[SOLVED] External contacts (AD) and more

[Xaneth]

So I have a couple of questions, and I'm not finding much by searching the forums. I need the option to add contacts, not on a user basis, but as part of the organization. We are using our AD GAL, but I need to be able to create contact accounts that have external domain email addresses. We use this for GAL purposes, as well as for groupings with our external subcontractors. I guess I can create a local account, then forward to the external account, but this is less than ideal.

Secondly, I am unable to duplicate some of the groups we once had. We had an ALL group that has everyone with an email address in it. However, in AD and Exchange, you have the option to only allow certain users or groups send to this distribution group. Otherwise anyone, including external email addresses can send to my "all@domain.com" address, resulting in spam sent to all users. Please don't learn me on spam filtering, we are using a Barracuda that does an excellent job. Just need to know if this type of restriction is possible in Zimbra or not.

Really enjoying Zimbra, but it's only in place for us right now during an Exchange migration. We're shipping our Exchange solution to Hong Kong, and after it's brought back online, will merge email from Zimbra using a POP3 connector. Just a temp solution for a few weeks, but it would be good to know about some of these questions for future email server deployments.

[bdial]

Originally Posted by Xaneth

So I have a couple of questions, and I'm not finding much by searching the forums. I need the option to add contacts, not on a user basis, but as part of the organization. We are using our AD GAL, but I need to be able to create contact accounts that have external domain email addresses. We use this for GAL purposes, as well as for groupings with our external subcontractors. I guess I can create a local account, then forward to the external account, but this is less than ideal.

can't you add external addresses in a GAL? I guess another solution would be to make an addressbook under an account and share it to everyone in the organization.

Secondly, I am unable to duplicate some of the groups we once had. We had an ALL group that has everyone with an email address in it. However, in AD and Exchange, you have the option to only allow certain users or groups send to this distribution group. Otherwise anyone, including external email addresses can send to my "all@domain.com" address, resulting in spam sent to all users. Please don't learn me on spam filtering, we are using a Barracuda that does an excellent job. Just need to know if this type of restriction is possible in Zimbra or not.

thats a pretty old rfe

Bug 9620 – Mail policies and access control for sending to distribution lists

who knows when it will be coming (although i've been told it will be coming). until then most people recommend using a 3rd party mailing list like mailman to handle mailing lots of people. theres even a wiki i think about integrating it

[Xaneth]

OK, I can see that there is no need to re-create external contacts when using an external GAL. It's able to autocomplete from AD just fine. The other question stands though.

[Xaneth]

Originally Posted by bdial

can't you add external addresses in a GAL? I guess another solution would be to make an addressbook under an account and share it to everyone in the organization.


thats a pretty old rfe

Bug 9620 – Mail policies and access control for sending to distribution lists

who knows when it will be coming (although i've been told it will be coming). until then most people recommend using a 3rd party mailing list like mailman to handle mailing lots of people. theres even a wiki i think about integrating it

Ah, thank you so much! Sorry for the premature post, above. I needed to refresh my browser.

[Xaneth]

Another thing I was thinking about doing was creating a distro group with a really obscure email address, such as jt7mnAuL@domain.com and giving it a nice friendly name. That might keep the spammers away.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Xaneth

Another thing I was thinking about doing was creating a distro group with a really obscure email address, such as jt7mnAuL@domain.com and giving it a nice friendly name. That might keep the spammers away.

Creating an obscure email address is not guaranteed to keep spam away and it has (very) limited effectiveness. Try restricting who can send to your distribution list, search the wiki for the word 'restrict'.

[Xaneth]

Originally Posted by phoenix

Creating an obscure email address is not guaranteed to keep spam away and it has (very) limited effectiveness. Try restricting who can send to your distribution list, search the wiki for the word 'restrict'.

Thanks for that. This works for me:

RestrictPostfixRecipients - Zimbra :: Wiki