E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

This section contains scripts that hMailServer has contributed with. hMailServer 5 is needed to use these.
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Valoran
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E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-23 23:15

Is there a way to have e-mail clients such as an iPhone or Outlook pull down the correct IMAP and SMTP address without having the need of the user to input the settings? Not only that but, since Hmailserver can pull down usernames and passwords from AD, is there a way that the names can be automatically set on the client as it is viewed in AD? For example, if I want my employee's names to show up as "Smith, Bill" as it is listed in AD when they send an e-mail, how can I make that happen?

I am trying to make this as simple as possible for my users by not requesting them to put in certain formats or DNS addresses to make a connection to the mail server. Is there some configuration file I need to attach to hailserver or something on my DNS host to point to the configuration file?

I hope this makes sense.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by mattg » 2014-07-24 00:55

If you want mail clients to do custom things, you should look at customising that mail client.

Scripting on the server is UNLIKELY to change what happens to defaults in any mail client.

You can create an SOE, or perhaps a webmail with some defaults, or you can customise the mail client.
I think that you are barking up the wrong tree looking at scripting in hmailserver to fix this...
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https://www.hmailserver.com/documentation

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-24 04:21

Maybe I am not explaining myself to the fullest. This is what I am trying to do.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... .140).aspx

This way only the user needs to know their e-mail address and their password and the rest gets setup for them.

Is it possible to get this to work with hmailserver?

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-24 04:41

Please provide details of phone email clients that can work the way you want and provide links showing the setup for them.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by ^DooM^ » 2014-07-25 19:37

I believe he means like the way outlook works with AD and Exchange. Under a corporate environment you can have outlook just pull the SCP where it advertises autodiscover service information. Outlook will query AD for objectclass=serviceconnectionpoint and outlook will contact the CAS for its configuration information and outlook will then be configured automatically. It's pretty cool how it works but it is very Microsoft specific and more so normally only used in an corporate enterprise environment.

Do you run a Client Access Server at all?
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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-25 19:53

I know but since he didn't pay attention to what Matt said I thought I would task him with finding out why Matt said what he said. i.e. he won't find any phone clients that do what he wants and his asssumption that there "must be" is most likely wrong. But he may know better. :wink:

In short, if you want microsoft functionality then use microsoft software.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by ^DooM^ » 2014-07-25 20:00

percepts wrote:In short, if you want microsoft functionality then pay for microsoft software.
Fixed ;)
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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-25 20:17

Yeah I know. Thats why we use hmail. It's cheap as chips. And simpler and less resource hungry.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by mattg » 2014-07-26 06:15

percepts wrote: And simpler and less resource hungry.
+1

And far more customisable
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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-26 12:31

from Matt's suggestions I know that roundcube webmail is capable of doing this. i.e. log in with only email address and password. You need to configure its default web conf file on the server properly as part of the server install.
AND there aren't any free mobile skins which are any good so you would have to PAY for a decent one which might put you off. And I'm not sure you will get mobile phone notifications with webmail. So what you gain on one hand you may lose on the other. A proper mobile email client is far better I think.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-29 14:27

ALSO

I guess it depends on whether a Cert has been entered into hmail as to what options should be shown

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-29 18:19

Sorry for the delay, I've been wrapped up with a bunch of stuff.
percepts wrote:I know but since he didn't pay attention to what Matt said I thought I would task him with finding out why Matt said what he said. i.e. he won't find any phone clients that do what he wants and his asssumption that there "must be" is most likely wrong. But he may know better. :wink:

In short, if you want microsoft functionality then use microsoft software.
The iPhone is a phone that does this configuration through the Microsoft exchange option. As long as you are on the network that the mail server is running on, all you have to do is type in your e-mail and password and it auto-configures the rest for you. I've done this with several iPhones on another system. Below is a link that shows the first page which would be the only page you'd need to fill in on the network. The following pictures show what you'd have to fill in off the network to connect to the mail server.

http://guides.appriver.com/m/9431/l/143 ... rettyPhoto

Same thing applies for Outlook 2010 while on the same network.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/kristinw/arc ... avior.aspx

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-29 18:37

mattg wrote:
percepts wrote: And simpler and less resource hungry.
+1

And far more customisable
Right - if that's the case for hmail, that's why I am asking if it has this sort of functionality with e-mail clients. hmail would make it easier and efficient to configure e-mail clients with little information as possible. If not, maybe this conversation strikes an interest to implement this feature in the future.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by percepts » 2014-07-29 19:48

percepts wrote:Please provide details of phone email clients that can work the way you want and provide links showing the setup for them.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-29 21:16

