Review: Power
Messaging with CommuniGate
Pro
UnixReview.com
November 2003
by Emmett Dulaney
Are you unable to stomach the cost of purchasing and managing
Microsoft's
latest version of Exchange Server? Do you want GroupWise
functionality,
but don't want to use NetWare just for that? Do you want to
convert
to a totally Linux shop, but are uncomfortable with the thought of
devoting
your life to sendmail? Stalker Software's CommuniGate Pro
messaging
server is the answer you're looking for.
CommuniGate Pro is an enterprise-capable messaging server that is
simple
to use and exceptionally scalable. It has won numerous tradeshow
and
magazine awards for its innovation and ability. The product is
capable
of running on several platforms, and I evaluated it on Linux and
found
it to excel. It can work with SMTP, IMAP, POP, Webmail, and all
the
protocols you would expect to find in an email server as well as
LDAP.
As of this writing, 4.1.8 is the latest version, but numbers
ratchet
up rather quickly (see the company's
Web site for more information).
Just What is It?
CommuniGate Pro (shortened to CGP for the remainder of this
article)
is the sole product currently offered by Stalker Software, which was
founded
in 1993 to "create advanced communication solutions." There are
currently
more than 26 million users on more than 4,000 installed CGP systems.
Licensing
is available from 50 users on up.
While I hate to use the analogy, what many people will want to
hear
about this product is that it is a viable
replacement/substitute/alternative
for Microsoft Exchange. Some may quickly sum it up as a cheaper
alternative,
but to stop there is to do the product a disservice. Yes, CGP is
cheaper.
According to posted list prices, the cost for 50 users for CGP
would
be $499, while Exchange would cost $699 for the server plus $67
per
client (or around $4000). No one should make a decision based
solely
on price, however, and it is important to move away from the
Exchange
analogy and see just what CGP does offer. Some of its more
important
features are:
- Administration — You can use either the graphical
interface
(browser-based) or the command line. Thus, you get the best of
both
worlds. Remote administration allows you to configure modules
and
accounts, monitor the system, and tweak queues using any
Internet
browser through port 8010.
- Calendaring/Scheduling — Support for features of Outlook
are
built in for clients to take advantage of.
- List Server — Built in and included.
- Platform Support — While Linux is the key, it is nice to
know
that 30 other platforms are supported as well. The current version
includes
support for AIX, BeOS, FreeBSD, HP/UX, IRIX, MacOS, Microsoft
Operating
Systems (Win9x/XP/NT/200x), OpenBSD, OS/2, OS/400, Red Hat, Sun
Solaris,
SuSE, Tru64, and UnixWare.
- Scalability — You can start out with a license for as few
as
50 users on a single server. As needs grow, you can increase the
license
and not affect the existing users at all. Dynamic clustering is
supported
for large implementations that need load balancing and redundancy
for
up to 5 million active accounts.
- Security — The usual email security is here, as well as
support
for APOP, CRAM-MDS, SASL, and SSL/TLS. According to the
documentation,
it is 100% compatible with all SSL-enabled browsers and mail
clients.
External authentication — such as through the use of a RADIUS
server
— is also supported.
- Uptime — By implementing clustering, Stalker states that
customers
can be guaranteed 99.999% uptime (known as the "five nines"). If
my
calculations are right, that means 5 minutes downtime for the
entire
year.
Trying it Out
You can download a trial version (with http or ftp) from the
links
posted on the company's
Web site. From there, you can also download a number of
third-party
plug-ins for virus scanners spam catchers. A MAPI connector for
Microsoft
workstations can also be downloaded from here to allow the clients
to
use Outlook with CGP. As a side note, commercial virus scanners
are
also available for CGP and for sale through the usual Linux
outlets.
After downloading, I followed the simple installation
instructions
and had no difficulty whatsoever bringing it up and running on Red
Hat
— switching to the Web-based interface after the initial file
installation.
The trial version is a fully working version of the product that
annoyingly
adds a banner to all messages it sends; the banner only goes away
upon
licensing the product. The ability to use a version of the product
that
never expires or times out is invaluable when evaluating a major
installation
such as this, and vendors can do much worse things to their
trialware
than simply adding a banner. In other words, I could live with the
banner,
and you probably could too, during an evaluation period.
