compatibility between Zimbra OS and NE

[needhelpnow]

I have a couple of questions about zimbra OS and NE collaboration.
I am trying to build a zimbra mail server for 1100 users out of which 100 users would be interested in using outlook. So I would like to get NE for those while I would like to use open source for the rest of them. Now my questions are:
1) If I want to add 100 users on an NE server and 1000 users on an OS server, can I set up the two server instances such that the users on one can seamlessly talk with users on the other server? Also, is it possible to assign same email domain names to both these server instances even if they are within the same network?
2) Also is it possible that I can configure the two hosts in such a way that two specific users on the NE can send/receive emails to only 20 specific users on OS edition and can NOT communicate with anyone else from OS and vice versa? If yes, how can I do that?
3) I saw on the forum that NE is extensible in exactly same way as the OS. Meaning the components which can be extended in OS also comes in the NE such that they can be extended if needed. Is that correct?

Thanks

[uxbod]

Originally Posted by needhelpnow

1) If I want to add 100 users on an NE server and 1000 users on an OS server, can I set up the two server instances such that the users on one can seamlessly talk with users on the other server? Also, is it possible to assign same email domain names to both these server instances even if they are within the same network?

They would still be two independent ZCS instances so it would not be completely seamless. You could have the same domain on email server but this would be a knightmare to manage IMHO. You would need to perform some clever mail re-direction possibly by putting another Postfix instance in-front of them, otherwise how would a inbound email know where to send the email. The MX for the domain would need to be pointed at the front-end Postfix instance.

Originally Posted by needhelpnow

2) Also is it possible that I can configure the two hosts in such a way that two specific users on the NE can send/receive emails to only 20 specific users on OS edition and can NOT communicate with anyone else from OS and vice versa? If yes, how can I do that?

Wiki is your friend for this one :- RestrictPostfixRecipients - Zimbra :: Wiki

Originally Posted by needhelpnow

3) I saw on the forum that NE is extensible in exactly same way as the OS. Meaning the components which can be extended in OS also comes in the NE such that they can be extended if needed. Is that correct?

What do you mean by extending them ?

[Rich Graves]

NE adds a lot more than just Outlook support. Hot backups, delegated administration, and cross-server mailbox moves are important even if you're just using imap. You're potentially looking at a lot of sysadmin time to make multiple editions work together, and you're adding risk. What if the talented person who cobbled together the custom solution leaves the company?

I ran OSS-only mail for thousands of users for ten years. I wasn't thrilled to start paying license fees for the first time, but I have found support to be well worth the cost. Perhaps it helps that .edu pricing is lower, but still, if email is business critical, you and your management have to decide where the tradeoff is.

That said, you could make this work by setting up a "split domain" configuration; see discussion in the user migration wiki. In theory, you could even make the global address list comprehensive by defining one as an external LDAP client of the other and using zimbraGalMode=both. You would have to study the NE license agreement very carefully and check with sales to make sure this is legal.

From a purely technical perspective, I would probably advise *not* running a split domain. You would save yourself some complexity, hence risk, by making one system a subdomain. For example, configure OSS as example.com and NE as corp.example.com. If necessary, create forwards on the OSS box for the_boss@example.com => the_boss@corp.example.com, but enforcing the rule "some corp users can only talk to other corp users" might be easier if you don't set those forwards. Or you might end up putting those restricted users in a third internal.example.com domain defined on the same server as corp.

[uxbod]

Split Domain - Zimbra :: Wiki

I second Rich's thoughts in using sub-domains. That is a lot cleaner solution

[needhelpnow]

Hey guys,

It made me so happy to learn that these ideas are all possible. And thanks a million for giving such detailed replies.

Now let me add some clarity to my requirements mentioned earlier:
Let us say I have 1100 users out of which 100 are executives so their email addresses are residing on the NE vs other users with an account on OS. Now, what I want is each executive on NE should be able to send/receive emails only from his subordinate from the OS domain and no one else. So boss1@ne.zimbra.com should be able to send/receive emp1_boss1@os.zimbra.com and emp2_boss1@os.zimbra.com but not to emp3_boss2@os.zimbra.com or vice versa. Is this possible for all those 100 bosses and their 10 employees/boss?
I saw the details on restrict postfix wiki but it does not say how you can create multiple sender/recipients lists on a single postfix server.

Another thing is, it is not necessary for me to really make these two domains seamless meaning that they could have different domain names but the requirement is that emps on one domain should only be able to send emails to their boss on the other domain and not to anyone else.

About my question related to extensibility, I just wanted to confirm that all the basic components like Ajax, webclient, zimbraServer etc can be modified at the code and config level in both the NE and OS edition and not just in the OS edition? So, if I want to mix NE and OS like above, I will be able to modify the code on both OS and NE edition if I want to say add logos on the top of the page.

I hope you guys can help with my questions above.

Thanks