Strip Out Just WebMail

[bsimzer]

Hi,

I am wondering if it is possible to use just the WebMail server with existing mail servers (ie: custom/legacy e-mail servers, or even just M$ Exchange Server [without the zimbra colaboration server in between]).

I am presuming that this is not a drag-and-drop solution, that it would need a LOT of re-working, to use JUST the webMail server (essentially the pages that serve up the e-mail inbox interface to the client side) and have it talk to an existing/legacy e-mail server/system.

It seems like the webMail server is all/mostly Java/Tomcat, so a couple of questions here. Can the webMail server be installed on a different machine than the Zimbra Collaboration Suite? To further that question, can the webMail server be installed on an M$ box (with Tomcat) and be set up to talk to an existing/legacy e-mail server system ... either on M$ or Linux.

Essentially, we are interested in the webMail interface, but would like to incorporate this into an existing/legacy e-mail system. Can this be done, and if so, how much work would it take to get this done (presuming that we have competent java developers to throw at this)?

Cheers,

bsimzer

[andreychek]

Originally Posted by bsimzer

Essentially, we are interested in the webMail interface, but would like to incorporate this into an existing/legacy e-mail system. Can this be done, and if so, how much work would it take to get this done (presuming that we have competent java developers to throw at this)

Well, similar questions have come up on occasion. They've generally suggested that there's a lot of value in the current client, and that while it might be physically possible to seperate the web mail client, it would be a big procedure, and a lot of existing functionality would be lost. Here is a recent example of a question similar to yours:

Is it possible to integrate Zimbra web client to legacy IMAP server?

If your goal is to just have webmail, and you really don't want to have the features of Zimbra available, have you considered another client, perhaps along the lines of RoundCube? RoundCube does use AJAX, but it's just for mail, rather than a full featured collaberation suite that Zimbra provides.

Have a good one,
-Eric