A ready to use multi-domain mail server with GUI management, Roundcube webmail, IMAP and POP

[raulb]

Hi, I am happy to announce the release of the Flockport mailserver which makes it easy for end users to deploy a mail server in any VPS (except OpenVZ)

See the video walk through. Just like the mail server Flockport has containers of popular web apps that basically let users launch and use these apps without the need to install and configure web stacks and applications.

Flockport containers are based on the open source LXC project. LXC is identical to OpenVZ, only its supported in the vanilla Linux kernel.

A lot of our new users are not familiar with containers and have trouble understanding them conceptually and the flexibility and portability gained by decoupling your applications from the host OS.

We have added a number of videos and tons of documentation to illustrate how easy it to use portable containers as a way to deploy applications.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Very interesting thank you for sharing it!

Also I've seen LXC become more and more a popular option for many people in the industry!  Definitely interested in seeing how it goes and great to see you guys embrace it! 

 

[raulb]

@HalfEatenPie - I agree. LXC has been sort of under the radar and we are excited about LXC. It fundamentally changes things and makes it really easy for users to deploy and manage apps. Especially for folks on here deploying apps in VPS.

Here is a video walkthrough of the mail server.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysUswy8rGwM

Anyone who has installed a mail server knows what a hair raising experience it can be, and will appreciate just how it easy this container makes it for end users after watching the video.

Of course end users still need to learn, but this allows them to get started faster and learn at their own pace.

We feel it is a win-win for both providers and users, and can accelerate the growth of the VPS market.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

@raulb - Awesome! 

Out of curiosity, can you provide us a quick pros and cons of your software in comparison to something like VestaCP, Zimbra, or other common mail systems?  

 

[raulb]

@HalfEatenPie Thanks! I have tried Vesta and It's an excellent solution. However it tends to take over your VPS. I haven't tried Zimbra.

The main advantage I can see with the Flockport mail server is you can treat it just like any app installed on your VPS. I feel its more lightweight and flexible while still being pretty feature rich.

The components at work are clearly defined. Postfix, Dovecot, Vimadmin, Roundcube and Nginx. You can switch and modify any of the individual pieces if you feel like, and it should work without issue.

The Vimbadmin GUI is also in my opinion a much easier interface to manage multiple domains and mailboxes.

But I didn't make the container to compete with any of these solutions or anything of that sort. I just felt a mail server is too time consuming and complex to set up - hair raising is the word, and felt a preconfigured container should make it much easier for users.

 

[clouds4india]

I tried this on a ubuntu 32 bit vps this is the error i get 

lxc-start: Executing '/sbin/init' with no configuration file may crash the host

 

[raulb]

@clouds4india - that's a very basic LXC error. It means the container name provided on the 'lxc-start' command line is either wrong or the container does not exist.

Please recheck the container name you provided on the lxc-start command, and the container folder exists in the LXC folder /var/lib/lxc.

The command 'lxc-ls -f' should show you all the containers LXC knows about. Since you are on 32 bit I am presuming you downloaded the 32 bit mailserver container.

To start the 32 bit mailserver container it needs to be 'lxc-start -n mailserver32 -d'

And the 64 bit is 'lxc-start -n mailserver64 -d'

 

[raulb]

We just added a deployment guide for the mail server which should be useful for those who want to learn how to deploy mail severs or in this case deploy the Flockport mail server to production. Hope it is useful.