Zimbra as mail server for LAN

[abhinav701]

Hi,

I am new to Linux & Zimbra. I have a small/medium business and we have our mail hosted with google apps right now. Our office has an internal mail server called IQuinox (Postmaster) installed. It picks the mail from the web and distributes it to the users on Iquinox. While sending the mail it checks if the mail is for internal users (same domain) or external users. If its internal (same domain) the mail is not sent out and is directed to the respective user thus saving upload and download again.

The users access mail through their mail clients like Outoook Express/Eudora/Thunderbird etc.

Can I have something similar with Zimbra. I think Zimbra can give me more functionalities then my current deployment. Would appreciate any kind of help. I saw a similar question but the thread just ended abruptly.

[uxbod]

Welcome to the forums

Yes Zimbra will do exactly what you want plus more You can either continue to use Outlook Express/Thunderbird but why not just use the Ajax web client directly ? Any specific questions you would like answering ?

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by abhinav701

The users access mail through their mail clients like Outoook Express/Eudora/Thunderbird etc.

You could also use this: Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop

[abhinav701]

Wow ! That's fast.. Well I don't mind that at all.. Just that at times our executives travel a lot and go to places where they might not have internet access or very slow internet access making life difficult.. besides it is helpful if we have a copy of the mail on the laptops instead of having it just on the server (not forgetting the bulky attachments).

I think I would want a dual way of access.. AJAX as well as the mail client..

But I want the server to be internal as I don't want the mails which are just meant for internal use to go out.. Besides from where I come there is some or the other issue with the net connection from the ISP.. So this would avoid having any downtime (atleast for internal mail).. So external hosting of Zimbra is ruled out..

Can you suggest how should I go about the installation.. And again I want to continue using gapps as the mail server.. The accounts which are required are all already created there.. Can you give me a flowchart as to what exactly has to be done to implement this..

[abhinav701]

I am open to using Zimbra Desktop.. But that's like a mail client.. It's use comes in later.. Will it be able to connect to the net from anywhere and get the mail.. As I mentioned in the previous post.. our employees travel a lot.. So they would be directly accessing their mail from google apps. (Downloading or web access). would zimbra support that ?

Can you suggest a better way of tackling my problem with travelling employees..

First I want to start with the setting of the server.. As its not a startup and we have a software being used since some time we would need some time to convince the management for the change over. I just want to clear my doubts before we proceed.

[uxbod]

Well dependent on the number of users you could always consider using a Zimbra Hosted service which would remove the requirement on hardware and reduce the overall management. ZCS and its HTML/Ajax client would allow your users to connect from anywhere as long as they have a Internet connection.

[abhinav701]

Well I don't think Hosting it would make sense because of the following reasons :

1. Cost incurred (We have over 60 employees using the mail) and most of them just need internal mailing and don't send or receive mails outside. So what's the point in hosting it and paying for them as the current solution is already doing that of us.

2. Even if I do host it externally all the mail would be external and nothing stored at our end. Even the internal mail will have to be sent out and downloaded back. This puts unnecessary pressure on my net connection.

3. All information would be stored on the net so in case the ISP malfunctions we would be doomed.. This is a common occurence which results in our office being disconnected from the outside world momentarily.. But atleast the internal mailing works fine as the mail server is internal..

I hope I have clarified my scenerio.. I have to consider the technical difficulties before shifting to any new system. I agree hosting externally sorts all the problems if you have 24x7 undisturbed net access.. But I have to consider ground realties..

I think I can have a separate server for the mail as it's already in place.

Do you agree considering the 3 points above it makes sense for me to stick to internal mail server ? Is there any point for me to consider shifting to Zimbra?

[uxbod]

Originally Posted by abhinav701

Is there any point for me to consider shifting to Zimbra?

The collaboration capabilities of Zimbra would certainly be a huge benefit IMHO.

[abhinav701]

Even I thought so.. But what exactly has to be done to differently to get it up the way I want to.. I mean should I just follow the User Guide or is there anything to be done differently ? Would appreciate if anyone could guide me..

[phoenix]

Zimbra will receive mail directly and it's delivered to each mailbox on the system, your users can access their mail (and all the ZImbra features) using the Web UI or any other client including the Zimbra Desktop. The Collaboration features used by Outlook will depend on whether you're talking about the Network Edition of ZImbra or the Open Source version. Mail clients can access the Zimbra server when the user has internet access and mail can be read offline.