Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Recommendations for home mail server

<< < (2/2)

CWuestefeld:
I tried SmarterMail (suggested by 40Hz), as it gives the impression of being well-polished, and the web page makes it sound like it has all the features I need.

However, once I installed it, I couldn't -- even with the online help -- actually configure a site with it. It took about 10 rounds of messages on their forum before I figured out the problem: there are two different things in the UI labeled "Maintain", and I had been concentrating on one (which generated an error in the web browser) without noticing the other. Even after getting this set up, I find that I haven't the slightest clue how to set up a SmartPop-like arrangement to retrieve via POP3 mail from an external server, and to set up outgoing mail to forward through my hosting provider. Online reviews were glowing about how easy this is to use, but for me, with many years of experience, running my own servers and even understanding the protocols, I was completely befuddled. I don't like software to make me feel stupid, so SmarterMail goes on the trash heap.

I'm about to go back to hMailServer to give that I try. I'll report back on my success (or lack thereof).

40hz:
^ :( Sorry it didn't work out for you. I didn't find SmarterMail particularly difficult to use, but I apparently had better luck than you on the two occasions when I had to request assistance from the community. Both times, the answers I got were succinct and helpful.

Anyway, best luck with your search.

Keep us posted on what you find out.  :) :Thmbsup:

CWuestefeld:
Sorry it didn't work out for you. I didn't find SmarterMail particularly difficult to use
-40hz (August 08, 2010, 09:30 PM)
--- End quote ---
Thanks just the same. Hopefully it goes without saying that the chance to experiment is still valuable. In this case, they had just released a major upgrade, so I think the UI I was dealing with is different than what had been out there in the past.

Anyway, I've got the basic setup of hMailServer working now, including the features that were important to me. It looks like this is going to be successful. However, I've decided not to use the default SQL CE database that ships with it. I'm installing MS SQL Server right now, so I can switch over to a "real" database before going live with it.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page