Re: [cobalt-users] Qube 2 Mail

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:47 AM 1/27/00  Scott Blomquist wrote:

> Stephen,
> My Qube is assigned an address by my ISP.  They then point all my domains to
> that address and I retrieve them via SMTP.  My clients then use pop3 to
> retrieve their mail.
>
> I can retrieve my email from the Qube from any outside internet connection as
> long as I put the Qube's  IP address in as the mail server in the client
> configuration.

Do you want to retrieve by name rather than by IP#?  Easy.  Just create "A" 
records for <mail.you.com> and for <mail.eachcustomer.com>.  Point those A 
records all to that same IP#.  Then in your clients' email clients all you 
need to do is put "mail.theirname.com" (without the quotes, of course) as 
the incoming mail-server.

Yes, there is a reason to use "A" records rather than "CNAME" 
records.  It's so you can use an MX record pointing to 
<mail.eachcustomer.com> for incoming mail as well.  You COULD do that if 
you used CNAME records, but all mail-servers wouldn't find them.

> Works good, I just need to figure out how to synchronize the
> mail systems.  (home, work, laptop)

That's the $64 question <wry grin>.  And it's not really a "Cobalt" 
issue.  But I'll tackle it anyway.  There are several solutions; none of 
them entirely satisfactory.

Perhaps the "best of the bunch" would be to use IMAP-enabled clients on 
each of your machines, and use IMAP exclusively for email.  That would have 
the side effect of keeping all your mail on the server instead of on your 
local systems.  Also, most reviews of MUAs point out that IMAP support 
still isn't really THERE yet.

Another solution, one used by an ex-partner of mine, is to set all your 
clients to leave all mail on the server.  Then go in manually and delete 
mail once in a while (yes, GOOD MUAs can do this). Most MUAs will NOT 
redownload a message they already have.  The problem with this method is 
that you only have a copy of OUTGOING emails on the machine that originated it.

Another way, which I actually used for a while, is to keep your mailbox 
files on a zipdisk, and move it from machine to machine with you.  The 
disadvantages are that all your systems have to have zip drives, the lack 
of speed, and that you must remember to always take the zipdisk with you.

The way I currently solve the problem is by chaining myself to my desk.  Of 
course that's not entirely satisfactory, either, for reasons I leave to 
your imagination <wry grin>.

Jeff

--
Jeff Lasman, nobaloney.net
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