Topic: Microsoft Exchange Server Linux Replacement

[Teviot]

Does anyone know of or is anyone working on a Microsoft Exchange Server Linux Replacement?

I guess what I'm looking for is a package one SME that functions in the same way that Microsoft Exchange Server functions in respect to mail, calendar, etc.

Does any one know of such a package?

[EdelingF]

GroupOffice (http://wiki.contribs.org/GroupOffice) does a lot "Exchange" jobs for me, but I think you're looking for a Exchange-equivilant.
Have you looked at Zimbra (http://www.zimbra.com) allready?

[Teviot]

Thanks for your quick response EdelingF.

I have use GroupOffice before and stopped because I am looking for a package that works with Microsoft Outlook the same way as Microsoft Exchange Server or as close to it as possible.

Have you or anyone else tested Zimbra on SME?

[Stefano]

Thanks for your quick response EdelingF.

I have use GroupOffice before and stopped because I am looking for a package that works with Microsoft Outlook the same way as Microsoft Exchange Server or as close to it as possible.

if so, sad to say, you can use only exchange.. every linux solution you will try will be different from exchange and need connectors (for which you have to pay, for es. toltec)

Have you or anyone else tested Zimbra on SME?

AFAIK zimbra can't be installed on sme, is not free, and is not so easy to maintain..

my 2c
Ciao
Stefano

[Mjohnson]

You can try Zarafa.  The SME implementation right now is still under development, but it works very well.

It is listed in the Contribs section.

[EdelingF]

No I didn't try Zimbra; just Googled it.
I know there are connectors for Group Office to work with Outlook and yes, you have to pay for them. If I'm correct they're not that expensive.
Zafara looks promising, can't wait to try that but waiting for a more stable version.

[Stefano]

You can try Zarafa.  The SME implementation right now is still under development, but it works very well.

it's a good choice, but not a exchange replacement.. I mean, accordingo to this page, in the community version you can have only 3 users using outlook connector..

so, if OP wants his users to continue using outlook, he has to buy the product.. in this page I read that zarafa is licensed on user's number and yearly..

with 20 or more users it costs like exchange.. and that's a pity..

Ciao
Stefano

[Mjohnson]

it's a good choice, but not a exchange replacement

Well, above (3) Outlook Client users it is not a FREE exchange replacement, that is true, but Zarafa's operation is almost spot on to Exchange.  Also it has no user limits for IMAP clients (i.e. Thunderbird), or IMAP Mobile devices and the webmail access is almost a direct knockoff of Outlook Web Access which provides "almost" the same functionality as Outlook.

It is certainly worth a look and integrates nicely into SME.  It does not appear to affect SME's ability to be upgraded, which is very much a concern of mine.

[David Harper]

If you are willing to compromise a little then you can use Horde as your groupware suite.

SME Horde has Turba (contacts) installed, and if you add in some contribs it can do calendars (Kronolith), notes (Mnemo) and tasks (Nag).

The trick is how you want to use these features in Outlook. Horde can be synchronised with Outlook using the Funambol sync tool (after a quick change to the main config file). There are two basic usage scenarios that I have tried:

• Each user has seperate calendar, contacts etc., and uses Funambol to sync these into Horde, as a backup and so they can access their stuff in Webmail
• In addition to their own standard contacts/calendar/notes/tasks, each user has access to a shared company calendar, address book etc., that is synced by Funambol from a seperate company account ("corpbook" or similar)

If you use either of these in combination with a Roaming Profile, and saving user PST files in a server location, rather than in the default Local Settings folder, then either of these scenarios could be reasonably attractive, and it's a lot less work than say, GroupOffice, because Horde is already integrated into SME.

Funambol is also a free download, which means that this solution is 100% Free.

[soprom]

EGroupware and Funambol won't let share between users.
Toltec Outlook connector may have what you want.

I did Exchange replacement with cyrus-imap and Toltec (low cost) on SME7 and it survived all updates.

Clarkconnect has cyrus-imap built-in.

