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Re: [LUG] To host or local: Mail server, groupware

 

Richard Brown wrote:
> Hi All
> 
> I have been looking at setting up a mail and groupware server. I have
> been asking questions on a ubuntu list but as the answers are moving
> away from ubuntu I thought I might ask questions here.
> 
> So to explain. I have just started to manage the companies IT
> structure and it is totally disorganised. We have a user whose laptop
> needs repairing but I can't do it during the day because she needs it.
> So I suggested she uses a different machine whilst I repair it but she
> has lots of stuff personal to her job on it. Things like bookmarks,
> email, files, etc. But we have servers why doesn't she use them... So
> a list of needs:
> 1. File server (this will be hosted locally)
> 2. Mail server - this would collect all mail and then redistribute it
> to the staff. They all have personal email addresses (i.e. john@....)
> 3. A central place to host company bookmarks
> 4. A central address books that contain tags and categories for ease of use
> 5. A central calendar
> 6. A way to send notes to staff
> 7. A web server to serve an intranet
> 
> This answers the question but we are also looking at:
> 8. Replacing Sage
> 9. Replacing MS Office (not so easy at the moment because they do a
> lot of access calculations in conjunction with Sage!)
> 10. Installing a crm
> 
> For me the urgency is to migrate users away from having data stored on
> their own machines so they can simply shift to a new computer if a
> repair is needed!
> 
> Firstly, how do mail servers run please? Is it possible to host it
> locally where we pull all the mail to a machine which the users then
> connect to to collect mail? Is this a better service performed online?
> They have a web hosting package but the hosting agents don't want to
> host mail. Is it possible to separate the two then?
> 

I installed such a server for a local company recently, their server 
downloads mail via POP3 from their web hosting provider to the server. 
Each account is configured to point to a specific user account on the 
server, so john.doe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx points to a user called john on 
the server.

The server itself also has webmail built in so as long as the ports for 
HTTPS were forwarded on the router the staff could pick up their mail 
from anywhere on the internet (or alternatively they can also use IMAPS 
to pick up their mail on their home PCs using something like Thunderbird).]

Alternatively you may be able to get something like this hosted where 
the hosting provider downloads the mail from a POP3 account (or I guess 
SMTP) and stores it on their servers.

> Secondly, it has been suggested I try this distro:
> <http://wiki.contribs.org/Main_Page>
> What do you think? Is it better to get an all in one package or add
> packages to a distro?
> 
> Thanks for all the help.

I would personally recommend SME Server, it's easy to use, even for the 
most non-technical of users.  I've been using it now for about 5 years.

You could however as suggested setup a couple of servers (or maybe even 
a couple of virtual machines running something like Debian, Ubuntu, 
Fedora etc) to do different tasks.

For the groupware I'd suggest eGroupware.  It has an e-mail client built 
in, calendar, Tasks and lots of other features too.  It's web based so 
it could be accessed from the office or anywhere on the net.  It can 
also sync with Outlook & Thunderbird if you use the Funambol client.

With regards to hosting it on a local server or getting it hosted 
externally, both have their pros and cons.  If you host it locally 
you're still able to access the server if the internet goes down 
(although no new e-mails will come in) but then you have the task of 
making sure it's backed up etc.

If it's hosted externally then there should be a pretty good uptime but 
if your internet goes down you won't be able to access the e-mail/groupware.

Rob

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