I don't understand. The links are listed above.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by mattg » 2014-07-30 02:07

Valoran wrote:Sorry for the delay, I've been wrapped up with a bunch of stuff.
percepts wrote:I know but since he didn't pay attention to what Matt said I thought I would task him with finding out why Matt said what he said. i.e. he won't find any phone clients that do what he wants and his asssumption that there "must be" is most likely wrong. But he may know better. :wink:

In short, if you want microsoft functionality then use microsoft software.
The iPhone is a phone that does this configuration through the Microsoft exchange option. As long as you are on the network that the mail server is running on, all you have to do is type in your e-mail and password and it auto-configures the rest for you. I've done this with several iPhones on another system. Below is a link that shows the first page which would be the only page you'd need to fill in on the network. The following pictures show what you'd have to fill in off the network to connect to the mail server.

http://guides.appriver.com/m/9431/l/143 ... rettyPhoto

Same thing applies for Outlook 2010 while on the same network.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/kristinw/arc ... avior.aspx
OK
So if I understand you correctly, Outlook (which is a Microsoft product) and iPhone both have some set-up protocols that use proprietary hooks that ONLY exist in Exchange, to facilitate an 'easy' set up when connecting to an Exchange server in certain circumstances, and you want hMailserver to mirror the actions of Exchange, so that the Exchange hooks also work with hMailserver?

hMailserver is NOT exchange.
hMailserver is a mail server, not groupware and doesn't have address books, or calendars (either shared or individual)
This is unlikely to change.

If you need features of Exchange, then please pay for and use Exchange.


From my experience, using the subdomain of 'mail' as in mail.domain.com as the name of your mail server in your MX records etc, and using SLL certificates for client connections, allows for mail server settings to be automatically 'guessed' by many mail clients, including Outlook, Thunderbird, Safari and the iOS mail client. It is also my experience that adding certain AntiVirus software to your computer, can stop this automatic guessing.

Back to my point, do these mail clients allow configuration options to be set before deployment of the mail client. That would (to me) solve your issue.
Just 'cause I link to a page and say little else doesn't mean I am not being nice.
https://www.hmailserver.com/documentation

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-07-30 03:53

OK
So if I understand you correctly, Outlook (which is a Microsoft product) and iPhone both have some set-up protocols that use proprietary hooks that ONLY exist in Exchange, to facilitate an 'easy' set up when connecting to an Exchange server in certain circumstances, and you want hMailserver to mirror the actions of Exchange, so that the Exchange hooks also work with hMailserver?

hMailserver is NOT exchange.
hMailserver is a mail server, not groupware and doesn't have address books, or calendars (either shared or individual)
This is unlikely to change.

If you need features of Exchange, then please pay for and use Exchange.
Why do I feel like this conversation that was meant to see if a functionality such as auto-configuration was available in hmail, turned into a "defend hmail's reputation" discussion with comments like "hmail is better and simpliar than exchange" and "it's cheap as chips and less resource hungry". You want to talk so comparative between hmail and exchange - does hmail not have the functionality that uses AD for authentication for mailboxes just like exchange does? Yes, and I am currently using it. So why do I feel like I am getting the third degree with comments like "hMailserver is NOT exchange." when an exchange mechanic already exists, and is in production on the currently released hmail server? If you refer back to my very first post, I hadn't mentioned anything about exchange until I was asked to present examples, and exchange was an easy target to give an example for since it's a wildly used mail server and more articles and tutorials existed for it.

I realize the simplified mechanics and of course the price tag on hmail, which is one of the reasons why I am using it. Not only to use it, but to learn. Until I started using hmail, I knew nothing about mail servers and how they functioned. I now have a better understanding of mail servers, how they are routed, etc. I thank the developer for creating this software which gave me the opportunity to learn and get experienced with mail servers without having to go out and buy hundreds or thousands of dollars in software and licensing like MS Exchange to learn. The forum community has been active and helpful to guide me through this learning experience as well - up until this thread where I feel like I am being talk down to and disgraced for asking such a question like I had.

I am sorry that it seems like my curiosity wasted your time.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by mattg » 2014-07-30 04:58

Sorry that you feel like you are having an argument - That's not my intent. I'm trying to offer alternative solutions to you.

Feel free to add a feature request to make hMailserver more like Exchange, although Martin has long said that hmailserver will ONLY ever be a great Mail Transfer Agent, and will never be groupware.

