Topic: need to fake M$ Exchange server

[Darren]

i am looking at a system for my company which is an all in one package which connects to an exchange server however we don't own an exchange server so is there any way to make the system think that sme is a exchange server.

I wouldn't be bothered but if we want this system we have to spend allot of extra$$$



Any Ideas

[Uwe Schreiber]

Hi,

i don't think that there is any workaround to fake SME Server as an Exchange Server.

The Exchange-Server is not only a Mail-Server, you can use it also as a Groupware-Server. There are several other processes running on it.

[Luke Drumm]

You may want investigate ximian.com as they have been working on a groupware/mail project that I believe will have some MS exchange compatability outside of the usual POP/IMAP/LDAP stuff.

Regards,
Luke

[Confucius]

I think you better get ready for the bigger work-arounds... You can 'fake' it to a fully exchange-compliant system by using software like HP/SamsungContact OpenMail or BillWorkGroup or the last option I know... Corporate TimeServer

These packages don't fake, they give you the ability to use Outlook clients on Linux as if you bought an way too expensive exchange server from the biggest BSD code ripper, MicroSoft.

This is the only way I see to make your user-systems think you have exchange.

Harro

[Ed Form]

Luke Drumm wrote:
>
> You may want investigate ximian.com as they have been working
> on a groupware/mail project that I believe will have some MS
> exchange compatability outside of the usual POP/IMAP/LDAP
> stuff.

That's the wrong way round. What is wanted in this market is a back end product that acts like Exchange server but doesn't cost and arm for every seat it gets used at.

I can't believe that no one in the Linux community is working on such a thing.

Ed Form

[Luke Drumm]

Thankfully, I think you'll find Ximians main focus is producing a fully fledged product with MS compatability as a bonus... not a core design issue.

As for interest in this issue, there seems to be no shortage of opensource groupware type products being mentioned at places like freshmeat.net .

Regards,
Luke

[Ed Form]

Luke Drumm wrote:
>
> Thankfully, I think you'll find Ximians main focus is
> producing a fully fledged product with MS compatability as a
> bonus... not a core design issue.

Why thankfully? Windoze workstations looking at Linux servers form the most important of all Linux markets.

> As for interest in this issue, there seems to be no shortage
> of opensource groupware type products being mentioned at
> places like freshmeat.net .

They're all browser based and look really amateur next to something like Outlook. When I've shown Twiggi, which seems to be a *very* good example of the breed, my clients just laugh.

Ed Form

[John Lewis]

Steltor, out of Canada, sells a exchange dropin that is much cheaper, and mimic's much of what exchange can do (but not all... public folders etc.)

http://www.steltor.com/

They call it corporatetime, with the outlook connector that links the corporate time calander server with imap email...

Worth looking at certainly.  Not sure of the pricing, and have yet to hear of anyone using it.

[Ed Form]

John Lewis wrote:
>
> Steltor, out of Canada, sells a exchange dropin that is much
> cheaper, and mimic's much of what exchange can do (but not
> all... public folders etc.)
>
> http://www.steltor.com/
>
> They call it corporatetime, with the outlook connector that
> links the corporate time calander server with imap email...
>
> Worth looking at certainly.  Not sure of the pricing, and
> have yet to hear of anyone using it.

Thanks for that, and to Confucius for the info about the Bill Workgroup product.

Ed Form

[Luke Drumm]

> > Thankfully, I think you'll find Ximians main focus is
> > producing a fully fledged product with MS compatability as a
> > bonus... not a core design issue.
>
> Why thankfully? Windoze workstations looking at Linux servers
> form the most important of all Linux markets.

While imitation might be the highest form of flattery, as a design goal is pretty mediocre.
eg. MS SQL Server may of originally been an attempt to directly transplant features of other DBs into the MS market domain but they weren't silly enough to transplant the designs of other DBs into their own.

The 'thankfully' in question was in relation to Ximian seeming to set out clear design goals before hand that didn't go along the lines of 'MS designed exchange this way so lets do the same'. Microsoft have some good ideas floating around so, no doubt quite a few similarities can be found but I suspect the overall architecture is a distinctly different beast.

I agree, Windows desktops talking to Linux servers is a very important market. Given the choice, it's one of my preferred environments.

Regards,
Luke

[Ian Lowe]

Hmm, trying to hunt down the BILL Workgroup thing..

seems a nice idea, but I can't find news of this anywhere, just some dead pages..

anyone know of a current link? or if dev is continuing?

[Darren]

has anyone accually had any of the suggested systems working on SME
because they all seem to need somthing or another to work;
for example ximian requires gnome installed
the samsung/hp contact requres sendmail and libx11.so.6 and libc.so.6
corptime won't install even though i followed the insall procedure the errors it gives are:
the Unix user "unison" is either not configured or its
prinary unix group is not dxoffice
and i Can't even find BILL Workgroup
any idea's

thanks for all the help but their all a no go .

[Paul Robertson]

See www.bynari.net They have an exchange connector that works with IMAP.

"InsightConnector can turn an IMAP server into a full platform that lets
you use Outlook to share data through both individual mailbox folders
and public folders. "

Anyone tried this with e-smith?

[David Helmuth]

I just ordered a copy of the Connector.  Hopefully in a week or so, I will have some information as to how it works with SME.

-Dave

[Serge Dutremble]

Anyone tried the Samsung Contact product on SME?

It looks like the final version will be free for up to 5 users.  Good enough for small business/home use although there may be some restriction if used for business purposes.

Serge.