The Book of IMAP: Building a Mail Server with Courier & Cyrus

Description

IMAP (the Internet Message Access Protocol) allows clients to access their email on a remote server, whether from the office, a remote location, or a cell phone or other device. IMAP is powerful and flexible, but it's also complicated to set up; it's more difficult to implement than POP3 and more error-prone for both client and server.

 The Book of IMAP offers a detailed introduction to IMAP and POP3, the two protocols that govern all modern mail servers and clients. You'll learn how the protocols work as well as how to install, configure, and maintain the two most popular open source mail systems, Courier and Cyrus.

 Authors Peer Heinlein and Peer Hartleben have set up hundreds of mail servers and offer practical hints about troubleshooting errors, migration, filesystem tuning, cluster setups, and password security that will help you extricate yourself from all sorts of tricky situations. You'll also learn how to:

Create and use shared folders, virtual domains, and user quotas Authenticate user data with PAM, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and LDAP Handle heavy traffic with load balancers and proxies Use built-in tools for server analysis, maintenance, and repairs Implement complementary webmail clients like Squirrelmail and Horde/IMP Set up and use the Sieve email filter

 Thoroughly commented references to the POP and IMAP protocols round out the book, making The Book of IMAP an essential resource for even the most experienced system administrators.

CONTENTS:

Introduction

PART 1: How to Set Up and Maintain IMAP Servers

Chapter 1: Protocols and Terms

Chapter 2: POP3 and IMAP at the Protocol Level

Chapter 3: Load Distribution and Reliability

Chapter 4: Selecting a Filesystem

Chapter 5: Complementary Webmail Clients

Chapter 6: Migrating IMAP Servers

PART 2: Courier-IMAP

Chapter 7: Structure and Basic Configuration

Chapter 8: Maildir as Email Storage Format

Chapter 9: User Data

Chapter 10: The Work of a Courier Administrator

PART 3: Cyrus-IMAP

Chapter 11: Structure and Basic Configuration

Chapter 12: A Closer Look at the Configuration Files

Chapter 13: Authentication and Safeguards

Chapter 14: Advanced Cyrus Configuration

Chapter 15: Internal Structure and Modules

Chapter 16: Cyrus at the Filesystem Level

Chapter 17: Cyrus in a Cluster

Appendixes

Appendix A: IMAP Command Reference

Appendix B: POP3 Command Reference

Appendix C: Installing from the Source Code

View the detailed Table of Contents (PDF)

View the Index (PDF)