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POP/SMTP email server
- Thread starter iolair
- Start date
POP3 is an antiquated protocol that's extremely inefficient, and generally, very insecure. Any organization would be smart to stay away from it. And IMAP.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
- Thread starter
- #3
I can't imagine what insecure means when said about POP3 or IMAP4. I run IMAP4 via TLS with mutual certificate authentication - this is as secure as the US Treasury uses to manage it's customers log-ins. Good enough for email?
BTW Insecure means lacking confidence... you probably meant unsecure or not secure.
BTW Insecure means lacking confidence... you probably meant unsecure or not secure.
You're right - I meant unsecure. TLS is what makes it more secure, but most orgs I've seen using POP3 or IMAP don't set it up to use TLS.
Even with TLS, you still have clients constantly polling the server, which is inefficient. You also don't have any real feature set with POP3 or IMAP.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
Even with TLS, you still have clients constantly polling the server, which is inefficient. You also don't have any real feature set with POP3 or IMAP.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
It would be easier to list what you DO get with IMAP. You don't get shared anything, web and mobile access, server based storage, etc. The list is long. Also, clients constantly check the server (pull) for info when using IMAP or POP3.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
Hmm. I use IMAP for desktop and mobile access - I have a web gateway available but I like my mobile device mail client so I just use IMAP with it. I get tons of server based storage using IMAP (using 11GB right now on my server, google gives me 7GB+ for free, you can pay for more if you buy pro - there are backup programs that will target an IMAP folder if you really want). My inboxes are always synchronized across my laptop, my wife's laptop (my login), and my mobile phone (different operating systems but IMAP handles that super well). Also since my server supports IDLE I don't have the client constantly polling the server - the TCP connection stays hot.
I'm not saying there isn't good reason to use whatever it is you think is better (I'm guessing exchange protocol) but the reasons have little to do with shortcomings in IMAP as an email access protocol.
thanks for the chat,
ram
I'm not saying there isn't good reason to use whatever it is you think is better (I'm guessing exchange protocol) but the reasons have little to do with shortcomings in IMAP as an email access protocol.
thanks for the chat,
ram
Collaboration with coworkers via shared calendars, shared mailboxes, shared contact lists and global address lists...
IMAP is still pull based, and you need to use SMTP to send mail. All of these are much cleaner when using a true business class server product. Be it Exchange or something else.
The only time I see IMAP being used is for personal use by individuals outside of an organization.
I intentionally block IMAP and POP3 access in environments at the firewall. And I believe that all current versions of the major email server apps default to IMAP and POP being disabled. I know Exchange does.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
IMAP is still pull based, and you need to use SMTP to send mail. All of these are much cleaner when using a true business class server product. Be it Exchange or something else.
The only time I see IMAP being used is for personal use by individuals outside of an organization.
I intentionally block IMAP and POP3 access in environments at the firewall. And I believe that all current versions of the major email server apps default to IMAP and POP being disabled. I know Exchange does.
Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.
Fair. In a closed enterprise environment IMAP is not the answer to all your problems. I have plenty of experience with Exchange and would not say that is the end all either. All the solutions have strengths and weaknesses. Data sharing is a strength of Exchange but it has weaknesses as well.
The poster asked about simple email serving. You declared IMAP a poor choice (being unsecure, antiquated, ineffecient) when in fact IMAP is a feature rich extremely secure option for simple email that supports things like:
-mil spec security (as far as you want to go)
-synchronization of state across unlimited devices
-good scaling capabilities (storage and CPU efficient)
-open protocol well supported by countless vendors
-excellent multi platform support
cheers
The poster asked about simple email serving. You declared IMAP a poor choice (being unsecure, antiquated, ineffecient) when in fact IMAP is a feature rich extremely secure option for simple email that supports things like:
-mil spec security (as far as you want to go)
-synchronization of state across unlimited devices
-good scaling capabilities (storage and CPU efficient)
-open protocol well supported by countless vendors
-excellent multi platform support
cheers
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