Three Exchange Calendar Alternative based on SabreDAV

Three Exchange Calendar Alternative based on SabreDAV

When your company is short on funds to run an Exchange Server, there are cheaper options to host your email part.

However, there are not many free mail server or affordable solution for hosting contact and calendar services for your company. There are a few options that run based on SabreDAV. You may want to try them out.

1. Kolab –
   
   A Unix-like groupware offering mail, contact, calendar services. It is free and has support forum community. If you are running Unix-like environment, go for it.
2. OwnCloud –
   
   A cross-platform contact/calendar/task/webdav server. It is also free based on AGPLv3 license. Many people run it at home or in office. It is a good choice if you already have a preferred email solution.
3. Baikal –
   
   A very light-weight CardDAV/CalDAV server running on Apache2 with running PHP environment. Same as OwnCloud, it is free and worth a while to try if you already have an email solution.

The above are the serverpart, what about client software? There are a wide variety of choices out there. They require many steps to configure. Here is a client software called EVO Collaborator for Outlook. This Outlook add-in for 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 compatible with many public contact/calendar/task services such as iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo! and fruux. Yet, some of the on-premise ones are also supported such as OwnCloud, Zimbra, Baikal, EVO Mail Server, Mac OS X Server and many more.

How to buy an SSL certificate? / Where to buy SSL certificate? How to install certificate for mail server?

How to buy an SSL certificate?Where to buy SSL certificate? How to install certificate for mail server?

What is a SSL certificate?

A SSL certificate is like a digital ID of an entity and it proves what we claim who we are. However, on Internet, only a SSL certificate signed by CA (certificate authority) is trustworthy.

What can I do with a SSL certificate other than an ID?

This certificate can be imported into a paid or free mail server, a web server or other type of servers. Then, PKI and SSL certificates work together to establish encrypted connections between servers and clients.

Where can I get SSL certificates?

There are many SSL certificate dealers selling different brands of certificates and prices vary accordingly. I recommend you to buy Comodo Certificates from KSoftware for $20 a piece. It is a basic SSL certificate to fit in web server or mail server puroses.

Here are a few steps to guide your through the buying process: (this example demonstrates buying a certificate for a mail server)

1.      Browse to KSoftware purchase webpage http://www.ksoftware.net/ssl_certs.html

2.      Click on Buy icon next to Comodo PositiveSSL Certificates

3.      Obtain CSR (Certificate Signing Request) string of an unsigned SSL certificate. Copy and paste it to the space next to 1. Copy and paste your CSR into this box. (EVO Mail Server supports auto-generating unsigned SSL certificate and its CSR for your domain.)

4.      At 2. Select the server software used to generate the CSR, click on the pull-down list to the right and select Apache-ModSSL

5.      Leave 3. Select the hash algorithm… alone and go on to 4. Select the validity period for your Certificate. Do as asked.

6.      For Item 5, 6, and 7, it is up to you if you like to keep it or not. Click on Next>

.

7.      On next page, select an email account, such as admin@yourdomain.com to which a domain control validation email will be delivered. Upon receiving this mail, a validation process will be performed by entering a validation code on Comodo’s website. Click Continue > to proceed.

8.      Complete Your Corporate Details, Your Contact Details and Choose Your Admin Contact’s Management Details. The last one allows you to log in Comodo for future support. Click Continue > to proceed.

9.      Click on I ACCEPT on Agreements page. Go on to finish billing information page and click on Make Payment to wrap up purchase.

10.  Finish Domain Control Verification process and log in the email box in Step 8 to fetch the certificate.

How to install ssl certificate for website

How to import SSL certificate into Apache webserver for enabling SSL connection during Webmail session (The example below uses webmail component of Roundcube and EVOServ for demonstration):

1.     Once you retrieve the server certificate zip file, download and extract it to a temporary folder. There are two files:

a.      yourdomain.com.crt

b.      yourdomain.com.ca-bundle

2.     Download Win32OpenSSL v1.x.x and Microsoft VisualC++ 2008 Redistributable (x86). Install both of them.

3.     Proceed stripping private key password if there is any as below: a. Start a command prompt b. key in cd c:\evoserv\appserv\apache2.2\conf\certificate c. key in openssl rsa –in yourdomain.com.key –out cert.key d. At the prompt of Enter pass phrase for yourdomain.com.key, enter private key password e. Then, writing RSA key message means password stripping successful and export a file called cert.key f. Rename cert.key to yourdomain.com.key and overwrite the original one.

