🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3te7f3$nch@Venus.mcs.com>, Karl Denninger <karl@MCS.COM> wrote:
>In article <3tdl7a$8fe@news1.mcs.net>,
>Phil N. Schuman <pschuman@interserv.com> wrote:
>>We have 45 folks on a Novell 4.1 LAN that need occasional access to various
>>things on the 'Net - FTP, News, Listservs, E-mail, Web pages.
>>We have been using ATTmail for years - and it is currently connected to the LAN
>>via MSmail and a bi-directional dialup gateway.
>>

[snip]

>
>Generally, you would not want UUCP, as that is batch mode only.  What you
>would be looking for from MCSNet, as an example, is a LINK account, which is
>full IP access.  If you're in dedicated mode then you want your mail
>delivered via SMTP to a local mail gateway (CCMail and MSMail have these
>products available, albiet at a fairly high cost).

I feel duty-bound, too, as someone who has worked extensively with MS Mail's
SMTP gatewaying products, to warn you in advance that they are terrible.

Some of the biggest problems:  inability to handle full headers, no MIME
support, difficulty processing addresses between the Internet and the
LAN-based mail server, trouble integrating more than one MS Mail server,
difficulty in synchronization of address lists, mail hitting the bit bucket
for no apparent reason, inability to deal with enclosures, and an overall
failure to have looked at RFC 822 when putting the thing together.

Other problems include the multiple points of failure necessary for the
darne gateway to work (you need a mail server on the LAN, a message transfer
agent, a mail gateway PC, a connection PC, and then depending upon what type
of connection you have to the internet, still more pieces).

I have at no point been favourably impressed with Microsoft's telephone
support, and have been wholly unimpressed with any type of on-line 
support I sought.

Speaking with Lotus regarding cc:Mail indicated that their gatewaying
products required as many components, and perhaps more.  Dealing with
these gateways in a good-sized environment can be a nightmare in terms
of time and money as well as user satisfaction.

The most useful gateway product I have seen thus far for MS Mail wwould
be Star*Nine's Mail*Link SMTP for the Mac; it operates reliably, processes
addresses seamlessly, and does not choke when faced with a MIME-encapsulated
message.  A similar product with equal functionality is not, to my knowledge,
available for the PC platform.

If you have the opportunity to try it, you might find you get better long-
term results from using POP mail.  That would extend the range of 
possibilities available, as well.  Long term, if you hope to allow for 
the users in your office to retrieve mail remotely, from home, in the office,
etc., you will find the LAN-based mail gateway options limiting, not to
mention very expensive.

Anyway, I hope this is useful....

-- 
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