Best of the ISP-Lists

A Frequently E-Mailed Question

It's a question so nice, they asked it twice. What Windows mail server do you like?

[April 21, 2004]

In February on the ISP-Webhosting list, SC asked:

Hello list,

We are looking in integrating a windows mail server with our hostingautomation software. What Mail server do you advise we should integrate? We have been looking at IMail and MailEnable so far. Your help is appreciated.

[MH claimed] "I have nothing but good things to say about MailEnable. Priced real good too."

[SH advised] "Merak mail from IceWarp is the best one I have found. mDaemon from Alt-N was also very good."

[JK noted] "We have been using Imail by Ipswitch with great success."

In March on the ISP-Webhosting list, SP posted a similar but far more detailed query:

Hi All,

I need a mail server for Win2k. I have Exchange (2003?), but having never used it, it looks "complicated". I need POP3 & SMTP. I have about 500 accounts in 80 domains. I would like at least 500 accounts excess capacity. I would like a webmail solution. I would like MySQL/SQL Server support. AV/spam stuff is secondary.

Price is a prime consideration. Any suggestions from experienced users would be appreciated.

[MH claimed] "Can't praise MailEnable enough. We have been using them for about a year now on our Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers. It even works with Ensim if you use the Ensim control panel system."

[AK advised] "Whatever you do, don't use Exchange unless you have a special need. The only NT product we use is IMail. It's simple, powerful and very well supported."

[DM wrote] "We've been using IMail for over 5 years now. The only problem we ever had was that it was on Windows. If it wasn't such a pain to migrate, we would have moved to a Linux solution long ago. But overall, it is a good server, and their prices have gotten much more reasonable then they were."

[JH mused] "I'm going through this same process right now. I attempted to use MailMax from SmartMax, which looked like it could be promising. But didn't turn out that way. Problems with getting it to install and very limited spam filtering options. IMail looks like a decent option except that by the time you do IMail and Delcude anti-virus and anti-spam, you are at an approx $5,000 solution for unlimited users. I'm now looking at MailEnable which looks like it might have some promise."

[AK replied] "A lot of IMail users use Postfix for spam and virus protection. Yeah, Declude is pricey."

[SA asked] "We're using a combination of products from Gordano—they've got anti-virus and anti-spam stuff. The products are a little more spendy, but seem to work pretty well. Anyone else using Gordano products?"

[JM complained] "Few if any Windows e-mail servers will have inexpensive integrated AV or anti-spam. Every one I've seen costs a nice piece of change plus requires an annual subscription."

[DB replied] "Mercury does. But it doesn't do the SQL server lookups, AFAIK."

[JM closed the thread with a rant] "I took a look at the MailEnable page. The current version doesn't offer much—it doesn't even do IMAP. The Enterprise version looks promising at only $500, but I wouldn't want to put too much faith in a version 1.0 e-mail server. The only anti-spam measures mentioned are the use of blacklists and there's no mention of integrated AV. I also don't particularly like the idea of .asp webmail, but you can always install SquirrelMail.

Stay away from Rockliffe MailSite. Crummy company that does little to develop the product and it keeps getting (inexplicably) more expensive, while falling further behind the features found in other Windows e-mail servers. The focus at Rockliffe is on marketing the product without investing the necessary resources to its development. I predict they'll be out of business within a couple of years or else they'll sell the company/product to someone that has the money to bring it up to date."

[Ed. note: many of these products are reviewed in ServerWatch's Server Directory. See, for example, reviews of MailMax, MailSite, Sendmail, Merak Mail, Gordano, MDaemon, and IMail.]

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