Hi - I am thinking of moving from a reseller hosting account to a dedicated server which means that all the email accounts that are currently enabled for my reseller account (which have webmail enabled) will need to be moved to the dedicated server. Now
- I have no experience of setting up email accounts but what I want to know is, are there any free webmail type asp.net applications that I can use to administer the email accounts and also allow access to the emails through (like any normal webmail site)?
When you say that you are moving to a dedicated server, does that mean you are hosting your own site now or that this is your server at your host's location?
Christopher Reed, MCT, MCSD, MCPD, Microsoft Specialist, MTA, MCTS
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
The server will be at a hosting company (fasthosts). I wil have a windows 2008 r2 server and I need to move all my existing websites to this box - each website has a domain (obviously) and a number of email accounts. Currently those email accounts are looked
after by the host but when I move to dedicated hosting it will be my responsibility. I have no idea how to set up a server to handle emails. I have a seen a few open source webmail clients but I need to know how to configure the server to handle the emails.
The reason I asked is because some hosts will provide you with software for your dedicated server (at a nominal fee, of course). For the most part, you will need to acquire an email server system. As for getting this up and running, most of these systems
should be able to walk you through the process of getting your emails to work. Another option would be to use a mail host where they will configure their system to look like it's coming from your domains.
Christopher Reed, MCT, MCSD, MCPD, Microsoft Specialist, MTA, MCTS
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
Thanks - yes, the hosts do offer a system that I can install on the server but it's quite expensive so I was wondering if there's any free options - I have seen this
http://www.afterlogic.com/products/webmail-lite which looks great for my needs as a webmail client - I just don't understand what I need to do/install on the server itself to store/handle the emails.
I'm not sure what to suggest since I don't know of any freeware mail server software. Essentially, to build a mail server, you need to a POP3 or IMAP service and an SMTP service. IIS, for example, already provides a built-in SMTP service. However, while
Microsoft included a POP3 service in Windows 2003, they removed it from Windows 2008 (though I believe it's in the Windows Web Server 2008). From what I have read so far, there's a growing preference for using IMAP.
Regardless, POP3, IMAP, and SMTP are simply web protocols just like FTP and HTTP. By default, POP3 uses port 110, IMAP uses port 143, and SMTP uses port 25. Basically, you pass emails between servers just as you would files and web pages. Given this,
maybe you could look for free or cheap POP3/IMAP software, but then you will need to put together the components to make the email process.
Christopher Reed, MCT, MCSD, MCPD, Microsoft Specialist, MTA, MCTS
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
Member
1 Points
354 Posts
Webmail code/software
Jan 14, 2010 06:14 AM|loydall|LINK
Hi - I am thinking of moving from a reseller hosting account to a dedicated server which means that all the email accounts that are currently enabled for my reseller account (which have webmail enabled) will need to be moved to the dedicated server. Now - I have no experience of setting up email accounts but what I want to know is, are there any free webmail type asp.net applications that I can use to administer the email accounts and also allow access to the emails through (like any normal webmail site)?
Any ideas/help?
Thanks
email hosting
Star
13130 Points
4049 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Jan 14, 2010 09:38 AM|Careed|LINK
When you say that you are moving to a dedicated server, does that mean you are hosting your own site now or that this is your server at your host's location?
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
Member
1 Points
354 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Jan 14, 2010 12:48 PM|loydall|LINK
The server will be at a hosting company (fasthosts). I wil have a windows 2008 r2 server and I need to move all my existing websites to this box - each website has a domain (obviously) and a number of email accounts. Currently those email accounts are looked after by the host but when I move to dedicated hosting it will be my responsibility. I have no idea how to set up a server to handle emails. I have a seen a few open source webmail clients but I need to know how to configure the server to handle the emails.
Any ideas?
Star
13130 Points
4049 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Jan 14, 2010 05:34 PM|Careed|LINK
The reason I asked is because some hosts will provide you with software for your dedicated server (at a nominal fee, of course). For the most part, you will need to acquire an email server system. As for getting this up and running, most of these systems should be able to walk you through the process of getting your emails to work. Another option would be to use a mail host where they will configure their system to look like it's coming from your domains.
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
Member
1 Points
354 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Jan 15, 2010 03:54 AM|loydall|LINK
Thanks - yes, the hosts do offer a system that I can install on the server but it's quite expensive so I was wondering if there's any free options - I have seen this http://www.afterlogic.com/products/webmail-lite which looks great for my needs as a webmail client - I just don't understand what I need to do/install on the server itself to store/handle the emails.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Star
13130 Points
4049 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Jan 15, 2010 09:20 AM|Careed|LINK
I'm not sure what to suggest since I don't know of any freeware mail server software. Essentially, to build a mail server, you need to a POP3 or IMAP service and an SMTP service. IIS, for example, already provides a built-in SMTP service. However, while Microsoft included a POP3 service in Windows 2003, they removed it from Windows 2008 (though I believe it's in the Windows Web Server 2008). From what I have read so far, there's a growing preference for using IMAP.
Regardless, POP3, IMAP, and SMTP are simply web protocols just like FTP and HTTP. By default, POP3 uses port 110, IMAP uses port 143, and SMTP uses port 25. Basically, you pass emails between servers just as you would files and web pages. Given this, maybe you could look for free or cheap POP3/IMAP software, but then you will need to put together the components to make the email process.
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."
Member
30 Points
57 Posts
Re: Webmail code/software
Mar 24, 2010 06:17 PM|Polk|LINK
The only good free solution for windows that I'm aware of is hMailServer + Afterlogic webmail. Used them in the past and it's been great.