Mailboxes

WinGate Mail has the ability to host mailboxes for users as required. Local mailboxes provide a place for the SMTP Delivery service to deliver inbound mail to, on behalf of WinGate users in the user database selected by WinGate. This includes the redistribution of mail collected from remote POP3 accounts by the POP3 Collection service, to local mailboxes when required.

All current mailboxes are displayed on the Mailboxes tab, located at Monitoring > Email in the WinGate Management console.

Depending on the default delivery rules set for each domain on the Domains tab, incoming mail can be delivered to a corresponding local mailbox. This allows you to configure WinGate as the mail server for local or remote users by creating domain rules to handle both the collection and delivery of mail.

Creating mailboxes

By default, WinGate will determine when a mailbox needs to be created. This is usually whenever a user is created in the user database employed by WinGate.

Their mailbox will not appear on the Mailboxes tab until:

1. You physically configure the user properties on the Users and Groups panel, located in the Control Panel of the WinGate Management console.
2. Mail is received by WinGate addressed to that mailbox.
3. They actually attempt to send or retrieve mail for their mailbox through WinGate.

User mailbox access

In WinGate each mailbox is based on an IMAP4 format. Users can use either the POP3 protocol or IMAP4 protocol to connect and access their mailbox (depending on how they have their client email application configured). This reduces the administrative burden of having to assign a particular type of mailbox (either IMAP4 or POP3) for users when they are created in WinGate.

Note

Mailbox management

1. Mailbox ownership

   Mailboxes are created initially to correspond to a user in the user database employed by WinGate, however for administrative purposes it is possible to detach a user from a mailbox, and reattach the user to a new mailbox.

   This feature has been designed to assist in the migration and maintenance of all WinGate mailboxes when you change the user database provider for WinGate. Often mailboxes that were attached to users in the old database, find that there is no corresponding user in the new user database. These orphaned mailboxes can be reattached to users in the new database when required.

2. Mailbox merging

   When you attach and detach users from a particular mailbox, it is possible to merge the mailbox with another users mailbox, by attaching the new user to the unattached mail box. You can configure which mailbox will be kept and which mailbox will have all its messages appended to the new mailbox.

Mail Volumes

All mailboxes are now stored in a volume to allow for easier maintenance and management. A single mailbox volume is defined by default to store mailboxes and their associated mail. You can create new volumes to assist with the grouping and management of mailboxes depending on requirements. Mailboxes can also be moved easily between volumes when needed.