Review: SuSE Linux eMail Server III

By: Dee-Ann LeBlanc
Thursday, March 28, 2002 09:35:43 AM EST
URL: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/4122/1/

Introducing SuSE Linux eMail Server III

I confess that we use Sendmail at my office, not one of the commercial packages. We do some pretty cool things there so when I look at commercial Linux mail servers, I'm always checking to see if buying one would end up limiting my functionality compared to what I've got now. SuSE's Linux eMail Server III has an amazing number of features integrated into its GUI, including all of the DNS functions for handling virtual domains and hosts. If I were a brand new mail administrator this program would save me hours and hours of fussing with Sendmail and BIND and numerous other tools. As a user, I'd definitely love this product, its Webmail actually lets you create mail filters and autohandling scripts, along with supporting some pretty cool calendar and scheduling options.

SuSE Linux eMail Server III is built specifically for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, and the operating system comes packaged with the mail server. You'll have to dedicate an entire machine to this one as you can't just add it to even another existing SuSE installation. However, if you're investing in a commercial mail solution, then this factor will probably not cramp your style.

The mail server and operating system are built for both Intel x86 and AMD processors, so most Personal Computers will do just fine. Minimum hardware requirements for the combined OS and mail server are as follows:

• AMD K6 or Intel Pentium II processor * 128 MB RAM
• 2 GB hard drive space

However, the recommended setup is heftier, as usual:

• AMD Athlon/Duron or Intel Pentium III processor
• 256 MB RAM
• 9 GB RAID hard drive space

Getting SuSE Linux eMail Server III

SuSE Linux eMail Server III is a commercial product, but until Linux worms its way even more into the mainstream you're not likely to see it on a store shelf near you. You can order the boxed set including the following directly from SuSE's web site (www.suse.com) for $999 or use the site to locate a nearby SuSE reseller:

• 3 floppies: various boot assist media
• 2 CD-ROMs: installation media and source code
• 3 manuals: "SuSE Linux eMail Server III," "SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration," and "SuSE Linux System and Reference Manual."

Rather than having a downloadable version available, SuSE offers an online demonstration through their web site. So if you're interested, go take a look!

As I mentioned in my previous article, I don't know anyone who would purchase a commercial product for Linux if it doesn't offer significant bonuses over the free programs available in the open source world. What, aside from a GUI front end (which might be enough right there for some), does SuSE Linux eMail Server III offer that you can't get by setting up Sendmail or another popular free and open source mail server yourself? Let's see:

• Mail server installation integrated with YaST2 administration tool.
• Administration through web interface
• Configuration through web interface
• Postfix configuration through web interface
• Web interface for mail monitoring
• Web interface for LDAP management
• Multidrop
• Integrated DNS management
• Webmail
• Shared group access
• Additional security features enabled out of the box
• TLS protocol encryption
• HTTPS support
• One year of maintenance included

Installing SuSE Linux eMail Server III

So, I sat down to install the OS and server on my trusty test box. I figured I should actually use the documentation (okay, so even technical writers don't always RTFM!) so I flipped it open and started reading. This was definitely a good idea. There are a number of possible configuration scenarios and checklists for the installation or upgrade process, depending on which you're doing, and the most important to me was the networking section. After determining that I fell under the single network interface on an intranet, with a router to the Internet, I popped a bookmark into that section of the manual and started the install process.

I've installed SuSE Linux before (at least in its most recent versions), so I found the initial part of the installation quite familiar: it's the same YaST2 installer used by the distribution. The first time I got the feeling that I wasn't in Kansas anymore was when YaST2 started adding packages without ever asking me what I wanted. Remember, this is a combined operating system and mail server setup, so it pretty much assumes that you want to install most parts.

Also, since I've installed SuSE before, I found myself surprised at how quick the package installation section was. Even on my test box it only took about five minutes (after all, the entire product is only on one CD-ROM). Everything goes great until I get to the network setup section. That sucker gave me a new bald patch. Being a dutiful tech writer, I looked back in the manual to the recommendations for setting up my particular networking scenario. I set the parameters to get the IP information by DHCP, set the host and domain information manually, and set the gateway to the Internet. Problem was that, as best I can tell, the DHCP settings (which do NOT include host or domain information) somehow conflicted with the static information.

What I eventually ended up doing was finding out from my router what IP address was being given to the test box, using a fortunate dual boot setup I'd left over for another project on the test box to get the MAC address for the Ethernet card there, and hardcoding the IP information. Suddenly it all worked. I wasn't happy having to use a workaround though.

Once I got past that pesky networking issue everything went great again. I let the installer set up a DNS server along with the email server and soon I've got a running SuSE server! Ironically, I don't even have to log into it to proceed to configuration.

