[KLUG Members] starter questions from someone new to the list

[Adam Williams]

> >For replacing Exchange I'd really recommend you look at a combination of Cyrus
> >IMAPd and OpenGroupware.  While a little intimidating at first these two can
> >replace 99.44% of Exchange's groupware/mail functionality AND do some things
> >Exchange just can't.  And then there is the whole free thing. :)
> >"Bind, LDAP, etc" are really replacing AD/Domains more than they are Exchange.
> You're right of course. I often refer to it as replacing exchange just 
> because my exchange server is the DC. Really I put in exchange when I 
> first got here and have regretted it ever since. The staff and students 
> just don't use it like I thought and Exchange maintenance is a 
> nightmare. The only thing I really need is a shared calendar system and 
> I am looking at alternatives to this.

http://www.opengroupware.org  - The ultimate shared calendar
application, and it supports a variety of client side software in
addition to just having a Web UI.  And supports over-the-net Palm
syncing from both Linux and Win32 clients.

> What I am wanting to do is create a system where a single 
> username/password combo can be used for email access and the Terminal 
> Server logins. At the same time I need web based email access 
> (squirrelmail) and imap access to students at home that want to use 
> their email in clients like outlook.

Yep, this isn't a problem.  We have a single LDAP Dit we use for all
authentication (single password) - IMAP, DC, SMTP, PAM, etc..

> A method of creating group lists of 
> users to facilitate emailing (for instance I have a group list of all of 
> the students for the current year. This way all of the staff 
> automatically have a list created for them and each don't have to add 
> all 30 students to their address books and create their own lists). I 

Yep,  every MTA I know of supports using LDAP as an alias store; this is
trivial with sendmail, I assume with others as well.

> also need to be able to create some sort of scheduling method for things 
> like conference rooms etc. 

Opengroupware handles resource scheduling - rooms, equipment, etc...

> Finally I want to be able to use this single 
> database of users/people to integrate into my applications we use for 
> managing student records/scheduling that is in php at the moment.

Not a problem.  OpenGroupware uses a PostgreSQL database that is pretty
understandable for reporting, etc... - or you can use the XML-RPC or
WebDAV extensions to just ask the business logic.

OpenGroupware can of course authentication against an LDAP DSA.

> That is why I think I need to be getting an openldap server up then once 
> that is set bring up a Samba DC and Exim email around it. I guess the 
> whole thing is it sounds like I can do what I am planning...does it 
> sound right to others that have done it?

Yes you can.  I haven't used Exim; but besides that we have done exactly
what you describe.

> >>What I am looking for is people to talk with about some of this. I have 
> >>been trying to find any area options for training courses in things like 
> >>DNS management, ldap setup and configuring, and such..practical stuff I 
> >I've got a document that might be helpful at -
> >ftp://ftp.kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/ldapv3.pdf

You might also want to look at -
ftp://ftp.kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/EDManual.pdf
It has some information on how we've set this up, etc... The mail
routing section isn't complete but it should be soon.