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 7777 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 March 2005 16:08 To: sniffer@sortmonster.com Subject: [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. 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