Re: [aclug-L] Mail Server, Address Book

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Troy Wolf" <troy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> I'm developing a Linux mail server for my corporation to replace the 
> proprietary and antiquated mail server currently in use.

Great!

> I think I know how to implement POP3 and IMAP and configure users access to 
> mail accounts, but if any of you can direct me to some instructions detailing 
> this (preferrably from this decade!  I don't need to read about UUCP mail 
> connections!), I'd appreciate it.

Well, it's pretty simple:
1. Add accounts for the users on your mail server
2. Install a POP3 and/or IMAP server
3. Install sendmail or other mail server

That's it!

> My research online and tips from users at the ACLUG meeting prompted
> me to investigate LDAP.  I now have a Linux server running openLDAP.
> From the Linux server I can query the database just dandy!
> (wheee!).  Outlook Express can access LDAP databases, so I tried to
> test with it, but
> 
> 1) I can't find the LDAP server from the mail client.
> Incorrect port # possibly?  Outlook Express is defaulting to port 389 for 
> LDAP servers.  How do I see what port Linux is listening on for LDAP requests?

1. ps auxww | grep programname

where programname is the name of your program.  Then, armed with the
pid:

netstat -pan | grep pid

(this command must be run as root).  As an example, from apache:

erwin:~# ps auxww | grep apache
root       594  0.0  0.1 29184  424 ?        S    May03   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
erwin:~# netstat -pan | grep 594
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:80              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      
594/apache          

Look in the first set of numbers, the 0.0.0.0 in this case.  The
number after the colon is the port number.

> 2) Outllook Express seems to only use LDAP databases to either
> "find" or "verify" email addresses--not as a selectable list of
> public email addresses.  So after this, I'm not sure LDAP can
> provide my public address book solution.

I really don't know how the MS-land stuff is trying to get this info.
If you could find out, I may be able to suggest a solution.

> I'm a little surprised that this is even an issue--a public address
> book should be a fairly common feature of mail systems.  I'm
> especially surprised that the mail client software can't simply be
> configured to use a shared text file for email addresses and names.

The heritage of Unix is that people traditionally had accounts on the
same machine as the mail, so they can just use existing mechanisms
like finger and grep to find the info.  There just doesn't seem to be
a lot of demand for it in Unixland.

I know that there are programs out there that do this, though.

-- 
John Goerzen   Linux, Unix consulting & programming   jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade)       www.debian.org |