Your initial questions.
Valoran wrote:Is there a way to have e-mail clients such as an iPhone or Outlook pull down the correct IMAP and SMTP address without having the need of the user to input the settings?
No not currently possible
Valoran wrote: Not only that but, since Hmailserver can pull down usernames and passwords from AD, is there a way that the names can be automatically set on the client as it is viewed in AD? For example, if I want my employee's names to show up as "Smith, Bill" as it is listed in AD when they send an e-mail, how can I make that happen?
No
hMailserver's interaction with AD is very limited - as per the docs
Valoran wrote:I am trying to make this as simple as possible for my users by not requesting them to put in certain formats or DNS addresses to make a connection to the mail server. Is there some configuration file I need to attach to hailserver or something on my DNS host to point to the configuration file?
mattg wrote:From my experience, using the subdomain of 'mail' as in mail.domain.com as the name of your mail server in your MX records etc, and using SLL certificates for client connections, allows for mail server settings to be automatically 'guessed' by many mail clients, including Outlook, Thunderbird, Safari and the iOS mail client. It is also my experience that adding certain AntiVirus software to your computer, can stop this automatic guessing.

Back to my point, do these mail clients allow configuration options to be set before deployment of the mail client. That would (to me) solve your issue.
Just 'cause I link to a page and say little else doesn't mean I am not being nice.
https://www.hmailserver.com/documentation

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by ^DooM^ » 2014-07-31 22:31

Actually if i can be a pedant for a moment. It's AD and CAS that holds the details for auto configuration. So technically it's not the mail server that has a hand in configuring clients.

What some mail clients do (Like thunderbird) is a best guess based on the email address you enter, so if you enter joe.blogs@domain.com thunderbird will try connecting to mail.domain.com (and other sub domains like smtp/imap/pop/pop3/mailer) to see if a mail server replies, then try the email address to see if it asks for a password on standard ports from that you can pretty much gain all the info you need to setup a client.

So out of both of the scenarios you see above the mail server doesn't really play any part in the auto configuration process.

I hope this helps
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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-08-01 04:48

Sorry, I've been absent for a long period of time. Thank you for your responses.

Doom - I wasn't sure if it had to do with hmail, something that needed to be hooked up to hmail, or something in between. I have tried letting the outlook auto-configure itself and it always returns it back with domain.com instead of having mail.domain.com or webmail.domain.com.

I noticed on the hmail admin panel that there is a section for "scripts" and you can run VBScript or Jscript. I wasn't sure if you could program a configuration script into that to do this particular task or not.

I continued my investigation just to be sure. I went onto my domain host (GoDaddy) and they have some interesting record holder items at the bottom. Apparently if you have a record in the SRV (Service) area, you can configure a autodiscover for e-mail clients like I am trying to do. Check this out.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... ile/186325
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... ile/186327

Here is directions for autodiscover being created for "Rackspace Email"
http://www.rackspace.com/apps/support/portal/1218

So what is Autodiscover?
Autodiscover is a service that allows users to easily configure their email client knowing only their email address and password. E-mail clients that make use of Autodiscover include Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2011, Mac Mail, Entourage 2008 WSE and many smartphones. Autodiscover also enables additional features for Microsoft Exchange mailboxes such as: Downloading the Offline Address Book, viewing Free/Busy time in calendar, and Out-of-Office assistant.


Does autodiscover's functionality really work exclusively with exchange? With the pictures and article listed above, I have my doubts. Is it possible to get this done with DNS on any Windows Server and the correct DNS setup with your host regardless if your using hmail, exchange, rackspace e-mail, etc.

Looks like it...

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by mattg » 2014-08-01 04:59

Valoran wrote:Does autodiscover's functionality really work exclusively with exchange?
Yep

That's exactly what I'm saying
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 39114.aspx

Each of those images / articles that you posted show local DNS, pointing to an exchange server, or a web panel pointing to a hosted exchange service.
Just 'cause I link to a page and say little else doesn't mean I am not being nice.
https://www.hmailserver.com/documentation

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by Valoran » 2014-08-01 15:02

Fair enough. Thanks.

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Re: E-mail Client Autoconfiguration

Post by ArenICT » 2014-09-18 16:32

I can tell you that it's of course possible to make your e-mail client, whether it's Outlook or your iPhone, automatically lookup the correct smtp and imap / pop3 servers. You have to setup a DNS record and host a XML-file with the correct server information.

You can read more about this on the Microsoft Technet website: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ ...

If you don't understand or just can't manage to get this working, do not hesitate to contact me. :)

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