Hi all,

Can anybody recommend a Windows email server that doesn't fuss over domain names?

Unfortunately, our Post.Office server has incurable open-relay issues that force us to change server products. [Post.Office has long been discontinued.]

I am testing IMail and Merak and surprised that both over-complicate management by dividing users up by domain name. Is this standard? WHO CARES which domain name a mailbox belongs to?!

I don't know about other ISPs, but most of our customers have multiple .COM, .NET and .ORG domains and they want ONE e-mail inbox for all of 'em.

Post.Office was wonderfully transparent in this regard. One admin list contained the domain names to be supported by the server. Then, user "Bob" with primary address "bobby@customer1.com" could have aliases "admin@customer1.com", "bobby@mail.customer1.com" and "bobby@otherdomain.com." One mail server. One mail account. Unlimited aliases across multiple domains. How nice.

By comparisson, IMail wants a "virtual server" configured for every domain. The result of all this extra work? There are non-standard login problems (unless you can afford to grant a static IP to EVERY domain/virtual server) and users can't have cross-domain aliases. To do that, you must setup individual mailboxes with forwarders. What a mess! A customer with 20 domain names would consume 20 virtual servers, 20 forwarding mailboxes -- all just to get mail to one inbox.

Admittedly, there are some benefits to grouping mail accounts, but why by domain? Again, most hosting customers or organizations have multiple domains. They want one admin and one junk mailbox for mis-addressed mail -- not a separate one for each domain name.

If anybody can recommend an "all-purpose" mail server for Windows that better understands ISPs, I'm all ears. [Better yet, could somebody simply add SMTP AUTH support to Post.Office? I'll pay!!!] Damn Software.com/OpenWave for pulling this product without donating the source to public domain.

Sorry for the rant. I feel much better now.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Dave

I found that iMail is pretty darn nice, but it is a big app. MailMax is pretty good, although it's still domain/user, but I think any mail server that supports multiple domains has to be that way.

Merak will allow you to configure domain2.com as an alias of domain1.com, so that name@domain2.com mail goes to name@domain1.com, without loads of hassle.

We use iMail and Merak and so far I definitely prefer Merak. It's cheaper too.

in imail, ONE virtual server can have multiple alias, read the manual

Yes, IMail supports domain aliases, but only if your list of domain names is 255 characters or less. That may be enough to help a small organization, but certainly not an ISP.

Even then, I have hosting customers with 50 domains or more. They're not domain pirates; but just REALLY protective of their trademarks. They want ONE mailbox with an alias email address in each domain. This should be easy.

There is no technical reason to confine an email account, it's address and aliases to a single domain name. Hosting customers have multiple domains, multiple email addresses, with multiple aliases spanning their domains. This is the real-world organization of things. Technology should support that; not introduce unnecessary limitations.

Ideally, email servers would allow for arbitrary grouping by, say, "organization," into which all of the hosting customer's domain names and email accounts would go. Addresses, aliases and forwarders would need only be limited to the organization's list of supported domain names. An email admin, "general" mailbox and preferences would serve the entire organization (all domain names), rather than defining or duplicating these for every domain name.

Whaddya think?

Thank you all for your input.

Dave

We also use Merak Mail and it's pretty bulletproof and simple.

Since nobody has mentioned it yet, MailEnable (http://www.mailenable.com)