Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Yes - we're using Zimbra and some of my peers are using Zimbra or Scalix. Fine enough. I am actually quite happy with Zimbra - there are some annoyances (its NON-interop with Nokia e-series mobiles, eg) but otherwise it works very well. M - Dvir Volk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thanks, anyone has real experience in using them in a real business environment? On 10/11/07, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You might want to checkout Scalix, OpenGroupware.org and openXchange, all of which have (more or less) all the features you mentioned. OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. I think Scalix provides the Outlook connector for free, but requires that you use a premium user with the connector. The first 25 premium users in the community edition of Scalix are free, but when you need more premium users, you need to buy licenses for them. The number of standard users in Scalix is unlimited in the free (community) edition, but standard users only have email, and can't collaborate/share calendars. Access to mobile phones and PDAs might have to go through Funambol - you'll need to check that out. I had no need for this, so I didn't bother with it last time I looked around for an exchange replacement. Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees, probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution. Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it or at least install it and guide us, in Israel. our requirements are: Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
It is NOT too much a hassle to set up. All you need to do is: 1. Call the IT person into the room 2. Make a serious and intimidating face 3. Using a grave tone, say - Nir - you will install Scalix tomorrow. I want it done yesterday M - Amos Shapira [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 12/10/2007, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. Last time I tried to look at openXchange (in order to learn about an exchange alternative when I hoped I'll be asked for it) it looked a pretty complicated task to set it up. Is this true or did I get the wrong impression? And as Dvir asked already - does anyone here have true real-life experience setting up and using any of these solutions to report about? Thanks, --Amos = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
You got it all wrong! Marc Volovic wrote: It is NOT too much a hassle to set up. All you need to do is: 1. Call the IT person into the room 2. Make a serious and intimidating face 3. Using a grave tone, say - Nir - you will install Scalix tomorrow. I want it done yesterday That's the procedure for REMOVING OpenExchange! M - Amos Shapira [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Last time I tried to look at openXchange (in order to learn about an exchange alternative when I hoped I'll be asked for it) it looked a pretty complicated task to set it up. Is this true or did I get the wrong impression? Shachar = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Sure, but what interests me is the integration they offer between groupware applications and clients with current technology that support all of it. I'm looking for something similar to the addon Geva Zeichner wrote for Gmail. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2879 (You see, I managed to avoid the w2 word :) ) On 12/10/2007 00:17, Lior Okman wrote: All of these support IMAP for regular mail, so you can use the mail client of your choice for email. Lior Moshe Leibovitch wrote: Any updates regarding Hebrew support for any of them? ( mainly composing editor supporting RTL ) On 11/10/2007 18:49, Lior Okman wrote: --snip-- Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, --snip-- Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir --snip-- = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Moshe Leibovitch CEO MLN Computerized Systems Ltd. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: Moshe.Leibovitch Mobile: +972-546-484411 Phone: +972-3-5407371 Fax:+972-3-5407371 = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
On 10/11/07, Dvir Volk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thanks, anyone has real experience in using them in a real business environment? Yes. both with Scalix and Zimbra. Both are robust and offer a much richer web interface then Exchange. Both offer superior backup and restore mechanism then Exchange. In the two environment used, Hebrew on the Web interface is not an requirement. Outlook was using with Scalix and no issues were reported regarding Hebrew. Outlook connectors are a problem on Internet environment. RPC over SSL is not an option, so other tunneling solutions are required (IPsec, stunnel or ssh), which is annoying for user (but if they insist on outlook...) Scalix is closer in functionality and interface to Exchange, which is rather limiting. Zimbra has more features (tagging, integration with spam filters, a richer rule set). They are not cheap. Don't go there to save money on licensing. They are also licensed yearly. They are more robust then exchange and have smaller infrastructure demands (Windows Servers and AD) On 10/11/07, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You might want to checkout Scalix, OpenGroupware.org and openXchange, all of which have (more or less) all the features you mentioned. OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. I think Scalix provides the Outlook connector for free, but requires that you use a premium user with the connector. The first 25 premium users in the community edition of Scalix are free, but when you need more premium users, you need to buy licenses for them. The number of standard users in Scalix is unlimited in the free (community) edition, but standard users only have email, and can't collaborate/share calendars. Access to mobile phones and PDAs might have to go through Funambol - you'll need to check that out. I had no need for this, so I didn't bother with it last time I looked around for an exchange replacement. Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees, probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution. Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it or at least install it and guide us, in Israel. our requirements are: Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FOSS alternative to Exchange
Hi list, My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees, probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution. Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it or at least install it and guide us, in Israel. our requirements are: Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Zimbra OS edition (if it still exists)?
