[sniffer] Smartermail
Hello sniffer list, Like so many declude/sniffer users, we have been using IMail for the past seven years and currently host mail for about 1600 domains/5000 users. We are going to be moving to another mail package (you know why) and I know I have seen some comments on this list regarding making the move to Smartermail. From what I can see, Smartermail is *almost* there, but still lacks in a few of areas. I am looking for feedback from recent IMail to Smartermail converts -- the good, the bad and the ugly... Thanks, Steve. This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
RE: [sniffer] Smartermail
Hi there I was contacted off-list this morning by another user with the same question - below is my reply - we moved just a few days ago from iMail to SmarterMail. Hope it helps... --- We too have been looking for an alternative to iMail for a couple of years now. A number of reasons forced our hand - the increase in price of iMail (more arrogance on their part than cost), the lack of attention they have paid to software design problems we have highlighted to them in the past, and a general slow-down of the server when dealing with many threads. So, we've been watching closely the emergence of SmarterMail and their relationship with Declude. We spoke at lengths with Declude and admired their enthusiasm for the product and the way SmarterMail's technical team seem to be willing to work with users to fine-tune future releases. SmarterTools (the company behind SmarterMail) have iMail users in their sights with a migration tools to grab all the iMail data, and mailbox contents, including address books etc, to SmarterMail. We used this and it took about 6 hours (throughout the night of course!) to migrate around 1,000 domains, 5,000 users and their content. There are a few problems we came across - one being that if the mailbox on iMail hasn't been used - ie the directory structure hasn't yet been created by iMail - the migration tool misses it. One to watch for. Declude's latest version is compatible with SmarterMail, and of course then so to is Sniffer. However, Declude Hijack hasn't been ported yet, but SmarterMail has some similar preventative measures available to do much the same thing. We have a lot of scripting behind our mail servers to automate the administration of accounts from our own control panel. We spent a couple of weeks prior to the migration getting these working on SmarterMail - we found there's nothing that can't be done that can be done on iMail. What is useful is the per-domain stats that can be automatically pulled into XML on the fly - we might run this type of gathering nightly and drop the usage data into the database for general consumption/service levels etc. So, it's all working now - and for the most, all went smoothly. Now were looking at performance. The machine we ported to is three times more powerful, so it's hard to compare exactly, however normal stats look good. We are, however, being plagued by one problem, which on closer inspection may be the cause of Sniffer perpetual dropping out - every few minutes the server will freeze for a few seconds (desktop, web services, pop3 checking, etc halt). Watching the CPU usage we see it drop to almost nothing, then at the end of the freeze, it spikes up to 100% for a few seconds - then the machine releases. It's as though there is some kind of bottleneck from a process that has higher priority over pretty much everything else. We're trying to pinpoint the problem by removing various parts to see if that helps. Today we're going to take off Declude for a few minutes and see if that's the cause. I'm sure this is not normal behaviour. We've reported it to SmarterTools and are awaiting their reply. So, in conclusion, it's a good, reasonably straightforward move considering the task. SmarterMail appears to be a much better mail server in terms of features and the user interface. But there are these few things we need to resolve to fully endorse the new server. Our users can only see basic changes such as a new WebMail facility - the rest can be made to feel the same as iMail. I'll keep you up-to-date with our progress. If Declude/Sniffer/iMail users need any more information on such a migration, I'd be glad to offer some hindsight... Nick Nick Marshall Giacom World Networks Ltd Tel +44 (0) 870 740 Mobile +44 (0) 7799 060 555 Fax +44 (0) 870 740 7177 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Legally privileged/confidential information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee(s) legally indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy or deliver this message to anyone. In such case, you should destroy this message, and notify us immediately. If you or your employer does not consent to Internet e-mail messages of this kind, please advise us immediately. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given or endorsed by my firm or employer unless otherwise indicated by an authorised representative independent of this message. Please note that neither my employer nor I accept any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any). This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this email in error, please notify me by returning the email. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of sniffer Sent: 15
Re: [sniffer] Smartermail
Hi Steve, You wrote: We are going to be moving to another mail package (you know why)... I would very much like to hear your comments about Imail and any difficulties you've encountered and why you feel the need to switch. You can write to me offline if you'd prefer. Thank you, Michael Stein Computer House [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.computerhouse.com This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
RE: [sniffer] Smartermail
If possible I'm interessed in this discussion me too Thank you Alberto -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Computer House Support Sent: mardi 15 mars 2005 17:20 To: sniffer@SortMonster.com Subject: Re: [sniffer] Smartermail Hi Steve, You wrote: We are going to be moving to another mail package (you know why)... I would very much like to hear your comments about Imail and any difficulties you've encountered and why you feel the need to switch. You can write to me offline if you'd prefer. Thank you, Michael Stein Computer House [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.computerhouse.com This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
Re: [sniffer] Smartermail
