Re: ISP converting to automation with LDAP

Victor Duchovni wrote:

>On Tue, Jun 07, 2005 at 10:02:38AM -0400, Ron Wheeler wrote:
>
>
>
>>I am really having trouble with the idea that there are 50 ways to setup
>>an ISP using Postfix. I am almost sure that 90-95% of Postfix
>>installations could be almost exactly the same and the user's would have
>>the same or better level of satisfaction as they do now.
>>
>>
>>
>
>This thread is really about groupware requirements, not Postfix.
>An integrated system (IMAP + SMTP + iCal + ...) will naturally
>impose a management model and an LDAP schema. Each component
>alone (or at least Postfix) is more flexible to allow multiple
>integration architectures. If you want a turn-key system, look
>at SLOX and similar systems. Postfix is an MTA, and does not
>undertake to address the issues you raise (running a complete
>groupware application suite).
>
>
>
This is the biggest problem with open source. It is so good because the
people working on it focus on making their piece as strong as they can
but it is hard to use because the integration falls into no man's land.
Perhaps the answer is to privatize the integration but then you lose the
benefit of open source's vaste array of experts. I would much rather get
a best practice from the guys here than depend on a vendor's choices
which may be made for reasons that do not entirely coincide with my best
interests.

>My experience is that it is best to separate namespace management from
>routing, which means that all public email addresses are in virtual
>alias domains. These (internally) rewrite to one or more physical deliver
>addresses (mailbox@mailhost.example.net), and it is the latter that are
>delivered to the appropriate destination/transport. Getting more specific
>makes the answers less generally useful.
>
>
>
Another good start on a "best practice". This is the kind on input that
may seem obvious to you but is the result of experience and quite a bit
of time reading other people's grief from not doing it right.
I am not sure that I would not get a lot of benefit from your specific
details of the schema that you used or the directory implementation that
you picked.
Even if I agree with you and are already leaning in that direction, it
is still very helpful to know that it works.
No one remembers the second guy that crossed the Atlantic alone even
though it was the same route and the same technical challenge. We all
understand that following some elses's lead is always easier even if it
is the same actual work.

Ron