SME7 needs heavy modifications for cyrus-imap and it applies to all users (not per-user option). Hard to maintain if there are problems.

For SME7, I would look at Zarafa. I understand that members of the dev-team are working hard at this.

My second choice is Egroupware and Funambol (no cost), depending of your needs.

[jdavey]

Zarafa - specifically the web client - has been working well for me. A few things to fix (Signature, Next / Previous in the message pane, and spell check!!!). It went in easily enough, thanks to the work of Darrell May (I still have a VM of twiggi running on an old test box!). I have a several former franchisees of an Insurance broker that recently filed BK, and they had OWA provided by the franchiser, and find Zarafa a workable solution. I would recommend that Zarafa be included as an option for webmail access. Yes Horde is faster, but it looks so old that it turns folks off. And most people are used to a Gmail / Yahoo solution that includes drag and drop / AJAX.

[jdavey]

Zarafa - specifically the web client - has been working well for me. A few things to fix (Signature, Next / Previous in the message pane, and spell check!!!). It went in easily enough, thanks to the work of Darrell May (I still have a VM of twiggi running on an old test box!). I have a several former franchisees of an Insurance broker that recently filed BK, and they had OWA provided by the franchiser, and find Zarafa a workable solution. I would recommend that Zarafa be included as an option for webmail access. Yes Horde is faster, but it looks so old that it turns folks off. And most people are used to a Gmail / Yahoo solution that includes drag and drop / AJAX.

[edform]

Zarafa - specifically the web client - has been working well for me. A few things to fix (Signature, Next / Previous in the message pane, and spell check!!!). It went in easily enough, thanks to the work of Darrell May (I still have a VM of twiggi running on an old test box!). I have a several former franchisees of an Insurance broker that recently filed BK, and they had OWA provided by the franchiser, and find Zarafa a workable solution. I would recommend that Zarafa be included as an option for webmail access. Yes Horde is faster, but it looks so old that it turns folks off. And most people are used to a Gmail / Yahoo solution that includes drag and drop / AJAX.

This is still a major shortfall of SME, a point that I've been raising from time to time for some years.

I got quite excited about Zarafa for a week or two, then I discovered that it is lacking in some very fundamental areas. One in particular is that the label and category items in the Calendar cannot be customised - I don't have a client who doesn't want this feature. Horde has it, but, as several people have observed in the various discussions on this subject, Horde looks so awful.  Both Scalix and Zimbra work and would be ideal, but they don't fit the SME server at all well - I've even got one client using an SME machine as the main server with all email served by a second machine running Centos 5 and Zimbra, but that is too much for many small systems.

Why isn't someone writing a Windows application that knows how to talk to Horde? As I've said before, I've got a grand waiting for that development project because I see it as the most important item required by a Linux server system to allow it to hop up into the mainstream. Connectivity to Outlook isn't the way to go: it's effectively an admission that an all-Microsoft solution is the best, but for those who can't afford it - Well! Here's a slightly lower grade workround. What is needed is a new destop application or a first rate Ajax client talking to a MySQL backend.

Ed Form

[cactus]

Why isn't someone writing a Windows application that knows how to talk to Horde? As I've said before, I've got a grand waiting for that development project because I see it as the most important item required by a Linux server system to allow it to hop up into the mainstream.

Most likely as Horde is a (web)interface to a mail/groupware server just like thunderbird or outlook can be. So they are there already. I even think that writing a application that scrapes web interfaces is a very bad thing, one flaw or code change could render your application useless. Talk to the groupware server directly, they communicate in clearly outlined protocols (some more standard and general than others, I know).

Perhaps your money is better spent on consultancy to fix the hurdles you are facing:

• Hire a grpahic webdesigner to design a template for Horde which looks better, serve that back to the community I think a lot of people would be thankfull for your well spent money.
• Donate to the dynamic version of Horde as they are developing such a feature AFAIK: http://www.horde.org/dimp/

Undoubtetly there are even more ways to spent your bucks and have a groupware solution more to your liking.

[shawnbishop]

I was also looking for  a replacement...

Look at Kerio Mail Server or DeskNow...