4.      Edit C:\AppServ\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf

a.      Download sample httpd.conf and extract the zip file to C:\EvoServ\AppServ\Apache2.2\config\

b.      Open C:\EvoServ\AppServ\Apache2.2\config\httpd.conf with Notepad.exe

c.       Use Ctrl+F to find strings and modify.

d.      ServerAdmin x1@x2 → replace x1 with username, x2 with domain name, i.e. admin@yourdomain.com

e.      ServerName x → replace x with server hostname, such as  mail.yourdomain.com

f.        ServerAlias x → replace x with server alias, such as webmail.yourdomain.com

g.      ErrorLog "logs/x-error.log" → replace x with server hostname, such as mail.yourdomain.com

h.      CustomLog "logs/x-access.log" → replace x with server hostname, such as  mail.yourdomain.com

5.      Edit C:\AppServ\Apache2.2\conf\extra\httpd-ssl.conf

a.      Download sample httpd-ssl.conf and extract the zip file to C:\EvoServ\AppServ\Apache2.2\config\extra\

b.      Open C:\EvoServ\AppServ\Apache2.2\config\extra\httpd-ssl.conf with Notepad.exe

c.       Use Ctrl+F to find strings and modify.

d.      Change line12: ServerName x:443 → replace x with server hostname, such as mail.yourdomain.com

e.      Change line13: ServerAlias x → replace x with server alias, such as webmail.yourdomain.com

f.        Change line14: ServerAdmin x1@x2 → replace x1 with username; x2 with domain name, such as admin@yourdomain.com

g.      Change line16: TransferLog - logs/x-access.log → replace x with server hostname, such as mail.yourdomain.com

h.      Change line20: SSLCertificateFile - certificate/x.crt → replace x with your exact domain name, such as yourdomain.com

i.        Change line21: SSLCertificateKeyFile - certificate/x.key → replace x with your exact private key name, such as yourdomain.com

j.        Change line22: SSLCertificateChainFile - certificate/x.chn → replace x with your exact domain name, such as yourdomain.com

6.     Restart Apache. Run a browser and key in URL as below: https://yourdomain.com/roundcube

How to buy an SSL certificate, is it free?

How to buy an SSL certificate?

What is a SSL certificate?

A SSL certificate is like a digital ID of an entity and it proves what we claim who we are. However, on Internet, only a SSL certificate signed by CA (certificate authority) is trustworthy.

https port

What is the number of https port? It's usually 443 if you are running a web service.

What can I do with a SSL certificate other than an ID?

This certificate can be imported into a mail server, a web server on a https port or other type of servers. Then, PKI and SSL certificates work together to establish encrypted connections between servers and clients.

Where can I get SSL certificates?

There are many SSL certificate dealers selling different brands of certificates and prices vary accordingly. I recommend you to buy Comodo Certificates from KSoftware for $20 a piece. It is a basic SSL certificate to fit in web server or mail server puroses.

Here are a few steps to guide your through the buying process: (this example demonstrates buying a certificate for a mail server)

1.      Browse to KSoftware purchase webpage http://www.ksoftware.net/ssl_certs.html

2.      Click on Buy icon next to Comodo PositiveSSL Certificates

3.      Obtain CSR (Certificate Signing Request) string of an unsigned SSL certificate. Copy and paste it to the space next to 1. Copy and paste your CSR into this box. (EVO Mail Server supports auto-generating unsigned SSL certificate and its CSR for your domain.)

4.      At 2. Select the server software used to generate the CSR, click on the pull-down list to the right and select Apache-ModSSL

5.      Leave 3. Select the hash algorithm… alone and go on to 4. Select the validity period for your Certificate. Do as asked.

