dovecot - Jan 2010 - First time Dovecot user, really impressed so far. What is best IMAP enabled webmail package to go with Dovecot?

Greetings everyone,

I'm new to the list as of today.  I just installed Dovecot a couple of days
ago
for the first time, Debian Lenny Dovecot v1.0.15-2.3.  So far I'm pretty
impressed.  I'm using mbox format with Dovecot auto-deciding to place mail
in
user home directories, which is great.  It works very well with the Win32
Thunderbird 3 client over a small basic 100FDX switched net.  I've got one
list
mail folder with 10,600 messages and server side body searching that folder via
T-Bird is very quick, on the order of 5 seconds.  It would probably be quicker
if Dovecot threaded the search to use both CPUs, but pegging just the one CPU
the search is still very darn quick.  And this is on a dual P2-550 class machine
with only 384MB RAM and a single 500GB 7200RPM SATA drive.

I'd like to install a webmail package on the same host.  I used Squirrelmail
for
this purpose many years ago and I wasn't wholly impressed with the user
interface.  I'm also not impressed by the fact that I regularly receive spam
from compromised Squirrelmail hosts/accounts.  I really like the look/feel of
the Scalix Web Access AJAX based interface, but I can't/won't use Scalix
as it's
not supported on Debian, it has more features than I need, and the system
requirements are a bit steep.

So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end with a modern
look/feel?  I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which I'm already using, not
apache.

Thanks in advance for any advice.  My apologies if my first post is a little OT,
but I figured there's probably no better place to ask about the best webmail
front end for Dovecot than here.

--
Stan

Welcome! 
Have a look at RoundCube webmail. I used to use squirrelmail but had the
same issues as you. RoundCube is very nice.

Egbert Jan
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: dovecot-bounces+egbert=vandenbussche.nl at dovecot.org 
> [mailto:dovecot-bounces+egbert=vandenbussche.nl at dovecot.org] 
> Namens Stan Hoeppner
> Verzonden: maandag 4 januari 2010 22:01
> Aan: dovecot at dovecot.org
> Onderwerp: [Dovecot] First time Dovecot user, really 
> impressed so far. What is best IMAP enabled webmail package 
> to go with Dovecot?
> 
> 
> Greetings everyone,
> 
> I'm new to the list as of today.  I just installed Dovecot a 
> couple of days ago for the first time, Debian Lenny Dovecot 
> v1.0.15-2.3.  So far I'm pretty impressed.  I'm using mbox 
> format with Dovecot auto-deciding to place mail in user home 
> directories, which is great.  It works very well with the 
> Win32 Thunderbird 3 client over a small basic 100FDX switched 
> net.  I've got one list mail folder with 10,600 messages and 
> server side body searching that folder via T-Bird is very 
> quick, on the order of 5 seconds.  It would probably be 
> quicker if Dovecot threaded the search to use both CPUs, but 
> pegging just the one CPU the search is still very darn quick. 
>  And this is on a dual P2-550 class machine with only 384MB 
> RAM and a single 500GB 7200RPM SATA drive.
> 
> I'd like to install a webmail package on the same host.  I 
> used Squirrelmail for this purpose many years ago and I 
> wasn't wholly impressed with the user interface.  I'm also 
> not impressed by the fact that I regularly receive spam from 
> compromised Squirrelmail hosts/accounts.  I really like the 
> look/feel of the Scalix Web Access AJAX based interface, but 
> I can't/won't use Scalix as it's not supported on Debian, it 
> has more features than I need, and the system requirements 
> are a bit steep.
> 
> So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end with 
> a modern look/feel?  I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which 
> I'm already using, not apache.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice.  My apologies if my first 
> post is a little OT, but I figured there's probably no better 
> place to ask about the best webmail front end for Dovecot than here.
> 
> --
> Stan
>

Are you sure the CPU is pegged from CPU and not disk I/O?  I used to  
import 160GB of InnoDB data on a quad core (U320/RAID 10) and after  
the cache would fill up, only 1 core would show as pegged because the  
disk I/O wasn't fast enough.  Seems like the index on 10k messages  
might be kinda big.  Got more RAM lying around?  Just a guess.