- yba
On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Dvir Volk wrote:
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:31:05 +0200
From: Dvir Volk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Israeli Linux mailing list linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il
Subject: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Hi list,
My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees,
probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current
mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution.
Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a
full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it
or at least install it and guide us, in Israel.
our requirements are:
Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win
(Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own
dedicated server.
Any advice?
Dvir
=
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Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
You might want to checkout Scalix, OpenGroupware.org and openXchange, all of which have (more or less) all the features you mentioned. OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. I think Scalix provides the Outlook connector for free, but requires that you use a premium user with the connector. The first 25 premium users in the community edition of Scalix are free, but when you need more premium users, you need to buy licenses for them. The number of standard users in Scalix is unlimited in the free (community) edition, but standard users only have email, and can't collaborate/share calendars. Access to mobile phones and PDAs might have to go through Funambol - you'll need to check that out. I had no need for this, so I didn't bother with it last time I looked around for an exchange replacement. Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees, probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution. Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it or at least install it and guide us, in Israel. our requirements are: Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Any updates regarding Hebrew support for any of them? ( mainly composing editor supporting RTL ) On 11/10/2007 18:49, Lior Okman wrote: --snip-- Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, --snip-- Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir --snip-- -- Moish = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
thanks, anyone has real experience in using them in a real business environment? On 10/11/07, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You might want to checkout Scalix, OpenGroupware.org and openXchange, all of which have (more or less) all the features you mentioned. OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. I think Scalix provides the Outlook connector for free, but requires that you use a premium user with the connector. The first 25 premium users in the community edition of Scalix are free, but when you need more premium users, you need to buy licenses for them. The number of standard users in Scalix is unlimited in the free (community) edition, but standard users only have email, and can't collaborate/share calendars. Access to mobile phones and PDAs might have to go through Funambol - you'll need to check that out. I had no need for this, so I didn't bother with it last time I looked around for an exchange replacement. Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, My company, a rapidly growing startup (right now about 15 employees, probably around 50 within a year), is looking to upgrade our current mail server to a full fledged Exchange or similar solution. Before we're surrendering to M$, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a full FOSS solution for our needs, possibly with someone to support it or at least install it and guide us, in Israel. our requirements are: Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
All of these support IMAP for regular mail, so you can use the mail client of your choice for email. Lior Moshe Leibovitch wrote: Any updates regarding Hebrew support for any of them? ( mainly composing editor supporting RTL ) On 11/10/2007 18:49, Lior Okman wrote: --snip-- Open-Xchange - http://www.open-xchange.com/header/community_area.html OpenGroupware.org - http://opengroupware.org/ Scalix - http://www.scalix.com/ Hope this helps, Lior Dvir Volk wrote: Hi list, --snip-- Mail; Calendar sharing; PDA Access; Access to all features from Win (Outlook access is a must) , Mac and Linux; Web Access; and our own dedicated server. Any advice? Dvir --snip-- = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
On 12/10/2007, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OpenXchange requires that you buy a connector for Outlook access, but it's pretty cheap. Last time I tried to look at openXchange (in order to learn about an exchange alternative when I hoped I'll be asked for it) it looked a pretty complicated task to set it up. Is this true or did I get the wrong impression? And as Dvir asked already - does anyone here have true real-life experience setting up and using any of these solutions to report about? Thanks, --Amos