6.      For Item 5, 6, and 7, it is up to you if you like to keep it or not. Click on Next>.

7.     On next page, select an email account, such as admin@yourdomain.com to which a domain control validation email will be delivered. Upon receiving this mail, a validation process will be performed by entering a validation code on Comodo’s website. Click Continue > to proceed.

8.      Complete Your Corporate Details, Your Contact Details and Choose Your Admin Contact’s Management Details. The last one allows you to log in Comodo for future support. Click Continue > to proceed.

9.      Click on I ACCEPT on Agreements page. Go on to finish billing information page and click on Make Payment to wrap up purchase.

10.  Finish Domain Control Verification process and log in the email box in Step 8 to fetch the certificate.

How to install SSL Certificate on mail server?

How to import SSL certificate into a paid or free mail server? (Here, we use EVO Mail Server for our
example)

1.      Once you retrieve the server certificate zip file, download and extract it to a temporary folder. There are two files:
      a.      yourdomain.com.crt
      b.      yourdomain.com.ca-bundle

2.      Open EVO Mail Server GUI and browse to Setting page and scroll down to 6. SSL(TLS) Certificate and Private Key Setting.

3.      On both SSL Certificate(X.509) and SSL Cert Chain(X.509), click Import respectively to the right and browse to the temp folder where you keep the server certificate files.

4.      While browsing, set file extension at lower-right to X.509 (*.*). For SSL Certificate(X.509), select yourdomain.com.crt; for SSL Cert Chain (X.509), select yourdomain.com.ca-bundle.

5.      Go to Status page, look for 2. Network setting status and you should see SSL Cert. & Key should be: passed, certificate loaded, CN value yourdomain.com verified

Top 10 causes that you emails are not delivered?

Top 10 causes that you emails are not delivered?

If you are a MIS of a company, what do you think occupy most of your time throughout the day? Perhaps, it is when you need to explain to users why they are unable to send email messages, right? Seemingly, error messages in Outlook appear to be grammatically simple, but why is it hard to pop up with solid answers?

It is understandable that our colleagues don’t understand after staring at error messages for 10 minutes because they are not good at it. The worst part is some of them freak out and refuse to listen to you.

For your information, I list 10 most common error messages bouncing back from a paid or free mail server and their causes so you have something to stuff their ears or pint them out and give everyone a copy:

1. Recipient’s mailbox is over its quota - When this happens, you really cannot do anything about it.
   Error message:EX. 1 - 452 Message for **** would exceed mailbox quotaEX. 2 - 450 **** : out of quota
2. Recipient’s mailbox does not exist -Most commonly mistakes committed by senders and they usually deny it.Error message:EX. 1 - 451 Requested mail action not taken: mailbox unavailable
3. Email message size is over recipient’s incoming mail size limit -Sender put an oversized attachment in the outgoing mail and recipient mail server rejects it
   
