General Overview - Administration

The book is exactly 276 pages long and is divided into 13 chapters. First off, it explains how and why e-mail has become the communication standard. This first chapter is important because most of the notions and concepts are defined here. You will also read how email works, learn about its protocols, etc.

The second chapter continues with a concise history of Scalix groupware. You will get to know the email server terminology (such as daemon, mail node, indexing, protocols, etc.). The author also presents the necessary licensing, as well as the possible package editions and their differences.

The real action begins in the third chapter—installation. This is continued in the fourth chapter where advanced installation techniques are covered: text-based, graphical, and even how to approach a scenario where uninstalling is required. Chapter five takes you on a simple, yet necessary tour through the SAC (Scalix Admin Console). The routine tasks are presented, such as adding users, applying filters, searching, passwords, etc.

Scalix is not only compatible with various third party e-mail clients, but also with Microsoft’s proprietary Outlook client. The sixth chapter explains the deployment of Scalix Connect, which involves adding full Outlook support for users. This is quite critical because let's face it, users tend to prefer (and are used to) working with Outlook Express.

Aside from the Scalix Admin Console (SAC), there’s a lot to do with the help of commands and configuration files. Also, there are additional programs and tools that aid the system administrator in the maintenance and configuration of Scalix. The author gives a brief explanation of their usage in the seventh chapter.

Chapter eight is jam-packed with useful tools, commands, and tips to help monitor your Scalix services. It is important to know their state, as well as your Outlook client's. At the end of this chapter, Markus Feilner explains how the Nagios plug-in can be set up to have full integration and alarming capabilities. The task is described in a three-step process and the author shows us ready-to-run Nagios scripts too.

Security should never be neglected since it is always critical. Chapter nine covers most of the guidelines that a system administrator should follow in order to enhance the security of the Scalix server. This is a must-read because really useful quirks are presented. Moving on, the tenth chapter is about backing up and restoring the Scalix mail server. You can do full backups, incremental backups, and even simple backups of certain mailboxes.

The eleventh chapter starts out with a brief explanation of Scalix’s LDAP server, explains how to configure it, and continues presenting how to integrate the Scalix Administration tools for Active Directory and how to sync with remote directories. Chapter twelve is one of the shortest chapters, but you can learn about mail routing, troubleshooting directory synchronization issues, and Active/Passive clusters.

In this age, anti-spam and anti-virus measures must always be taken. In the final chapter, the author shows us how to incorporate ClamAV and SpamAssassin into your Scalix server. The necessary configurations are thoroughly explained. The reader can also apply their knowledge of third party applications. At the end, you are going to read about other ways to prevent spam, such as relay control.

Please check out the table of contents for the book below. As you can see, the title of each chapter is followed by a couple of words that explain the “main theme” of that particular chapter. This, along with the index at the end of the book, is very useful because this manual can be used as a reference and you may just want to search for a particular issue. Finding that as soon as possible is critical.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Chapter 1: Email and Groupware: History and Basics

Chapter 2: Scalix Groupware

Chapter 3: Installing Scalix

Chapter 4: Advanced Installations

Chapter 5: First Steps with Scalix Admin Console and Scalix Web Access

Chapter 6: Administration and Configuration

Chapter 7: Common Options and Documentation

Chapter 8: Monitoring Scalix

Chapter 9: Scalix and Security

Chapter 10: Backup and Restore

Chapter 11: Scalix Directory Integration

Chapter 12: HA and Multi-Server Setups

Chapter 13: Defeating Spam and Viruses

Bibliography

Index

In the next section, we will continue our review by analyzing the content of the book, the style of the author, and the way the information is delivered. Click on the link below.