“We installed CommuniGate Pro 2.9 on Windows NT and
Slackware Linux mail servers. While the installation
procedures were specific to operating systems (on Windows NT,
CommuniGate Pro is installed as a mail service, while on UNIX
and Linux systems CommuniGate Pro must be configured as the default
message handler — a process that is managed for the most part
by CommuniGate Pro). After installation of the base files, you
perform more advanced configuration via a Web browser connecting to
a HTML front end. This browser-based administration —
especially amongst the UNIX versions — is noteworthy. (For those
used to a stripped-down approach, CommuniGate Pro does support a
command-line interface to administration tools.)”
“Within the administration tool, settings are divided into four
groups (or realms, in CommuniGate Pro parlance). The postmaster
(usually the super user or root user) has access to all four groups
by default. In addition, more users can be granted access rights on
a group-by-group basis. Three of the realms — Settings, Master and
Accounts — will be used to configure the system, grant permissions
and add user accounts upon installation, while the Monitors section
will be used on a daily basis, as it monitors overall server
performance and provides access to the Server Logs.”
“You must add users individually; there’s no way to add users
from a Windows NT user directory, a UNIX user database, or an LDAP
directory. (This is definitely a drag for enterprises.) Once added,
however, a user authentication method can be set up to use the
operating-system password and not a password specified by
CommuniGate Pro. (With Windows NT, this would be the domain
authentication system, while on UNIX/Linux/FreeBSD systems, this
would be the passwd and shadow authentication mechanisms.) This
isn’t the best solution — some sort of direct support for an
authorization tool like RADIUS would be preferable — and better
support for operating-system user databases should be a priority in
future product development.”