Need separate server to handle mail that Zimbra doesn't

[danfluidmind]

Hi all.

I just installed Zimbra on a new server and plan to migrate to it from my current Cyrus server. With my current set up I have three types of email addresses for the same domain name: 1) real mailboxes (john@example.com), 2) a bunch of aliases that either forward to other mailboxes or go to those real mailboxes (john.doe@example.com), and 3) a bunch of aliases that don't go to mailboxes at all but are, rather, handled by server scripts (mailing list managers, a mailing list archiver, etc.).

That all works great when everything is on one server. But now I'm gonna have two separate servers, on just for Zimbra, the other for all my websites and other apps (mailing list manager, etc.). Obviously, the first type types of addresses can be handled by the Zimbra server, but the third needs to go to the other server.

So the question is, should I set the Zimbra server to be the first server that mail to example.com goes to and have Zimbra forward anything that it doesn't have an address for to the other server, or should I go the other way around and have all the mail go to the other server first and have mail destined for Zimbra forwarded from it?

Anyone have any experience with this sort of setup?

Thanks
--Dan

[phoenix]

A split domain might be what you're looking for, have a look at the wiki article and see if it fits your needs. There are several threads in the forums about using mailman with Zimbra, have a quick search and see if that any help.

[danfluidmind]

Thanks, that was very helpful. At least I know that either approach will work. Now I need to figure out which will be best for my situation. I have 10 mailboxes and several different domain names pointing to this server. All of the domains have their own websites on the server, and many of them are used to make aliases to go to the mailboxes.

If I make the Zimbra server the primary server, then they'll all get the benefit of the SPAM filtering and such, but I'll have to set up either separate accounts or aliases for all of the aliases that are used for all those domains. But only some of those aliases need to go over to the other server--some that need to go to mailman, some that need to go to other scripts for handling.

On the other hand, making the Zimbra server the secondary server would give me complete control over all the aliases for those domain names and only send through to the Zimbra server those messages that were meant for real mailboxes.

I don't know. I'll just experiment with both ways and see what's best.

All the discussions of Mailman seem to be for people installing mailman right on their Zimbra server. I'd rather not do that. I'm running Zimbra from the virtual appliance and I'd rather not muck it up installing things that aren't an integrated part of Zimbra. When a new version of Zimbra comes out I'd like to be able to just plop the new virtual appliance there and be done with it.

Has anyone had any experience using Zimbra on one server and mailman on a separate server?

Thanks
--Dan