Configuring SuSE Linux eMail Server III

Why burden the mail server itself when you can configure it from any web browser? I hopped onto another of my Linux machines and followed the instructions, pointing a web browser to the mail server's IP address, and soon reached the configuration program (Figure 1). I'll of course start configuring the server itself, so I log in (as instructed by the manual) to the user cyrus with the administrative password I set during the installation process--not the same as the root password.

After clicking the Configure button I find myself to the welcome screen (Figure 2). The manual suggests to start by creating user accounts, but that's not my natural inclination. First I want to set up my virtual mail domains. I start by clicking the Virtual Users tab to go to the appropriate section (Figure 3), and then I click the Virt. Domains tab. After creating a few domains I export the data to the DNS server with the click of a button and then go on my merry way.

Now I want to create some user accounts. I click the User tab to go to the account management section (Figure 3), and then New to open the account creation section (Figure 4). Once there I explore and fill out the form, which has some handy checkboxes for items such as creating an automatic mail alias in the format firstname.lastname, setting whether I want the user to be able to add to the global address books, selecting the proper domain from a dropdown list box, and setting the type of password encryption I want (CRYPT for 8 characters or SMD5 for 255). I have to type the default password in through plain text though, I find myself wondering if that password is sent over the network by plain text or encrypted before it's sent to the mail server.

I'm not into anything really fancy here, I don't feel a need to set up mail user groups or special folders, so instead I explore the other configuration options. SuSE Linux eMail Server III has quite a number of settings available, if you purchase this product be sure to take the time to really go through both the interface and the manual and become familiar with what levels of control you have over its various functions. You can use the GUI to configure Postfix, Fetchmail, IMAP, ensure that people connecting to the web interface are doing so through SSL.

You can also use the GUI to work with your mail queue, set user and administrator information, create virtual hosts, send mail to your entire user base, create company resources to schedule through calendaring such as conference rooms and laptop video projectors, and group the resources if necessary.

Now I go to peek at the user side of things. I log into the web inteface using a newly created mail account and click Webmail (Figure 6), which turns out to be an incredibly feature-rich mail and scheduling client! You can even toggle mail headers if you want to see the full headers, and there are levels of address books from the access-controlled to personal.

After surfing around the Webmail section for a while I log in again as the user but click Configuration. Here I can set up my account information, LDAP data, change that default password, work with mail folders (though I'd rather work with the folders in Webmail, which I can do too), create mail filters, set vacation messages, create scripts for handling mail automatically, and once again access Webmail. However, they seem to have forgotten to include a back navigation button, so if you do much in your Webmail session you may have to log out and back in if you want to use the Configuration section again.

Issues

There are a few issues here and there to contend with. Redundancies make things a bit overly complicated, I'm not sure why you can create users for virtual hosts under both Users|New and Virtual Users|New. There are also a few misspellings (Calender) or odd phrasings that likely happened during the translation from German to English. Nothing major. The help materials are pretty good, I've found SuSE tends to have excellent documentation, though some of the single line descriptions in the GUI can be confusing if they refer to a technology you're not already familiar with.

It would also be nice to see better support for mail aliases, which seems to be oddly lacking here, outside of a straight firstname.lastname version. I actually flipped back through the GUI and the manual thinking I must have missed that somewhere but I didn't. It's not there.

Also, I'm always looking in a mail server for spam and virus filtering, and notice I haven't mentioned either of those features yet. It is possible to set up virus filtering, but not through the GUI. You can get AntiVir MailGate in an RPM, but to use any other product with SuSE Linux eMail Server III you must use the AMaVIS (www.amavis.org) tool in tandem with GeCAD RAV AntiVirus for Mail Server, Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Servers, or one of the other supported virus-checking programs. There's also Trend Micro InterScan VirusWall.

Finally, it seems that the best recommendation for dealing with spam in conjunction with SuSE Linux eMail Server III is to become intimately familiar with Postfix (www.postfix.org) and building your own mail filters as a user. This aspect is disappointing, and I hope that in future versions SuSE will include better functionality for controlling unsolicited email.

Wrapping Up

SuSE's Linux eMail Server III is certainly feature-rich and has a snazzy GUI interface, but it seems to be missing some features that I personally consider vital. I would never dream of sitting a non-techie down to set up accounts or handle other issues from the administrative account, but SuSE does not claim that non-techies should be able to do so. At the same time, most people who can use a web browser should be able to work with the user side of the GUI, which is a definite plus.

I wasn't actually able to get into all of the features, especially the calendaring/scheduling end of things. If you're curious, go to SuSE's web site (www.suse.com) and download the SuSE Linux eMail Server III manual, which the company has made freely available in the product materials. Those who want heavily integrated spam and virus protection will want to look closely to see if they can achieve their goals with this product, some additional programs or a different solution may be necessary.