[BlueOnyx:27161] Re: IMAP with Outllok

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

If I might chime in,

> This allows both plain usernames and full email addresses. PROVIDED 
> the part left of the @ is a valid username and NOT an alias.

That sounds fine to me.


> If we don't also allow the email alias, it'll confuse the heck out of 
> some people.
>
> And in order to also allow the aliases things would get REALLY 
> complicated. Like we'd need an SQL database with a table that maps all 
> usernames to their email-addresses AND aliases and then use SQL backed 
> authentication in Dovecot.

We don't need to do that at all.   I think it's fair enough to specify 
the username vs email alias, and we've always been successful in getting 
this across to customers.   I would not waste even a minute of time on 
the whole alias as a username issue.

With regard to the issue of having Dovecot disabled but Postfix 
enabled... I know that there may be differing opinions, but I'm happy to 
have Dovecot enabled anytime Postfix (or Sendmail) is enabled.   If the 
primary objective for BlueOnyx is as a general-purpose hosting box, to 
me email is part and parcel with that goal.  I understand there are some 
who prefer to rely on 3rd party email solutions and only enable SMTP for 
outbound traffic for forms etc.   But that's not the use case that we 
see most frequently.

Also, if you're one of those users who isn't self-hosting any email, 
then feel free to disable Dovecot because you wouldn't be worried about 
breaking authentication.  Nobody's using it anyhow.

> Anyway: If I omit the username/password fields in the XML, the email 
> client will still auto-configure IMAP and SMTP and the user has to 
> fill in the blanks such as username and password. 

That sounds ideal.    We've been fortunate enough to have this going 
with the cPanel servers for quite some time and it's a big help, since 
all that's necessary is entering credentials. Easy-peasy.


-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
Access, Web Hosting, Colocation, Dedicated
www.virtbiz.com | toll-free (866) 4 VIRTBIZ