Comment Adios Exchange (Score 1) 569
We did this last year. We were on Exchange 5.5 with Outlook. Just got tired of monthly reboots, zombie Exchange processes, viruses, and those damn Outlook profiles.
We put together a system we called Steamroller. Courier-IMAP, OpenLDAP, qmail-LDAP, Sympa, Squirrelmail, and SunOne Calendar Server. Works like a champ. Adios Exchange. Adios Outlook. Adios crappy problems with no obvious cause and no obvious answer.
Courier-IMAP = maildir IMAP
OpenLDAP = store user passwords and info
qmail-LDAP = grok LDAP for info, virus scanning, SMTP
Sympa = distribution lists, err mailing lists
Squirrelmail = webmail from any computer
SunOne Calendar = uh, calendar
We didn't try to clone Outlook or try to claim that our system was Outlook/Exchange. We distilled what was essential in Exchange and added it to our system and added some refinements.
The big selling point for us was that an email system that goes down is like having no email system at all. We were able to trade some, uh features of Exchange/Outlook in return for rock solid stability.
We were also able to whip up some nice Perl cgi scripts to do administration of the system and a plugin for Squirrelmail that allows the users to have out of office functionality.
We have a HOWTO document if you are interested. You may want to check out QVCS as well
http://www.dulug.duke.edu/~icon/qvcs-guide/
There was a handful of users who resisted the change, however, we worked hard to sell the idea to IT staff, managment and the users. A big plus was having the new system running in parallel for several weeks for users to try it out before we migrated. The migration itself was smooth, a few calls from people who did not attend training, a few 'how do i...' questions and that was it.
Is very handy for our users to go to conferences, training, etc and get access to their same mailbox or calendar as if they were sitting at their desk.
End result was that it removed a PITA administration area and greatly reduced the overhead on our help desk. Nothing like setting up 25 or 30 Outlook profiles on a single computer at a fire station.
We put together a system we called Steamroller. Courier-IMAP, OpenLDAP, qmail-LDAP, Sympa, Squirrelmail, and SunOne Calendar Server. Works like a champ. Adios Exchange. Adios Outlook. Adios crappy problems with no obvious cause and no obvious answer.
Courier-IMAP = maildir IMAP
OpenLDAP = store user passwords and info
qmail-LDAP = grok LDAP for info, virus scanning, SMTP
Sympa = distribution lists, err mailing lists
Squirrelmail = webmail from any computer
SunOne Calendar = uh, calendar
We didn't try to clone Outlook or try to claim that our system was Outlook/Exchange. We distilled what was essential in Exchange and added it to our system and added some refinements.
The big selling point for us was that an email system that goes down is like having no email system at all. We were able to trade some, uh features of Exchange/Outlook in return for rock solid stability.
We were also able to whip up some nice Perl cgi scripts to do administration of the system and a plugin for Squirrelmail that allows the users to have out of office functionality.
We have a HOWTO document if you are interested. You may want to check out QVCS as well
http://www.dulug.duke.edu/~icon/qvcs-guide/
There was a handful of users who resisted the change, however, we worked hard to sell the idea to IT staff, managment and the users. A big plus was having the new system running in parallel for several weeks for users to try it out before we migrated. The migration itself was smooth, a few calls from people who did not attend training, a few 'how do i...' questions and that was it.
Is very handy for our users to go to conferences, training, etc and get access to their same mailbox or calendar as if they were sitting at their desk.
End result was that it removed a PITA administration area and greatly reduced the overhead on our help desk. Nothing like setting up 25 or 30 Outlook profiles on a single computer at a fire station.
