I currently have a client with 5 employees. The business has a
service that provides them with POP email accounts. Currently there
are 3 or 4 PCs in the store. One of the pc's is running Outlook, and
that version of outlook is configured to retrieve all 5 of the POP
accounts. Rules then distribute the mail to different folders within
Outlook. My question is this: The owner and his employees would like
to be able to send and retrieve their POP email from any of the PC's
in the office, not just the 1 dedicated PC they are currently using.
The owner would like to have all email stored centrally for ease of
backup and retrieval.
More background: All the computers in the office are on a common
Ethernet segment behind a small office d-link router. The d-link
router is connected to the internet via a cable modem. |
Request for Question Clarification by
till-ga
on
03 Apr 2004 07:54 PST
Does the web server support the IMAP4 protocol ?
till-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
drain1-ga
on
03 Apr 2004 13:51 PST
I currently do not have any form of a web server withing the company.
Also I don't know what IMAP4 is. I assume it is an email protocol,
but I know nothing about it.
Dave.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
till-ga
on
03 Apr 2004 23:03 PST
The IMAP4 is an email protocol that might help you to solve your
problem as then mails are left on the mail server:
"IMAP allows you to fully utilize the bandwidth available to you, and
unlike early POP servers (this is no longer the case), IMAP is
centered on the notion that the server is your primary mail
repository. Messages are always retained on the server. The client may
issue commands to download them or delete them, access and set message
state information, but the server always maintains the mailboxes. The
protocol also provides for the entire structure of a message to be
transferred, which can provide a client mail program with an outline
of a complex MIME message, but without requiring the client to read
the entire message and parse it locally to determine that structure,
which is how POP works. This is especially important on low-bandwidth
connections. The same applies to message envelope information which is
normally presented in the message header. This information may be
transferred directly, and allow the client to present a list of
messages to a human reader in a fraction of the time it would take to
transfer the entire mailbox across the wire, and parse it locally.
Once a message is selected for viewing, the entire message may then be
brought in. Alternatively, a client might wish to browse only a few
lines of a message, or a specific part of a multi-part MIME message.
This is also possible; and is extremely advantageous on slow
connections.
from:
What is IMAP
( http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IMAP.html )
"Advantages of IMAP
IMAP keeps all mail on the server (i.e. Helix). Mail is not
automatically downloaded to your desktop machine each time you
connect, although you can still explicitly choose to save messages
locally. This has the following advantages:
-IMAP is much faster than POP
-IMAP downloads messages one at a time; POP downloads all new messages
each time a connection is made
-Mail can be accessed consistently from multiple clients (e.g. home,
office); all changes you make to your mail folders (deleting messages,
moving into folders) will be 'seen' from any client.
-Mail can be accessed simultaneously from multiple clients.
-A misconfigured IMAP client is a nuisance; a misconfigured POP client
can cause serious problems that are difficult and time-consuming to
recover from
IMAP is immune to "duplicate messages" that occasionally afflict POP clients "
from:
HIH Helix Mail
( http://helix.nih.gov/docs/online/email/imap.html )
You do not need to have a web server in your company, many internet
providers support the IMAP4 protocol. You should check if the provider
that hosts your POP email accounts supports IMAP4. If not it should be
possible to find a provider that does support IMAP4.
In germany such a solution is available for a few Euro a month, it
should be cheap as well in the USA.
till-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
drain1-ga
on
04 Apr 2004 06:57 PDT
I will find out what mail protocols his current provider supports,
then get back with you.
Dave.
|
Clarification of Question by
drain1-ga
on
12 Apr 2004 13:25 PDT
My client is currently using INTERLAND for his Web and EMail hosting.
They do not offer an IMAP solution. Also I've checked with
RoadRunner, his ISP, and they also do not offer IMAP. So I went
searching and found Simplicato. They seem to specialize in IMAP EMail
hosting, and have various plas to choose from. It also appears I can
leave his web page where it is, and just move the MX record to
Simplicato for his email. Am I missing anything here, or is this the
right way to proceed.
Dave.
|