   Error message:
   EX. 1 - 421 The Size of the Message Exceeds the Recipient's Size LimitsFor Incoming EmailsEX. 2- 450 5.2.3 Msg Size Greater Than Allowed By Remote Host
4. Recipient’s mail server has a graylisting policy against incoming mails - Mails will not be delivered in real-time until a second attempt. Recipient’s mail server takes the blame.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 451 4.7.1 Temporarily rejected. Try again later.EX. 2 - 451 Resources temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.EX. 3 - 450 4.7.1 **** : Recipient address rejected: Policy Rejection-Please try later.EX. 4 - 450 4.7.1 **** : Recipient address rejected: Try again, see ****EX. 5 - 451 DT:SPM ****, ****, please try againEX. 6 - 421 ****, SMTP service not ready
5. Your mail server has been sending out too many spam mails -It is a bit shameful to tell the truth but your mail server sends out too many spam mails and recipient’s mail server has temporarily or permanently deny any mail from your server.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 421 4.7.0 [GL01] Message from (*.*.*.*) temporarily deferredEX. 2 - 452 Too many recipients received this hourEX. 3 - 421 #4.4.5 Too many connections to this host.EX. 4 - 550 5.7.1 Our System Has Detected an Unusual Rate of UnsolicitedMail Originating From Your Ip Address. To Protect Our Users From Spam, MailSent From Your Ip Address Has Been Blocked. Please Visit Http://www.google.com/mail/help/bulk_mail.htmlTo Review Our Bulk Email Senders Guidelines
6. Your mail server’s PTR (reverse IP resolution) cannot be resolved by recipient’s mail server -Technically, this is a DNS issue that commonly happens in IDC or educational institutes where your IP fail to be reversely resolved into your mail server’s hostname. However, most ISP does provide a default value for the reverse IP resolution. Make sure your mail server have one.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 421 Refused. You have no reverse DNS entry.
7. Sender from your end typed recipient’s email address wrong -Com’on! Please gently acknowledge users that they key their own email address wrong. Please advise them to correct it within their email software.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 451 Domain of Sender Address Does Not Resolve
8. Physical storage dedicated for incoming mails on recipient’s mail server is full -Apparently, this is no one’s fault. Please advise your users to inform their recipients by other means such as phone call, text message or social network software.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 452 Requested Action Not Taken: Insufficient System StorageEX. 2 - 431 The Recipient's Mail Server Is Experiencing a Disk FullCondition
9. Recipient’s mail server put your mail server on their black list and refuse for no reason - This situation is often caused by your mail server’s IP, your mail server’s reverse IP resolution value or geological location to which recipient’s mail server just denies it for no reason. Another occasion is that your default mail server's reverse IP resolution provided by your ISP is not acceptable by recipient's mail server.
   
   Error message:EX. 1 - 552 Sorry, We Don't Allow Mail From Your HosEX. 2 - 554 Your Ip (*.*.*.*) Is Dynamic Ip Address, Use Your Isp SmtpServer Instead
   
   Error message EX. 2 - 554-kundenserver.de (mxeue004) Nemesis ESMTP Service not available  554-No SMTP service  554-Bad DNS PTR resource record.  554 For explanation visit http://postmaster.1and1.com/en/error-messages?ip=*.*.*.* c=rdns. You can contact support e-mail of hosting@1and1.com and explain your situation.
10. Recipient’s mail server has detected unacceptable content within mails from the sender from your endSome recipient mail servers just refuse to accept emails containing files with certain extensions such as .EXE or .ZIP.
    
    Error message:EX. 1 - 554 5.7.1 The File Xxx Has Been Blocked. File QuarantinedAs:b100493a.xxx

How to sync android with iCloud calendar / contacts (or Zimbra contacts)

How to sync android with iCloud calendar / contacts (or Zimbra contacts)

Android phones occupy more than half of smartphone population worldwide. Many of the Samsung galaxy, Sony Xperia and HTC users are asking the following question:

How to sync Android with iCloud (or Zimbra)

These Android phone owners just barely got their new phones or they decide to try out new generation of iPhones. They are spending lots of time migrating or moving between iPhone iOS and Android back and forth. Therefore, data syncing has become a common issue along the way.

We all know that Google phones, such as Nexus, are working fine with Gmail seamlessly. However, what about cloud services such as iCloud, Zimbra, OwnCloud and etc? What if we need to synchronize Android calendars and address books with iCloud (iPhone/iTunes)?

There are two APPs that can help you out: CardDAV-sync and CalDAV-sync.

CardDAV-sync is available at Google Play store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.carddav.Sync

It helps your Android phone to synchronize contacts with Apple iCloud or Zimbra or other generic CardDAV services.

CalDAV-sync is available at Google Play store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.caldav.lib

This App makes it possible for your Google Smartphone to sync calendars with iCloud, OwnCloud or other generic CalDAV services such as EVO Mail Server Prime.

Why CardDAV-sync and CalDAV-sync are able to perform such tasks? The reason behind is that all the major cloud services are operating based on CardDAV and CalDAV protocols. You can check these APPs out on their website: http://www.dmfs.org/ These two APPs cost you a few dollars but it is worth every of your penny.

The above solution is for users on Android platform. What about Outlook platform? What if you want to synchronize Gmail/iCloud contacts and calendars with Outlook?

