Protocol Pros and Cons


When sending mail, Mac OS X Server users must use the SMTP. However, when receiving mail, there are a couple of options. IMAP has numerous advantages. Since your email is stored on the server, you can access it from the same inbox on your desktop at work or your laptop at home. IMAP also offers a wider feature set, including more authentication options. However, while a user is running email client software, a connection typically remains open with the email server. For large organizations, this can necessitate having an extensive server infrastructure to accommodate the simultaneous connections throughout the entire workday.

With POP, once you've connected to your inbox, your email is stored only on your personal workstation. In this situation, you would not be able to see the same email messages from multiple computers, and, unless your workstation is backed up, your email may not have any sort of backup protection. Probably the biggest disadvantage of POP is that it usually uses nonsecure password storage methods. The good news is that there are ways you can safeguard your password through the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), or by using higher-security password systems such as Kerberos.

Mac OS X Server uses open source software to implement many of its services. Mail is no exception. Most of the mail processing is handled by Postfix (www.postfix.org), while the users connect to their inbox through Cyrus (asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus). Mac OS X Server also comes with SquirrelMail (www.squirrelmail.org) to allow users to connect to their email from a web browser. Mailing list management is handled through Mailman (www.list.org). New in Mac OS X Server 10.4 are even more open source solutions. Junk mail and virus protection are now implemented through a combination of SpamAssassin (spamassassin.apache.org), ClamAV (www.clamav.net), and AMaViS (www.amavis.org). Tiger also offers virtual hosting options, improved mail maintenance tools, and better mail quota support.




Mac OS X Server 10. 4 Tiger. Visual QuickPro Guide
Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger: Visual QuickPro Guide
ISBN: 0321362446
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 139
Authors: Schoun Regan

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