CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

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orm1server
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Joined: 18 May 2018 23:25

CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

Hey Guys and Gals,

First off Im pretty sure this has been asked, but im unsure of the terminology to search for so my attempts so far have been unsuccessful.

I started with Xeams but dont want to pay for the 20 or so friends and family and have heard great things about EFA, so my questions are:

(Xeams currently used as mail server without active directory or other mda or mta)

Can EFA be configured to be an All In One mail server where no other exhange, postfix, procmail etc server is used (i think term is mda and mta)?

I will be running EFA behind a firewall on esxi and want to use it for webmail, spam filtering, incoming and outgoing email, multiple domains, and to use no other mail software in the setup. is that possible? What would be the terminology for that setup? can you link to a guide? ive searched with no success and i think thats due to wrong terminology

From what i see so far in my initial config, EFA is only a spam filter appliance and must use a secondary server/service/software to work. Is that true?

Basically this is a home lab config for learning and for friends and family, i dont want to run any other software unless its free and there is a virtual appliance for it. I dont want to run the resources for a secondary software/os if I can help it.

Many thanks,
Steve
budy
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Joined: 10 Sep 2017 07:33

Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

The way eFa comes out of the box, it has no mail server capabilities - so you would need dovecot, Exim or some other mail server component where eFa can deliver the messages to. eFa itself is, as it's name suggests, an email filer appliance.

Btw, I'd also not recommend to load any other software on the eFa, since it defeats it's design to be one an "appliance". The devs will only focus on the eFa parts and not any other software, that someone may have installed as well, so it may be, that a future eFa update broke any other additional software.

There are a lot of free mail servers out there: dovecot, Exim and if you want to go fancy, try the OSS of Zimbra - which is, what I am using at home and at my company.

Cheers,
budy
orm1server
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Joined: 18 May 2018 23:25

Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

budy wrote: 03 Jun 2018 13:14 The way eFa comes out of the box, it has no mail server capabilities - so you would need dovecot, Exim or some other mail server component where eFa can deliver the messages to. eFa itself is, as it's name suggests, an email filer appliance.

Btw, I'd also not recommend to load any other software on the eFa, since it defeats it's design to be one an "appliance". The devs will only focus on the eFa parts and not any other software, that someone may have installed as well, so it may be, that a future eFa update broke any other additional software.

There are a lot of free mail servers out there: dovecot, Exim and if you want to go fancy, try the OSS of Zimbra - which is, what I am using at home and at my company.

Cheers,
budy
Hey Budy,

Thanks for the reply.

I looked into OSS of Zimbra and it mentions a virtual appliance multiple times but I can't seem to locate the download link for it. I'd be interested in giving it a shot. Is the virtual appliance only for the paid version? I'd prefer to not install it on linux myself. I kinda have a bad history with Linux.

Thanks,
Steve
budy
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

Hi Steve,

sorry for being late… I have been very busy and on vacation… I do think that there's a docker version of Zimbra, but I never used it, since I am always installing on my own - just the opposite as you. ;)

Let me check, if I can find it. However, a docker version of Zimbra might proove as complicated to be to setup, since you'd have to have Docker up and running first. Installing Zimbra OSS on a CentOS or Debian-bases VM really is straighforward and has little to none quirks. However, as with all full-fledged mail servers, it relies on a fully setup and functional DNS infrastucture. You can get away with dnsmasq for that matter, but that's an entirely seperate topic.

However, Zimbra - even in it's OSS incarnation is quite powerful and has proven rock solid for me for the last 6 years or so.

Cheers,
budy
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pdwalker
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by pdwalker »

I'm considering using iRedMail as a mail appliance. If you know linux reasonably well, you might want to look at this
budy
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

pdwalker wrote: 07 Jun 2018 07:12 I'm considering using iRedMail as a mail appliance. If you know linux reasonably well, you might want to look at this
Well… I think, that that's the point - he's had "kinda bad history with Linux". Otherwise he could just install any mail server system he'd like.
orm1server
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

Ya I tried setting up Zimbra but couldn't even get install rolling due to DNS errors even though I had it set up I think. So spent over an hour with that and still couldn't figure it out. Any one know of a pre built VMware virtual appliance or windows app that is a mail server that I could incorporate with efa that is free?


And ya imo Linux can fall in a deep well and never come out lol
budy
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

I am sorry to hear that. Just make a mental note, that any decent mail server will rely on a fully configured DNS. If you're trying to set that up on an internal, private network you will additionally have the issue of running a split-dns setup, since your external IP will be different. So, getting that in shape should be your first priority, before considering which mail server system you want to deploy.
orm1server
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

Yes it was going to be a natd connection behind a pfsense firewall had record in pfsense and Google domains. That's all I had to do for xeams what is different now? Any help or guides would be amazing I have 14days left on xeams free trial
budy
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

Then let's start first by defining, what it actually is, that you want to achieve. Tell us about your current setup and where you want to go.
orm1server
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Joined: 18 May 2018 23:25

Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

Yes I can do that. Thought did but let me retry.

This is not for business or commercial needs. This is mostly just to prove I can do it and learn something new and have a good spam filter. I have 5+ domains to use on it

My goal is to have a virtual appliance running on my esxi server that Is a xeams replacement that is free. I currently have a xeams setup working 100% without problems, issue is it's not free or open source and my deadline is in 10days for my xeams trial.

I have a pfsense natd connection with ports forwarded with a static IP and Google nameservers. I was able.to set up xeams without any issues and I want the same or.better system that's free and or open source

Any assistance is greatly appreciated,
Thx,
Steve
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pdwalker
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by pdwalker »

The best "free" mail appliances that I am aware of are all Linux based. Everyone of them will have a learning curve if you are not familiar with Linux.

My mention if iredmail above is one of the easiest - to me - to configure and install. In the past, I've always done it by hand so I guess everything seems easier to me.

Is it worth you considering paying for Xeams if you find it so easy to install and run? Consider what your time is worth, unless you want to have the experience of learning everything for yourself.

Just my 0.02c
orm1server
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

Thx Pdwalker

I get what your saying. I actually got iredmail working yesterday but didn't like how limited it seemed for being open source. Had to pay for basic features that developers thought were special. But with the iredmail instructions I figured out how to do the DNS and I got Zimbra successfully installed but was having trouble accessing web gui, but I took a break from it yesterday. Xeams works but i feel there is so much more full featured mail servers out there that are open source. I'm going to continue to mess with Zimbra atm
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pdwalker
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by pdwalker »

huh. I see what you mean. I guess I didn't notice the limitations because I can always change the underlying configuration myself to get what I need.

If you keep at it, you'll learn lots and it will get easier with time - whether you stick with zimbra or try something else.

Good luck.
orm1server
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Joined: 18 May 2018 23:25

Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by orm1server »

So got Zimbra installed. Still needs configuring but is online and working thanks for the suggestion guys.

Can I ask if spam assassin is included in zimbra, does efa really do that much better off a job that I should try and loop it in with Zimbra? If so anyone have a guide?
budy
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Re: CAN EFA BE USED AS A AIO MAIL SERVER in place of Xeams

Post by budy »

Zimbra also has a full stack of SA and Amavis, but I always turned them off, since I had eFa - or some self-configured Linux host in front of it. So, my advice is to turn the Zimbra AS/AV off and let eFa handle it.

Cheers,
budy
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