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CommunigatePro

CommunigatePro is a mail-, calendar, notes- and web-storage server created by Stalker Software Inc, also known as Communigate Systems. It's a native executable, and has it's own protocol handlers on board: SMTP, POP, IMAP, DNS and SNMP.

The product runs on virtually any operating system, including OpenVMS (both Alpha and Itanium), although the site doesn't show it everywhere.

An (unlimited!) trial version can be downloaded, is fully functional, the only thing showing it's a trial version is that messages get a header line:

*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*

but for the rest, it's complete.

The Alpha package is a ZIP file of 6 Mb, the IA64 package is a ZIP of 11 Mb.

Basic documents are, in PDF format, about 8 Mb, of which the full guide is 6 Mb - 1039 pages!

Special thanks to the 4ovms.org / oooovms.org people that gave a session on the product at the OpenVMS SIG! They use it (that is: ONE instance) for both domains - and a number extra - on a DS10L with 512 Mb memory.

Installation

I installed it on my DEC3000's second disk (1 Gb), it takes about 64000 blocks. This machine has 96 Mb internal memory, so it;s not really a small one.

First, disable SMTP (port 25) and POP (port 110). It might be needed to disable DNS (port 53) when DNS is effective, but it might be it's ok to have it running. Same may apply to FTP and IMAP.

I don;t know how it goes together with Apache, but since CommunigatePRo uses ports that are noormally not used by a webserver, it might well co-exist with Apache - unless you use these ports in Apache. Then, you have to change these ports in either Apache or CommunigatePro. This was beyond the scope of the investigation (the server has no Apache installed)

After this preparation, unzip the package and just follow the instructions!

Configuration

Configuration is web-based, both insecure and secure (for remote administration, over the internet eventually) , on ports 8010 and 9010 respectively. Web access of the mailboxes is ports 8100 and 9100 - and both require login.

"No username/password on administration login ???"

Well, yes, you need to enter a username and password, but on each new step. The background is that administration can be delegated, and it just depends what level you're entering into.

There is extensive online help available on each screen, you need to get familiar with terminology and decisions where things are stored and accessed, but for the rest, it's quite straight forward.

These are the steps to be taken to get things up-and-running, with most settings kept to defaults.