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Recommendations for the Right IMAP Server?
"I'm still at a loss for what to do. The documentation of all but uw-imap seem to be a bit complex for me. If it helps, I'd like to point out that I have Mutt and nbsmtp installed, which work fine for connecting to our SMTP and POP servers. How do I know what will serve our needs the best? Also, is there an IMAP server that I could install easily for testing and learning purposes? I'd like to be able to get something installed without much configuration. Security shouldn't be an issue for testing purposes, because it will only be on the local network, and the computer will be turned off when I'm not actively testing it. We're also willing to purchase products as well. We're willing to hire a professional to do it for us, but the boss wanted some research done so that we know what we're getting. Any comments are welcome. Thanks in advance."
Don't do it. Outsource it to a datacenter. There's absolutely zero reason for you to do this yourself. The correct answer is to pay a service provider a small fee to take care of the servers, the backups, the security, the maintenance, and all of that bullshit for you.
Don't.
testing out my trending skills
Do they backport security fixes to stable code trees? Or do you have to install new (possibly unstable) versions of packages to fix newly-discovered vulnerabilities?
It's always a long day... 86400 doesn't fit into a short.
I thought that Gentoo really would provide the best, compared to RH & various precompiled distributions
First rule of being a sysadmin: You NEVER put a compiler on a production server. Ever.
All software (including updates) is compiled and tested on a dev machine (preferably on a disconnected network), then moved to the production machine once you're satisfied that it won't break anything.
This pretty much precludes Gentoo.
I thought that it would be more stable if I chose only the stable releases.
Stability is not measured in point releases. Stability is measured by testing. As in you testing, in your configuration.
What distibution do you recommend for this
Slackware. Rock solid, as Pat doesn't include anything he hasn't tested. (With the exception of security fixes, Slackware packages are typically 1-2 months behind the bleeding edge, to allow for testing.) If there is software you need that Slackware doesn't include, you can compile it and test it your self (see above), safe in the knowledge that everything else is OK.
Please, please, please tell me how this saves any trouble at all? I challenge you to come up with a scenario where the simple fact that a compiler is not installed on a server somehow hinders the ability of a cracker, script kiddie or even just a determined end-user to install/run any software they want on a server. The 'never have a compiler on a server' mantra seems to be a relic from the days when compilers were expensive things you had to purchase from your OS vendor. What's next? Are you not going to install Perl, Python, and Bash?
All software (including updates) is compiled and tested on a dev machine (preferably on a disconnected network), then moved to the production machine once you're satisfied that it won't break anything.
This pretty much precludes Gentoo.
But this simply isn't true - Even if you wanted to leave the compilers off your production servers, you can still install BINARY packages in gentoo (e.g. the Gentoo Stage 3 install is a fully runnable gentoo system that's entirely prebuilt). You can easilly follow your methodology of compiling and testing on dev machines and then installing those binary builds on all the compatible hardware on your network. So, leave your FUD at the door and stop trying to scare people away from Gentoo.
I've been using courier for about 4 years now. Works great, very easy to set up, supports maildir so I've used it with both qmail and postfix, works well with both.
The only problem I had is mentioned by another person in this thread - it treats "}" as a needs-to-be-quoted char, which is incorrect. That means that if you have a "}" in your password (as I did at one time), and your mail client only quotes when needed (as the newer evolutions do), you won't be able to log in. I submitted a 1-line patch for this to the Courier mailing list, which the courier author reads. A couple months later, still it wasn't applied.
So I guess, I'm happy with its performance, and very happy with its ease of use. As another person in the thread says, it does have compliance issues with the IMAP standard, and the author doesn't seem to care, so if I had the time to set up something more complex like Cyrus I probable wouldn't use it.