Ubuntu 9.04, Postfix, Dovecot, Squirrelmail, and vacation/away messages

Question

I'm attempting to set up a mailserver for a small office. FYI, we're replacing Kerio Mailserver on OS X with Postfix, Dovecot, postfixadmin, and Squirrelmail on Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04.)

I installed the "dovecot-postfix" package, and configured them, and my test server is now accepting and sending messages via SMTP, and I can connect with POP/IMAP clients and receive email. I can log into postfixadmin over the web and add users. I followed this (excellent) walkthrough: http://craigballinger.com/blog/2009/07/postfix-dovecot-mailserver-on-ubuntu-904-jaunty-jackalope/

The main feature I'm lacking now is the ability for users to set vacation/away messages. The squirrelmail plugins don't seem well-suited to the setup I have (where user info is stored in MySQL).

This: http://wiki.dovecot.org/LDA/Sieve seems like my best bet, but I can't really fit my head around how all this stuff is supposed to work together to provide a web interface to set vacation/away messages. I'm looking for the best solution for getting vacation messages up and running with my current setup, or a suggestion for an alternate setup. (So far this is just a test server, with production still running on Kerio, so starting over IS an option.)

Solution

Glad the walkthrough was helpful. While not a perfect solution, (considering you're using Squirrelmail) I did just post a followup on implementing postfixadmin's virtual vacation plugin. http://craigballinger.com/blog/2009/08/postfix-vacation-autoresponder/ It should at least give you an option if you haven't found a solution yet. I'm currently writing a plugin for roundcube's webmail app that will give users access to the autoresponder functionality from inside their webmail. Hopefully the first build of that isn't too far out.

Comments

[Schof]

Thanks, Craig! Although I don't have this completely working yet, it's been tremendously helpful. I'll keep my eyes open for your roundcube plugin too -- I'm certainly not married to Squirrelmail.

[Schof]

And when I redid both walkthroughs from scratch, I've got everything working! (All hail VMWare's "Revert To Snapshot" functionality for getting me back to a blank slate.) Also, all hail Craig! Both excellent walkthroughs got me where I need to go. (And I'm not at all concerned that users need to go to postfixadmin to set their vacation stuff.) Thanks again, Craig!