Re: Migrating from Exchange 2000 to Postfix

Buzzbomb wrote:

> Ben Tisdall wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> my gf is the unofficial sysadmin for a small human rights charity and
>> their box running Exchange server is in urgent need of replacement.
>> Since:
>>
>> (a) They don't use the collaborative features of Exchange.
>>
>> (b) From what research I've done so indicates that restoring the
>> backed up stores and logs to a fresh install moving the current install
>> to new iron could be a nightmare
>
> Could it be you got cutoff mid-post...
>
> Some general thoughts....
>
> Postfix is a good solid, secure email MTA (Message Transport Agent - all
> it does is move email around, not allow people to read it). You can add
> both anti-spam and anti-virus to it without too much trouble.
>
> You will also need a mail store that Postfix will deliver local users
> email to and allow them to access it. I like Cyrus, some people prefer
> Courier. Cyrus stores messages, 1 message per file, with and index.
> Backing up just means backing up the filestore. Restoring you can just
> restore a single file or the whole message store - you may need to
> regenerate the index, a simple job from the command line.
>

Courier does the same, but with a slightly different format. There are
write-ups on the postfux site about how to couple postfix and courier.
Postfix and Cyrus seems to be less popular for some reason.

> Once in the mail store you can use any POP3 or IMAP4 (both have well
> supported SSL options for security) client to access it (this bascically
> covers just about any modern email client, including Outlook,
> Thunderbird, Eudora plus mobile options like Nokia phones, Pocket PC and
> Blackberry).
>

A lot depends on how many mail accounts the user needs to access. Most
people only need one, occasionally we come across people who need 4 or
more. Outlook isn't too clever at that and neither is Thunderbird - our
preference here is Pegasus though I'm not too happy about it's sanitisation
of error messages.

> I would suggest going for IMAP as the preferred option as the mail stays
> on the server. That way you get to use web mail clients as well (e.g.
> SquirrelMail or Horde) and maintain a single coherent view of your
> email, as well as easing backup & other managemnet issues.
>

It also means that sent mail can be stored on the server instead of locally
- much better if people hot-desk or someone has to oversee another's
handling of mail.

> Conversion from one version of Exchange to another is a well
> established, although not painless process. A lot will depend on how
> cleanly the current server is configured. Long established systems tend
> to collect a whole raft of little tweaks which can make migration a real
> PITA.
>
> Conversion from Exchange to an IMAP based system is reasonably
> straightforward, if you have the right tools. The simplest way is to use
> IMAP to move message stores for Exchange to whatever a user at a time -
> all can be scripted & automated.
>

For small numbers where users have Outlook the Outlook export/import
facility works fine.
.

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