Whats good in Email and FTP server software these days?

[RainMotorsports]

I am running Windows Server 2008 R2. I will probably switch to Linux in about a year but at the moment I have a clue how to run, set permissions and secure a windows server. Linux will just have to wait. So any software that is cross platform with similar configuration is a nicety but not required. Solutions probably need to be costless at this point, I am broke lol, money I do have goes to other projects.

FTP, I am all set to use FileZilla I guess, rather not deal with the IIS component. But I would like something that allows the user to change their password. BulletProof has a custom command for this. But if there is a solution that supports a web interface so a user other than me can access and change the password on their own account that too would be a nice solution.

Email Server.... I almost don't know where to start. Priorities in this order, Security, Efficiency and then a support for host names would be nice. By that I mean I would prefer users not have to enter the full address as a login figuring the correct address by the url for the server being used. imap.rainmotorsports.com versus on of the other domains I have pointed to the server. I might pickup another ip address if i need to in the future but I prefer to stick with the one ip. If they have to go full address login to support multiple domains then do be it.

 

[Psi*]

I thought that I had responded to this ... maybe forgot to hit the "Submit ..." button.

I use the least expensive version of Serv-U from RhinoSoft. I think it is a little expensive, but being the IT manager is not really my deal so I am ok with a little more $$ for a less of my direct attention. I have used it for many years.

 

[RainMotorsports]

I thought that I had responded to this ... maybe forgot to hit the "Submit ..." button.

I use the least expensive version of Serv-U from RhinoSoft. I think it is a little expensive, but being the IT manager is not really my deal so I am ok with a little more $$ for a less of my direct attention. I have used it for many years.

Yeah I came to the conclusion that if I were to spend money it probably would have been that. Nothing left in my budget for this year lol. I went with Filezilla and hMail for the moment which both fall short of my wish list but are both good products.

Server is almost in full swing operation. Last on the list is mysql....which on a windows setup is interesting. But actually the next stage is to bring it all down and do it all again. Make a list of every step and then bring it down again.

I want to time a restore drill for a total loss scenario. How fast I can get the software operational and the directories restored with notification placemarkers. That way pending a backup restore the server will be operational for notice, voice servers in full operation and email atleast working.

Yet another speed test this is my current winner for upload. I hit this one twice with about an average of 500/300. I have yet to go over 100 Mbps up in real world testing but I have a lack of targets that can handle the bandwidth

Its a VPS and i didn't know it until now I assumed I was on a 1Gbps adapter shared. Turns out my shared adapter is actually 10 Gbps. No clue on the actual throttled speeds/capability given to the rack. I assumed they were running dual quads with up to 16 people across the box. But given the name of the box i was on and the one I was transferred to it appears to be a single quad likely up to 8 single core VPS accounts on it.

I was paying 30 a month for 1 "HT" Core of a Xeon W3520 1000 GB transfer, 100GB space on the raid, 1 GB ram. Now paying 44.99 a month for 2 "HT" cores got the same cpu when they moved me 2000 GB transfer 200GB space 2 GB ram.

Under demand the server gives me what I need I cant say what would happen if the other clients started hammering the server because I am not sure how they are set up. The connection is great and the processor out benches my C2D laptop clock for clock as you would expect a W3520 to do. I havent ram benched but the raid puts out pretty good speeds but its shared so worst case scenario can get kinda bad.

 

[Brett Thomas]

Given the data level you seem to be working with, I will first put out the recommendation that if possible, you migrate off of MySQL (or make sure your backup habits are pristine).

If you're going to continue to utilize a windows server environment, MS SQL Server is free and full-featured up to a certain record amount (I think 5m?), and will allow you much better security, processes and efficiency. Should you want to remain in the Open-source realm, you need look no further than the beautiful behemoth that is PostgreSQL (my personal choice) - it will also migrate with you to Linux, should you choose to do so and is vastly powerful/efficient (it powers Google, 'nuff said).

It will save you some headaches along the way...

As for the rest of your software solution - if at all possible, I will urge you to consider paying for software like Serve-U over some of the free alternatives while you're on Windows. Free software is often targeted by skript kiddies and novice hackers as they 'cut their teeth' learning to find vulnerabilities (since this software is small, freely available and mostly used by people who do not have other security in place).

Please bear in mind that Filezilla on its own has a very large number of vulnerabilities (four are completely automated in Metasploit, two being DOS and the other two being credential theft) - and though it tends to be as good as free gets, windows builds of free software are far fewer in regularity than for a Linux system (which can patch its software nearly instantly on-the-fly).

My honest suggestion to you is that if you don't know how to run a Linux box based on not knowing how to do things like permissions, it might be time to read up a bit and get your hands dirty! You can learn in free software like VirtualBox and there are plenty of tutorials (as well as myself, Glider and Rob all being linux users who administrate linux servers) to get you started. Your servers will thank you!

 

[Rob Williams]

You testing that right at the ISP or something?

Serv-U... boy that name brings back memories. I used some variant of it back with Windows 98 to setup a home FTP.

 

[RainMotorsports]

You testing that right at the ISP or something?

Serv-U... boy that name brings back memories. I used some variant of it back with Windows 98 to setup a home FTP.

The 0ms thing is a problem with speedtest it seems as ive been regularly told its not possible. People accuse people doing server tests of faking it all the time lol.

Testing it from Chicago Internap to Chicago Towerstream. I have no clue why it thinks I am in Cali now it did that after i upgraded the server but any ip check will tell you its in Illinois. Back when I was in NY it put me ~150 miles from DC. Something to do with Internap's Backbone I suppose.

Here is Chicago to DC which is a speed test owned server.

Syracuse Ny

Seattle

Miami

The performance varies greatly depending on what I have to go through to get there. But also remember the capacity of the speed test server is always kinda low.

I moved it to chicago to be an equal host for North America so without further delay.

Mexico City

Anchorage Alaska

Saint John's, NL, CA

Alaska I expect to be horrible, not too many good test sites in canada it seems.