[Pkg-exim4-users] suggestion on exim configuration

[Marc Haber]

Since nobody has given useful advice in this thread, I'm going to try
pointing you in the right direction.

On Fri, Dec 01, 2006 at 12:23:34PM +0100, Fabrizio Lippolis wrote:
> the firm where I work wants to migrate from an obsolete Exchange server 
> to something newer and more performant.

Be advised that exim's function is only a tiny part of what Exchange
can do. To have basic end-user grade e-mail service with exim, you
usually need a POP3/IMAP server as well. For Calendaring, Address book
and the other Exchange features I am at a loss to recommend a
replacement.

> At the moment I am concentrating on the exim configuration, it has to 
> handle multiple domains. A simplified scenario should be like this, 
> three users (user1, user2 and user3) and two domains (domain1, domain2) 
> so that
> 
> user1 at domain1
> user1 at domain2
> 
> are two different mail accounts (receive the same mail) and
> 
> user2 at domain1
> user3 at domain2
> 
> receive the same mail.

The exim default configuration and the Debian configuration derived
from it assume the old-fashioned way that all domains local to the
host are treated identically, and the mailboxes are associated with
the Unix system accounts. Both assumptions are not too helpful in your
case, so you'll have to delve pretty deeply into Exim's configuration.
I therefore advise to spend some time with the exim documentation and
probably buy Philip's excellent book about configuring exim.

If I were you, I'd familiarize yourself with the idea of separating
e-mail addresses and mailboxes, and build a relationship table like
"Mailbox foo receives messages for user1 at domain1 and user3 at domain2".
This way, your configuration will be much earlier. This relationship
table can also be used for mail routing and transporting.

Mail spool directory layout will, in this case, represent ailbox
names, not the mail addresses.

One last word: Running an e-mail server for a company means
responsibility for something vital for business communication and
needs considerable expertise. No offense intended, but the level of
questions you ask and the way you word your requirements suggests that
you are not very experienced in running a mail server on the Internet.
If I were you, I'd think double about taking this responsibility on my
shoulders. Please consider buying a commercial e-mail server product
or an appliance, or at least, hire a consultant to set up your
Debian-based E-Mail server, get yourself educated about how to do
administration and debugging tasks and make sure that this consultant
is available in emergency cases to help you fixing outages.

Greetings
Marc

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