You can try download EVO Collaborator for Outlook. This outlook add-in is very easy to setup and it can sync your Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, or 2019 with Gmail/iCloud account almost instantly. For any modern mobile users, CardDAV-sync, CalDAV-sync & EVO Collaborator for Outlook are 3 must-have for better productivity on the road.

Five Online Address Book Services Review

Five Online Address Book Services Review

Some of you still remember Edward Snowden incident some time ago, right? This incident reminds me of some security issue that may happen if you were to place company confidential information on the cloud service such as Gmail or iCloud. Perhaps we should reconsider where to place our precious and sensitive contact information on the cloud. If you are just using it for specific but trivial purpose like wedding, you may choose some free services such as Zexer.

1. Yahoo! -

   

   This contacts service is always there on its web based interface, OS X, OS, and Android. To use it under Windows Outlook environment, you need an add-in such as EVO Collaborator for Outlook.
2. iCloud -

   

   This address book service is a good one under Apple machines and devices. Though it has an iCloud control panel but it has a few problems. If you want to use its birthday reminders, you need to have an iPhone.
3. fruux (Germany) -

   

   This service has a good web base GUI and yet provides tutorials on how to set up in different platforms.
4. QQ and 163 (China) -

   

   If you are somewhere in China, these two service providers are the ones you can count on.
5. Google -

   

   Why Google is still on the list? The reason being is that Gmail still works well with Apple and Android devices. If you happen to be Outlook victims, then you still can survive by syncing items through some kind of add-in for Outlook 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019 from third-party software vendor such as EVO Collaborator for Outlook.

If you were to use more than one service from above in you Outlook, then you may want to try EVO Collaborator for Outlook. It is compatible with all services mentioned plus some other on-premise CardDAV/CalDAV platforms, paid or free mail server such as EVO MailServer, OwnCloud, Zimbra, SabreDAV and etc.

Exchange alternatives Windows or Linux

Exchange alternatives Windows or Linux

When people talk about email or messaging solution for business, they usually refer to Microsot Exchange Server. However, not every company can afford the pricey solution and its management efforts.

There are alternative paid or free mail server to Exchange Server (or vs Gmail). The following is a list of decent mail server for your consideration:

1. EVO Mail Server -
   

   

   This is a good choice for its performance per cost from a TCO point of view. It features IMAP, CardDAV and CalDAV instead of Exchange Global Address List and ActiveSync. Integration with Outlook is also possible with EVO platform. An unlimited-user environment at $285/yr. Available in Windows
2. Kerio -
   

   

   A decent collaboration server with web services covering pretty much all you need for its scalability. 50-user environment at $1680/yr. Available in Windows, OS X, Linux.
   
3. Axigen -
   

   

   A solid collaboration server, as competitive as Kerio, is easy to deploy. 50-users encironment runs at $550. Available in Windows and Linux ports.
   
4. Mail Enable –
   

   

   This unified messaging solution has a better TCO for its price and licensing. Unlimited-user environment at $349/yr. Available in Windows.
   
5. MDaemon -
   

   

   A collaboration server with Exchange ActiveSync that can be expanded to a large scale up to 2500 users. 50-user environment at $760. Available in Windows.
   
6. Zimbra -
   

   

   A Linux-based collaboration server fits your need if you do not use Windows server at all. 50-user environment at $1673. Available in Linux.

How to configure POP in Outlook? How to configure IMAP in Outlook?

How to configure POP in Outlook? How to configure IMAP in Outlook?

1. How to setup Outlook for an IMAP or POP account accessing paid or free mail server? Go to Outlook, click on File at top-left and select Account settings
   

   
   

   

   
   
2. Manually create a mail profile as usual. On Account Type, choose POP or IMAP according to your preference. Enter your account name and password which you just obtained from your administrator.
   

   
   

   

   
   
3. Click on More settings to the right. Click on Outgoing Server tab and check the box of My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.
   
4. Go to next tab of Advanced, check the box of This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) and the port number will change to 995 for POP and 993 for IMAP.
   

   
5. Then, change Outgoing server (SMTP): to 587 if value of Use the following type of encryption connection: is TLS.
6. Change Outgoing server (SMTP): to 465 if value of Use the following type of encryption connection: is SSL.
7. Click OK to exit and OK all the way.

