Originally Posted by cthree

Here is an update on where i am with mail right now. First some background...

The mail server and the server software is the same as i originally installed over 3 years ago. I've updated with security patches but it's otherwise the same software we have always been using. My goal for "v5" is to change over to an entirely new mail server software suite (the mail server is made up of MANY different services: SMTP, POP, IMAP, webmail, virtual users, SPAM filters, virus scanners, the list goes on and on), one that is easier to understand and manage. We've gotten by up until now but it's a black box I can't get my head around. The new suite is much simpler to manage, runs better and makes some amount is sense to me.

At this point I have the core of the new software suite running and configured and it works great! It receives mail, I can retieve mail with POP, IMAP and webmail and I can even send mail -- something you can't do now but will be able to do in a couple of days when this is live.

There are two peices left to finish and 2 other tasks I need to still complete: SPAM/Virus filtering which I'm working on now (very complicated, more complex that all the other bits put together but I hate SPAM) and SSL/TLS with is encryption so you can send and receive your email over a secure channel without your password being visible. The SSL/TLS is all there I just need to configure it which I haven't done yet to KIS untill the other parts are done. After I get those two parts running I need to convert the accounts database to the new system (not hard), move all of the mail folders to the new server (not hard) and change the MyS2K email account activation pages to create email accounts under the new software.

I can't forget that I need to change the webmail skin, test all of the webmail account options like changing passwords and create a new webmail login page that has some added features like recovery of forgotten passwords and an option to save your login info in a cookie to speed and simplify the login process.

All in all still lots to do but I'm very happy with how things are going so far. I'm still looking at a go live target of Sunday. This is a substantial improvement over what we have now even if you don't understand a thing I've said till now. If you have an email account that is working well right now then you will see no changes and everything will appear to work exactly as it does now.

Those using IMAP to get your email will need to make a small change but I will send you an email message separately letting you know what you need to do. Here is a quick rundown of new and imporved features of your Member Email Accounts:

- Added support for sending email as well as receiving it
- Added sending email from a non-standard port so you can use the s2ki server to send email even if your ISP blocks the normal email port (these two features alone cost $20/year from service providers such as DynDNS!)
- Added support for SSL encryption between you and the mailserver for both sending and receiving email
- Forgotten password recovery
- Change email password
- Set email password when you activate your account
- Vacation auto-responses
- Forwarding email to another account
- Improved dual-action SPAM filter (we use two SPAM filters instead of just one)
- Turn on or off SPAM and Virus filters from email options
- Improved login including option to save login info as a cookie for webmail
- More stuff I can't remember...