The four major configuration setting divisions are server and
module
settings, account and domain administration, directory
administration,
and service monitoring. For the most part, all settings are
intuitively
named and easy to work with. Examples of the configuration screens
can
be found in the documentation.
One of the extrinsic features that impressed me the most was the
abundance
of documentation. On the Stalker
Web
site, it is possible to find well-written, yet concise,
details
on how to administer every aspect of the product. I did not
encounter
anything vague or confusing, and I printed almost every page I
could
find to put the software through some of its paces.
Working with CommuniGate Pro
Once the product is installed, administration is quite simple.
The
Web-based interface simplifies tasks and makes them as
admin-friendly
as possible. In my lab environment, I tried accessing the server
with
as many different clients/browsers/applications as I could conjure
up
and was successful on every endeavor.
I was particularly interested in how CGP would work with Outlook,
since most
of the clients that I know of have standardized upon that
client. Much to my surprise,
the integration was virtually seamless. I expected some
degradataion (to be excused with
"just something you have to live with"), but was unable to
uncover any. Within Outlook,
it was possible to not only get mail, but to schedule
meetings and use all the other
features of the client as well.
I also tried a couple different versions of the Eudora client and
encountered
no problems with either. The same can be said for the Webmail
client.
The anti-spam features allow you to block messages from hosts
based on domains, accounts, or IP addresses
that appear in the RBL (Realtime Blackhole Lists). CGP does not use file
locking, and that allows response
times to be significantly less than systems that implement such.
I was acutely impressed with the security; it allows you to change
CGP
from the root user. You can change the associated UID from 0 to 1,
or
use the UID of the cgatepro user or the nobody user. The effects of
doing
this include prohibiting ports numbered less than 1024 from being
opened,
passwords from the OS can't be used, and remote applications are
restricted.
The change in privileges from root to this more secure environment
can
be done on a permanent basis, or in a "reversible" mode that you can
undo
if the changes turn out to be too restrictive for your environment.
As
my eight-year-old would say — sweet.
Tech Support
The first stop for technical support should be the Web site, where
a
great deal of documentation is available. If you cannot find the
answer
to your question there, there is also support available through
email
and a mailing list that is very active. Technical support is also
available
over the phone. Two years of software upgrades are included with the
purchase
price.
To test the responsiveness of support, I sent a bogus message to
the email address
asking about a known multithreading issue involving Red Hat 9.
Within hours, the response
came back. Instead of just dismissing the question ("doesn't
work"), the response suggested two
alternative solutions: downgrade to Red Hat 8, or use the
statically linked version of CGP. I have
to give them very high marks for both expediency and efficacy.
Other Information
In researching this article, I was quite surprised by some of the
facts
that I uncovered. I wanted to make certain that the company behind
the
product had a history and would be around for a while — the
last
thing any administrator wants to do is implement an enterprise-wide
product
that becomes orphanware. What I found put my doubts to rest and
amazed
me.
Among the items uncovered:
Conclusion
I found CommuniGate Pro to meet, if not greatly exceed, every
single
expectation that I had. This is a wonderful messaging server
worthy
of serious consideration. I strongly encourage you to evaluate it
for
implementation in your environment. You won't be sorry.
Contact information
Product: CommuniGate Pro
Address: Stalker Software, Inc.
655 Redwood Highway, Suite 275
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Phone: 1.800.262.4722
Information: info@stalker.com
Sales: sales@stalker.com
Support: support@stalker.com
Web links
Company Home Page: http://www.stalker.com
Product Home Page: http://www.stalker.com/CommuniGatePro/
Features: http://www.stalker.com/CommuniGatePro/Features.html
Case Studies: http://www.stalker.com/cust/cases.html
Price
Pricing varies based upon whether the product is being purchased
for
a server or cluster and the number of accounts. A single server
with
50 accounts runs $499, while 1,000 accounts costs $1,999. A
complete
price list can be found here.
Emmett Dulaney, LPI, Linux+, etc. is the author of several
books
on Linux, Unix, and certification. He can be reached at edulaney@iquest.net.
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