[Doc HM]

Currently debating between Apples own mail server included in 10.6 server an Kerio Connect. Any other options I should be looking at. Not keen on running Apples offering as it's not really up to the job. Small business, 5 employees but it's entirely email based with a huge volume of mail with quite large attachments.

Will be running off a custom made FileMAker Pro database to handle workflow CRM etc.

[Rainy Day]

Not up to the task? Snow Leopard's mail server is based on Dovecot, which is professional grade. We use Dovecot on our Linux based server.

[besson3c]

Dovecot (IMAP) and Postfix (SMTP) are definitely up to the job, I would personally be inclined to trust these far more readily than I would Kerio. I can't speak to the OS X GUI tools, but if this email is important enough for you to run your own server I probably wouldn't trust any GUI anyway, you'll learn far more about mail systems without this abstraction.

I would consider adding on Amavisd + SpamAssassin if you are interested in spam checking (last I checked this was included with OS X), ClamAV if you are interested in virus checking, DKIM, and Greylisting if you want more spam protection. Make sure you have a backup solution in place that will backup your mail store, and you might want to explore web-based email if this would be convenient for you too.

If this email is important to you I would also recommend having a backup server waiting in the wings should something go wrong. I would explore virtualizing this so that you don't have to have physical hardware for this, although I guess that isn't really a good option with OS X. If you are going to take all my advice though, there isn't really much of a point to using OS X in the first place.

If you do all of this you'll have pretty much reproduced the mail setup of some very large ISPs.

[Waragainstsleep]

If you want to get your hands dirty then the above advice is probably good. If not, then Kerio is unbelievably easy to setup and administer, its pretty bullet proof and has bags of features, though OS X Server has caught up a bit in recent years.

The other bonus, Kerio support is fantastic and comes with the price.

[mvip]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

If you want to get your hands dirty then the above advice is probably good. If not, then Kerio is unbelievably easy to setup and administer, its pretty bullet proof and has bags of features, though OS X Server has caught up a bit in recent years.

The other bonus, Kerio support is fantastic and comes with the price.

Yes, it also comes with a pretty crappy IMAP server.

I'd say go with the bulletproof IMAP servers, such as Cyrus, Courier or Dovecot combined with Postfix. There are a ton of howtos on that. Mac OS is a UNIX based system after all.

If you don't want to get your hands dirty in the first place, I think you're better off not running the mail server yourself, and use something like Google Apps.

[Doc HM]

Company is currently on Google Apps, but it's not immediate enough when integrated into the filemaker application, which links email to job tracking etc.

Anyway Kerio up and running. It was indeed pretty bullet proof and seems to be good so far. Instigating a backup strategy which includes a mirror of the server so that is hardware fails we can just boot from the mirror to an alternative Mac plus off site cloud plus rotating off site HDD.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by mvip 

Yes, it also comes with a pretty crappy IMAP server.

I'd say go with the bulletproof IMAP servers, such as Cyrus, Courier or Dovecot combined with Postfix. There are a ton of howtos on that. Mac OS is a UNIX based system after all.

If you don't want to get your hands dirty in the first place, I think you're better off not running the mail server yourself, and use something like Google Apps.

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread but what is so crappy about Kerio's IMAP server?