up with.
-- "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you."
-Nim Chimpsky
Re:Make it custom
by
Naikrovek
·
· Score: 3, Funny
use perl next time - its only as hard to read and write as you make it.
all the functions you need to write a webmail app are already coded as modules and all you have to do is tie them together. the code from acmemail can probably be used to help one write a perl-based webmail application: http://www.astray.com/acmemail/
perl isn't as scary as some people make it out to be. and usually those people don't know perl, so they're talking through their arse.
Re:could avoid webmail and use VPN instead.
by
larien
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Simple counterpoint; can you use that in a cybercafe? No, but you'll have a web browser which can work on a web-based solution.
It depends on what you're aiming at, to be honest; VPN is more secure, but you have to have the necessary software installed on the client.
Let the morons begin
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Now the question posed was not well defined, but your going to have a really hard time to find a good alternative to Outlook Web Access, if you also want to privde the same functionality.
If you want users to be able to set up meetings, check their co workers schedules, send email, look up their contacts etc, and the repsository for this info is Exchange your pretty much stuck, or your going to spend serious time, integrating a lot of different solutions, into something much less slick.
You might want to look into ways you can lock up outlook with web acccess. First off run it on seperate computers of course from the Exchange server, place the OWAs in the DMZ, prefrably make ppl VPN into them, run Microsofts new proxy server as an added security meassure. Run really good firewalls, you might even want to look into running reverse proxies on a UNIX platform in order to "shield" the MS machines more.
SuSE Linux OpenExchange Server
by
Joe+Tennies
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
It's not a free alternative, but it's supposed to be cheaper and can still be used w/ outlook (and therefore should work w/ evolution too).
http://www.suse.com/us/business/products/suse_busi ness/openexchange/
I have no affiliation w/ SuSE. I just find this product interesting.
Slashdot Mirror
IMP is the Internet Messaging Program. It is written in PHP and provides webmail access to IMAP and POP3 accounts.
Acts@core.mailboks.com Acrux@core.mailboks.com Adam@core.mailboks.com Adar@core.mailboks.com Ada@core.mailboks.com
Perhaps it's too obvious, but Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003 share the goal to be secure by design, secure by default, and secure in deployment.
We have used SquirrelMail for som time now, and our users are very happy. Stay with open standards (IMAP/SMTP/LDAP), and you can replace components in a system (eg. Exchange) without changing everything.
From http://www.squirrelmail.org/:What is SquirrelMail?
SquirrelMail is a standards-based webmail package written in PHP4. It includes built-in pure PHP support for the IMAP and SMTP protocols, and all pages render in pure HTML 4.0 (with no Javascript) for maximum compatibility across browsers. It has very few requirements and is very easy to configure and install. SquirrelMail has a all the functionality you would want from an email client, including strong MIME support, address books, and folder manipulation.
RFC1925
I was looking around for a webmail, and all I could find was IMP and squirrelmail. Believe me theyre both not quite mature, although I saw IMP running for years at Plattsburgh State. Installation of either is a ROYAL pain and not standardized, so you have to design your server, OS and other settings for the webmail system. for eg, for Squirrelmail you have to use courier imap and either courier mta or qmail. For IMP, you need certain versions of PHP with certain compile flags plus install HORDE. Last year this was complicated dont know now..
I made my own webmail for the site Hazara.org and Changezi.info in PHP4. Took maybe a weeks worth part time work and I got it a perfect fit (except for downloading attachments). I tried to make a custom C-compiled CGI-based webmail system for qmail using XML, but had a tough time looking up docs for the c-client libs to be able to read Maildirs directly. Gave up on it after trying to use the IMAP method, still on the lookout for c-client docs now.
Please post any free solutions you come up with.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
It depends on what you're aiming at, to be honest; VPN is more secure, but you have to have the necessary software installed on the client.
Now the question posed was not well defined, but your going to have a really hard time to find a good alternative to Outlook Web Access, if you also want to privde the same functionality.
If you want users to be able to set up meetings, check their co workers schedules, send email, look up their contacts etc, and the repsository for this info is Exchange your pretty much stuck, or your going to spend serious time, integrating a lot of different solutions, into something much less slick.
You might want to look into ways you can lock up outlook with web acccess. First off run it on seperate computers of course from the Exchange server, place the OWAs in the DMZ, prefrably make ppl VPN into them, run Microsofts new proxy server as an added security meassure. Run really good firewalls, you might even want to look into running reverse proxies on a UNIX platform in order to "shield" the MS machines more.
It's not a free alternative, but it's supposed to be cheaper and can still be used w/ outlook (and therefore should work w/ evolution too). http://www.suse.com/us/business/products/suse_busi ness/openexchange/
I have no affiliation w/ SuSE. I just find this product interesting.