Installation and Integration

We installed IMail on a PII 233 running NT4 SP4. The installer prompts for your IMail server hostname, type of user database, file location, SSL keys, and IMail services that should be automatically started (right). A few users/aliases are created automatically; others can be added during installation or later. Basic installation takes less than ten minutes; there is very little that must be configured up-front. There are really only two decisions you must make before installation: the hostname for your IMail Server and the database you'll use to store account information.

The PC on which you install IMail must be assigned the public IP address and registered hostname associated with the MX (mail exchanger) record for your domain. We found that a PTR record was also needed for reverse lookups used by other SMTP servers to authenticate your server. Several domains can be supported by the same IMail Server (see Virtual Domain Administration), but you'll designate just one as your primary domain during installation.

For integration with customer care systems, users can be imported from the NT User Database or any external ODBC database (e.g., Access, SQL Server). I imported users from NT and later exported them to an /etc/passwd-like file. For ODBC databases, you'll need to specify a DLL that supports the required functions. While these integration features are strong, IMail can't use a third-party LDAP server to store its own data, and IMail users report that the supplied ODBCUSER.DLL does not yet support SQL7.

After installation, POP3 access can be easily verified with the IMail Client. This basic client is intended primarily as a diagnostic aid, but cannot be separately installed or removed.

In fact, installing IMail software is an all-or-nothing deal. According to Ipswitch, some customers relocate mail directories onto network drives, but distributing IMail software across more than one PC is not supported. On the other hand, it is possible to selectively disable individual services. For example, install IMail Server on two PCs: one listens to SMTP and handles outgoing traffic, the other handles incoming mail and serves POP clients. Eliminating unwanted services and insulating critical resources from user-executed code are important security considerations easily overlooked in the default installation.