I like Horde (extendability) and Roundcube (speed), and would  
recommend using imapproxy for either webmail system.  It helps speed  
things up.

Rick

Quoting "Stan Hoeppner" <stan at hardwarefreak.com>:
> Greetings everyone,
>
> I'm new to the list as of today.  I just installed Dovecot a couple  
> of days ago
> for the first time, Debian Lenny Dovecot v1.0.15-2.3.  So far I'm
pretty
> impressed.  I'm using mbox format with Dovecot auto-deciding to place
mail in
> user home directories, which is great.  It works very well with the Win32
> Thunderbird 3 client over a small basic 100FDX switched net.  I've  
> got one list
> mail folder with 10,600 messages and server side body searching that  
> folder via
> T-Bird is very quick, on the order of 5 seconds.  It would probably  
> be quicker
> if Dovecot threaded the search to use both CPUs, but pegging just the one
CPU
> the search is still very darn quick.  And this is on a dual P2-550  
> class machine
> with only 384MB RAM and a single 500GB 7200RPM SATA drive.
>
> I'd like to install a webmail package on the same host.  I used  
> Squirrelmail for
> this purpose many years ago and I wasn't wholly impressed with the user
> interface.  I'm also not impressed by the fact that I regularly receive
spam
> from compromised Squirrelmail hosts/accounts.  I really like the look/feel
of
> the Scalix Web Access AJAX based interface, but I can't/won't use  
> Scalix as it's
> not supported on Debian, it has more features than I need, and the system
> requirements are a bit steep.
>
> So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end with a modern
> look/feel?  I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which I'm already
using,
> not apache.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice.  My apologies if my first post is  
> a little OT,
> but I figured there's probably no better place to ask about the best
webmail
> front end for Dovecot than here.
>
> --
> Stan
>
>

Hi Stan,

i would suggest the (very) powerfull horde bundle of packages.
not only webmail but also reminder calendar and and many more.

http://www.horde.org

That's what i am doing these days (trying to make dovecot work with
horde that is).

HTH,

s.


--- On Mon, 4/1/10, Stan Hoeppner <stan at hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
> From: Stan Hoeppner <stan at hardwarefreak.com>
> Subject: [Dovecot] First time Dovecot user, really impressed so far. What
is best IMAP enabled webmail package to go with Dovecot?
> To: dovecot at dovecot.org
> Date: Monday, 4 January, 2010, 23:00
> Greetings everyone,
> 
> I'm new to the list as of today.? I just installed
> Dovecot a couple of days ago
> for the first time, Debian Lenny Dovecot v1.0.15-2.3.?
> So far I'm pretty
> impressed.? I'm using mbox format with Dovecot
> auto-deciding to place mail in
> user home directories, which is great.? It works very
> well with the Win32
> Thunderbird 3 client over a small basic 100FDX switched
> net.? I've got one list
> mail folder with 10,600 messages and server side body
> searching that folder via
> T-Bird is very quick, on the order of 5 seconds.? It
> would probably be quicker
> if Dovecot threaded the search to use both CPUs, but
> pegging just the one CPU
> the search is still very darn quick.? And this is on a
> dual P2-550 class machine
> with only 384MB RAM and a single 500GB 7200RPM SATA drive.
> 
> I'd like to install a webmail package on the same
> host.? I used Squirrelmail for
> this purpose many years ago and I wasn't wholly impressed
> with the user
> interface.? I'm also not impressed by the fact that I
> regularly receive spam
> from compromised Squirrelmail hosts/accounts.? I
> really like the look/feel of
> the Scalix Web Access AJAX based interface, but I
> can't/won't use Scalix as it's
> not supported on Debian, it has more features than I need,
> and the system
> requirements are a bit steep.
> 
> So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end
> with a modern
> look/feel?? I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which I'm
> already using, not apache.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice.? My apologies if my
> first post is a little OT,
> but I figured there's probably no better place to ask about
> the best webmail
> front end for Dovecot than here.
> 
> --
> Stan
>