Now we can use Outlook’s mail feature through IMAP or POP. But what about contacts and calendars? There is an Outlook 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019 add-in called EVOCollaborator for Outlook and it is able to handle this type of 2-steps verification process in Gmail, iCloud and Yahoo!. You can download it from EVO Official website and try it out.

EVO Collaborator for Outlook is compatible with:

1. Public contact, calendar, task services such as Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! and fruux
   

   
   

   Notes: ECO supports Gmail’s 2-step verification, Yahoo!’s App passwords and upcoming iCloud’s 2-step verification. 
2. On-premise CardDAV/CalDAV servers such as EVO Mail Server, Mac OS X Server, OwnCloud and Zimbra

After ECO installation, any contact, calendar and task items created by other means of mobile devices or web-based interface will be synced to Outlook and vice versa.

For all items before ECO installation, you may manually select items and upload them to your CardDAV/CalDAV account.

I think it is worth every penny of it.

Please refer to the following links on how to sync popular CardDAV/CalDAV services with Outlook.

1. Sync Gmail with Outlook
2. Sync iCloud with Outlook
3. Sync Mac OS X, Zimbra or OwnCloud with Outlook

How to setup Yahoo! POP in Outlook? How to setup Yahoo! IMAP in Outlook?

How to setup Yahoo! POP in Outlook? How to setup Yahoo! IMAP in Outlook?

A majority of users are used to using Yahoo! on browsers. However, there are occasions integrating Yahoo! accounts into Outlook user-interface is more convenient. Thus, we do not need to flip between Outlook and browser while working on mails between accounts under Outlook.

Most users may wonder why Yahoo! cannot be configured in Outlook lately? Recently, Gmail, iCloud and Yahoo! have or will have implemented an extra security feature that require users to enter a second password for any third-party application including Outlook that is trying to access their email, calendars, contacts and tasks information.

It is called 2-step Verification. You must enable it in order to use Yahoo! under Outlook. However, Yahoo! offers App passwords in this scenario. Please read on for more detail:

1. Log in your Yahoo! and go to Account Info. Click on Setup your second sign-in verification under Sign-In and Security.
   
2. Click on Generate app password.
   
3. Fill in name of software that needs access under Name the app that requires a password and click on Generate password. Write down code below Enter the app password. Click Done and leave.
   

 How do I setup Yahoo! email in Outlook?

1.      How to setup Outlook for Gmail? Go to Outlook, click on File at top-left and select Account settings

2.      Manually create a mail profile as usual. On Account Type, choose POP or IMAP according to your preference. Enter password which you just obtained from Generate password.

                                  

3.   Click on More settings to the right. Click on Outgoing Server tab and check the box of My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.

4.      Go to next tab of Advanced, check the box of This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) and the port number will change to 995 for POP and 993 for IMAP.

                                     

5.      Then, change Outgoing server (SMTP): to 587 if value of Use the following type of encryption connection: is TLS.

6.       change Outgoing server (SMTP): to 465 if value of Use the following type of encryption connection: is SSL.

7.      Click OK to exit and OK all the way.

Now we can use Gmail's mail feature in Outlook. But what about contacts and 

alendars? There is an Outlook add-in for 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 called EVOCollaborator for Outlook and it is able

to handle this type of 2-steps verification process in Gmail, iCloud and Yahoo!. You can

download it from EVO official website and try it out.

EVO Collaborator for Outlook is compatible with:

Public contact, calendar, task services such as Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! and fruux

On-premise CardDAV/CalDAV servers such as EVO Mail Server, Mac OS X Server,

OwnCloud and Zimbra

After ECO installation, any contact, calendar and task items created by other means of

mobile devices or web-based interface will be synced to Outlook and vice versa.

For all items before ECO installation, you may manually select items and upload them to

your CardDAV/CalDAV account.

I think it is worth every penny of it.

Please refer to the following links on how to sync popular CardDAV/CalDAV services

with Outlook.

Sync Gmail with Outlook

Sync iCloud with Outlook

Sync Mac OS X, Zimbra or OwnCloud with Outlook