Ms Exchange vs dovecot

[Michael Hirmke]

Hi Marc,


>How did you decide for the Baikal? I have been testing a long time ago

it was easy to install/configure and it was sufficient for my needs.

>with this apple ccs calendarserver, but it did/does not feel right. I

I have no idea about anything regarding the Apple universe.

>think there were tasks also in this one, but I am not sure anymore. I

They are called "Todos", if I get your intention right.

>had argument with the developers that they should not enforce openssl
>building, they did not get that they are developers and not sysadmins
>and should just do development. Their approach made it cumbersome to
>update the ccs server, exactly the opposite of their goal. I even saw
>some issues recently that meeting invitation requests were not
>compatible. Which is an issue with lots of caldav implementations. I
>have everything in ldap, so that support is necessary.

>I don't think people use that many exchange features, like with office
>80%-90% can just do fine with libre/open office. Granting someone access
>to folders is mostly it I guess. Ccs was supporting this also if I
>remember correctly.

At work we use nearly everything, Exchange offers.
And thats my "fault", because when I was the admin in duty, I tried to
get most of our money we had to pay MS.

Bye.
Michael.


>-----Original Message-----
>From: (Michael Hirmke) [mailto:mh at mike.franken.de]
>Sent: 09 May 2020 13:36
>To: dovecot at dovecot.org
>Subject: Re: Ms Exchange vs dovecot

>Hi Marc,

>>I have recently been working/testing with exchange 2016 and started
>>thinking if I should even migrate to this platform. I assume more
>>people here have experience with exchange and this idea.

>I was an Exchange admin for years and even had an Exchange server at
>home for about 20 years - just for fun and for testing purposes.
>Three months ago I migrated to dovecot and baikal - and dropped Exchange
>completely.
>This worked flawless, so *I* don't miss Exchange at all.

>But:

>You can't compare dovecot with Exchange, because dovecot is a mail
>server, Exchange is a groupware server. This is why I added a baikal
>server to my infrastructure. Baikal is a Cal- and CardDAV server, that
>can replace the calendar und contact parts of Exchange.
>Nevertheless you loose many features of an Exchange server after
>migrating to such a setup, so if your users got used to these feature,
>it wouldn't be possible to drop Exchange. It is only feasable for small
>environments with few people or in a new environment, where nobody has
>used an Exchange Server until now. IMHO.
>This was not your question, it is meant as background information, if
>you wouldn't already know that.

>For your environment I can't tell if it is possible to migrate to
>Exchange, because you didn't write, if you already have an Active
>Directory in place, which is necessary for Exchange on premise.
>If you want to use Microsoft's Azure AD and the Exchange cloud services
>on top, you have to migrate your users to Azure AD. In any case you need
>an Active Directory for Exchange server.

>>I was wondering if this is possible with a dovecot setup

>> 1. public folder can be implemented with a public mailbox?

>Yes, but public folders in Exchange are dying for years.
>They still exist, but are only supported so so.
>Public mailboxes in dovecot are supported full fledged.

>> 2. authorize users via groups access to mailboxes/folders of the
>>public folder/mailbox. I think I saw ACL's with dovecot, does this
>>compare to 'folder permissions'

>Not really, but I'm not an expert for permissions on public mailboxes.

>> 3. is it possible with sieve to apply a rule on any mailbox/folder?
>>Thus if I 'drag' a message to a folder, the sieve rule is activated?

>You can configure a folder to act on incoming mail in the folder
>properties. I never tested, though, if "incoming" also applies when
>copying to a folder.

>Bye.
>Michael.
>--
>Michael Hirmke

-- 
Michael Hirmke