On 1/4/2010 4:00 PM, Stan Hoeppner wrote:
> Greetings everyone,
>
> I'd like to install a webmail package on the same host.  I used
Squirrelmail for
> this purpose many years ago and I wasn't wholly impressed with the user
> interface.  I'm also not impressed by the fact that I regularly receive
spam
> from compromised Squirrelmail hosts/accounts.  I really like the look/feel
of
> the Scalix Web Access AJAX based interface, but I can't/won't use
Scalix as it's
> not supported on Debian, it has more features than I need, and the system
> requirements are a bit steep.
>
SquirrelMail or RoundCube.  We have SM setup currently and I plan on 
setting up RoundCube sometime in January.

Quoting Stan Hoeppner <stan at hardwarefreak.com>:
> So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end with a modern
> look/feel?  I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which I'm already
using,
> not apache.
www.horde.org would work (there are debian ports).  As to which is best,
depends on who you listen to. :)

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Go Longhorns!

At Mon, 4 Jan 2010 22:08:22 +0100,
Egbert Jan van den Bussche wrote:
> 
> Welcome! 
> Have a look at RoundCube webmail. I used to use squirrelmail but had the
> same issues as you. RoundCube is very nice.
I second that emotion

--
Dave Abrahams           Meet me at BoostCon: http://www.boostcon.com
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com

On 01/04/2010 10:00 PM, Stan Hoeppner wrote:

Hi,
> So, what's the best FOSS IMAP enabled web mail front end with a
> modern look/feel?  I'd like to run it on lighttpd, which I'm
already
>  using, not apache.
I'm using RoundCube 0.3.x (from the RoundCube website) + mysql + apache2
on Debian Lenny, and I'm very pleased with it so far.

In the RC configuration I have set the "preview pane" on by default, I
don't understand why it was off by default (The comment in the config
file even mentions that "preview pane" on is better), so I recommend
doing that too.

And I suggest that you install/enable at least the "address book
compose" plugin, and the "squirrelmail copy prefs" plugins.

I found out that the "squirrelmail copy prefs" RC plugin even converts
the address-books from Squirrelmail :) !!
But note : this plugin apparently works only at the first RC login of an
user, so make sure the "squirrelmail copy prefs" plugin is installed
and
configured correctly before you log in as your user.

Make sure you read enough about how to install and configure RC,
and secure at least the directories "temp" and "logs", and
make sure
that the RC .htaccess files work with your lighttpd installation.

If you try Roundcube for a while you might find out nice features,
like the "del" key works for deleting an email, drag and drop is
possible, and there's "email auto completion" within the email
compose
window, and you can add email-addresses in emails to the address-book
with just one mouse click.

Drawbacks I've found in RoundCube so far : I couldn't find out how to 
toggle individual emails in the mailbox window, and the search options 
seem rather limited compared to Squirrelmail, and RoundCube only has one 
official skin/theme included.

(And for the record : imho Squirrelmail is a very decent webmail,
too bad that the very nice themes for it are closed source and
commercially priced, and I really dislike installing/configuring and
using Horde)

Regards,
Adrian

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:23:50 -0500
> Von: Thomas Harold <thomas-lists at nybeta.com>
> An: dovecot at dovecot.org
> Betreff: Re: [Dovecot] First time Dovecot user, really impressed so far.
What is best IMAP enabled webmail package	to go with Dovecot?
> On 1/6/2010 11:38 AM, Steve wrote:
> >
> > An advice on another nice Web enabled mail client? Have you looked at
> > SOGo? Have a look at their online demo ->
> > http://www.scalableogo.org/tour/online_demo.html
> >
> > It has more to offer then RoundCube (aka: Calendaring,
> > synchronization with Funambol, etc).
> 
> Ah? (perks up ears at the mention of Funambol)
> 
> And SOGo plays nicely with postfix + dovecot?
>
Yes. SOGo does not care much about Postfix or Dovecot. It uses standard SMTP and
standard IMAP/POP.

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