Whew man, that pretty much sums it up. It has always annoyed me that we spent almost $900.00 per year for what amounts to patch access. Functionally IMail has barely changed through the years and we have been using it since version 3.0. I really wonder what the heck is going on with Ipswitch. They didn't used to behave like this. Someone is clearly on an ego bender and I think that so much damage has already been done that even if they decided to rethink things it wouldn't matter to all the loyal customers they once had. William Van Hefner wrote: I think that for most of us it is because Ipswitch announced that they will no longer be selling Imail as a stand-alone product, and instead are trying to force us to upgrade to a product that costs thousands of dollars to upgrade to, hundreds of dollars each year more to license and is really nothing more than Imail and a couple of third-party software products that do not integrate whatsoever, and can be bought elsewhere separately for cheaper. Like they thought that we wouldn't notice! Their product suite was voted worst of breed in a recent magazine comparison of competing products, and the fact that one of their marketing directors told the entire Imail user base via its support mailing list that if they didn't like it, they should go elsewhere, was the last straw for many. Myself included. Why would I want to do business with a company that has does not care about its users opinions and tells them to go elsewhere? Oh, yeah, their support SUCKS as well. I can't remember how many times I have asked them to send me my PAID upgrade download code via e-mail, and they simply never answer. I pay hundreds of dollars a year, just so I can download the latest upgraded version, and they can't even manage to get that right. For $500 a year, I can't even get them to return a simple e-mail. For a company that is supposedly in the e-mail business, that speaks volumes. Bite me, Ipswitch! William Van Hefner President Vantek Communications, Inc. 555 H Street, Suite C Eureka, CA 95501 707.476.0833 ph 800.331.4638 fx -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Computer House Support Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 8:20 AM To: sniffer@SortMonster.com Subject: Re: [sniffer] Smartermail Hi Steve, You wrote: We are going to be moving to another mail package (you know why)... I would very much like to hear your comments about Imail and any difficulties you've encountered and why you feel the need to switch. You can write to me offline if you'd prefer. Thank you, Michael Stein Computer House [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.computerhouse.com This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
Re: [sniffer] mail to individuals within domain
On Tuesday, March 15, 2005, 1:36:31 PM, Rick wrote: RH All of a sudden today Sniffer has started taking emails sent between users RH within a single domain and putting them in our hold system. Any ideas why RH this might happen and also how I can add a rule so that does not become a RH problem on snifer for other domains? RH Thank you for the help in advance. RH Rick Hogue We will need to know the rule ID(s) that are causing the problem so that we can make an adjustment. Also, once you've identified the rule ID by matching the message to it's log entry (or entries) in the sniffer log you can enter the rule ID into your .cfg file as a rule-panic entry. This will immediately turn off that rule for your system while we track down the rule and make adjustments to your rulebase. What you are looking for here is the rule panic procedure: http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/FalsePositivesHelp.html#RulePanic Hope this helps, _M This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
Re: [sniffer] Smartermail
Reading this from Ipswitch's site explains quite a bit, I think: Alex Neihaus Vice President, Marketing Alex Neihaus joined Ipswitch in April 2004 and brought with him a solid marketing background in collaboration, design and application software that aligns perfectly with the Ipswitch product lines. Neihaus joined Ipswitch from AccuRev, Inc., a software configuration management vendor, where as Vice President of Marketing he used integrated and focused marketing campaigns to differentiate the company from established competitors. Immediately prior, Neihaus led marketing efforts for Revit Technology, an architectural design software business, through its acquisition by Autodesk, Inc. He has also held management positions at IBM Corporation and Lotus Development Corp. Neihaus leads Ipswitchs global marketing efforts as the company expands its reach from small and mid-sized business to small enterprises. He is responsible for corporate communications as well as product marketing and Web-related marketing activities for the Ipswitch IMail Server, Ipswitch WhatsUp and Ipswitch WS_FTP product lines. Through his marketing leadership, Alex will ensure that businesses and individuals not currently using our software will discover the benefits we provide - practical, easy to use solutions that are powerful, yet comprehensible, and solve real-world problems. sniffer wrote: Whew man, that pretty much sums it up. It has always annoyed me that we spent almost $900.00 per year for what amounts to patch access. Functionally IMail has barely changed through the years and we have been using it since version 3.0. I really wonder what the heck is going on with Ipswitch. They didn't used to behave like this. Someone is clearly on an ego bender and I think that so much damage has already been done that even if they decided to rethink things it wouldn't matter to all the loyal customers they once had. William Van Hefner wrote: I think that for most of us it is because Ipswitch announced that they will no longer be selling Imail as a stand-alone product, and instead are trying to force us to upgrade to a product that costs thousands of dollars to upgrade to, hundreds of dollars each year more to license and is really nothing more than Imail and a couple of third-party software products that do not integrate whatsoever, and can be bought elsewhere separately for cheaper. Like they thought that we wouldn't notice! Their product suite was voted worst of breed in a recent magazine comparison of competing products, and the fact that one of their marketing directors told the entire Imail user base via its support mailing list that if they didn't like it, they should go elsewhere, was the last straw for many. Myself included. Why would I want to do business with a company that has does not care about its users opinions and tells them to go elsewhere? Oh, yeah, their support SUCKS as well. I can't remember how many times I have asked them to send me my PAID upgrade download code via e-mail, and they simply never answer. I pay hundreds of dollars a year, just so I can download the latest upgraded version, and they can't even manage to get that right. For $500 a year, I can't even get them to return a simple e-mail. For a company that is supposedly in the e-mail business, that speaks volumes. Bite me, Ipswitch! William Van Hefner President Vantek Communications, Inc. 555 H Street, Suite C Eureka, CA 95501 707.476.0833 ph 800.331.4638 fx -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Computer House Support Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 8:20 AM To: sniffer@SortMonster.com Subject: Re: [sniffer] Smartermail Hi Steve, You wrote: We are going to be moving to another mail package (you know why)... I would very much like to hear your comments about Imail and any difficulties you've encountered and why you feel the need to switch. You can write to me offline if you'd prefer. Thank you, Michael Stein Computer House [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.computerhouse.com This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html This E-Mail came from the Message Sniffer mailing list. For information and (un)subscription instructions go to http://www.sortmonster.com/MessageSniffer/Help/Help.html