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
Amos Shapira wrote: Last time I tried to look at openXchange (in order to learn about an exchange alternative when I hoped I'll be asked for it) it looked a pretty complicated task to set it up. Is this true or did I get the wrong impression? And as Dvir asked already - does anyone here have true real-life experience setting up and using any of these solutions to report about? I've installed all three, in order to test them. I haven't actually used them in production, or for very long in the test environment. Of them all, I would recommend Scalix, as the best documented and easiest to install. Scalix is pretty easy - assuming you stick to their supported platform (RHEL Xandros). The downloaded file contains an installer that basically verifies that your system is approved, and then installs a set of RPM files, and walks you through the basic configuration. If you don't stick to what they support, you can still install the RPM files manually, but it ain't fun. *. Their web based client refused to work with Debian's iceweasel, based on the user agent browser identification, but when I changed the user agent to Firefox everything worked. The forums have a note on this, saying that scalix consider iceweasel to be a separate platform that they don't QA and don't support. *. Scalix uses PAM for authenticating users - I was able to easily configure it to work with my LDAP and Kerberos services. The difficulty with Open-Xchange is the set of prerequisites on the system. Assuming you get these right, open-xchange itself isn't that hard to get working. Open-Xchange builds on lots of other stuff, and (at least the 0.8 community edition) doesn't provide an easy way to control all of these services. To set it up, you need to setup the following (not the current version - I tried out the previous [0.8] version and things seem to have changed with the latest version [hyperion]) : *. Java (1.5 at least) *. MySQL *. Tomcat *. Apache web server *. AJP13 connector (to configure Apache to front for Tomcat) *. Cyrus (or any other IMAP server, but they recommend Cyrus). I actually used Courier, but I missed out on some features - I couldn't get OX to support server-side mail rules with Courier. *. Postfix *. Any LDAP server. I used the slapd server provided with Debian, and had issues with configuring the ACLs correctly for it. Open-Xchange provides a set of command-line utilities to add/remove users and generally administrate it. I found them very uncomfortable (again, version 0.8, not the current version on which I have no knowledge) - they *must* be run as root, or they don't work correctly, and for no good reason - they simply update the OX database and the LDAP server. All in all, it was a pain to setup, and the outlook connector wreaked havoc on my test machine - it crashed my outlook box until one of the developers was able to help me find a missing registry key, after which it sort-of nearly worked - the main issue was setting permissions on the collaboration calendar in Outlook so that it would be useful. Specifically, setting the permissions didn't always work, and a shared calendar wasn't always shared correctly. Also, one of my test users blamed the OX outlook connector for loosing some of his contacts and his messing his backup PST. This allegation wasn't proved or disproved up until the time came to stop checking OX - it didn't happen when I could see it. The web site for the current version seems to indicate that they simplified the prerequisites and added a community installation script. Maybe things are better now in the OX world... OpenGroupware.org: (I tried this out a really long time ago (around the beginning of 2005), you might want to recheck, to see if anything has changed.) The OpenGroupware.org installation is a set of DEB files. Installation wasn't difficult, however, I didn't keep the OGo system installed long - I ran into an issue where the web-based UI couldn't be easily configured to have a work-week start on Sunday. I didn't try to integrate it into my system, because (at least for my company) the work-week can't start on Monday, and Friday isn't a work-day. The prerequisites are PostgreSQL and Apache, and OGo has its own connector to the actual OGo service, installed as an apache module that is very weak on documentation, called mod_ngoweb . This was actually a second issue - documentation about required maintenance and configuration was very thin - a lot of my time was spent on searching for clues on how to configure stuff. OGo seems to be in perpetual beta - things tend to break between versions, and upgrades seem to be hard to do (judging from the web). Hope this helps, Lior Thanks, --Amos = To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body, e.g., run the
Re: FOSS alternative to Exchange
On 12/10/2007, Lior Okman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've installed all three, in order to test them. I haven't actually used them in production, or for very long in the test environment. Of them all, I would recommend Scalix, as the best documented and easiest to install. .. Hope this helps, Lior Thanks very much. This was a very useful read. Cheers, --Amos
