Installation Choices

There are three key steps to installing DWmail

1. Download the software from the Dominion Web member's area
2. Upload the software files to your server
3. Modify the settings in the configuration file
4. Install the database

Stages 2 and 4 can be done in two different ways

• Automatically using our Windows installer software (the software runs on Windows but can be used to upload and configure DWmail for any type of web server that allows FTP)
• Manually by unzipping (or untarring) the software and manually uploading the files, editing the config file and running the database setup

Important Considerations

Before actually installing DWmail you will to make some decisions:

• Do you wish to only use your webmail for users to check email on your own server (or on a domain allowed by you) or do you want to be able to connect to any mail server
• Do you wish to take advantage of the calendar, addressbook or enhanced user preferences interface
• Does your SMTP server require authentication

DWmail modes - 'Local' mode, 'remote' or 'domain' mode

DWmail can be run in three modes. See the login modes section for a more detailed description for configuring the following modes

• Local mode will only allow connections to a single mail server. This is perfect to offer users of your domain or server access to their email.
• Domain mode allows users to connect to any domain the administrator has allowed into the 'Allowed Domains for domain mode' setting in the administration area, or if you are using file configurations, the $AllowedDomains array.
• Remote mode (the default mode) which allows anyone to connect to any publicly available POP3 or IMAP4 email account.

Addressbook and Calendar and extended user preferences

To use the address book, notes and calendar a MySQL or PostgreSQL database is required. DWmail is no longer supported without a database, so you will need either a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. The software will mean that some user information will be stored in the database so it can be tied to the email account being checked. When a user logs into an email account using a databased enabled version of DWmail, unique identifiers are created based on, but not containing their login information. This keeps their information secure but also provides a good way of DWmail linking their stored preferences and contacts with their login when they come back.

DWmail's database mode also makes an extended user preferences interface available. Users can pick mailbox refresh times, personal names for outgoing emails and mailbox filters (if used in conjunction with IMAP logins).

Sending Email, SMTP vs IMAP_MAIL()

By default, DWmail makes use of the PHP imap_mail() command to send email. If PHP can send email then DWmail can send email. However in some circumstances the PHP built in mail commands don't work. Usually this is caused by your mail server requiring SMTP authentication.

You can set DWmail to send email via SMTP and enable SMTP authentication. However you will only be able to run DWmail in 'local' mode.

Additionally if all the accounts you will be using in DWmail all use the same physical SMTP server and you are in local mode, you can opt to send all email through SMTP. Using SMTP gives a better indication of any problems sending a particular email.

System requirements

Minimum System Requirements

• PHP 4.1.0 or higher. Works with PHP 5
• --with-imap, IMAP extensions to PHP (also know as IMAP c-client). Even if you only intend to use POP3 connection with DWmail you MUST meet this requirement.
• PHP session support
• Sending email support using PHP's mail() or using SMTP (local email accounts only)
• At least one POP3 or IMAP4 mail server and email account to use with DWmail
• PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions)

Supported Databases (offers a much greater range of features):

• MySQL 3.23.x+
• MySQLi 4.0.x, 4.1.x, 5.0.x
• PostgreSQL

Recommended Additional Requirements:

• Zlib support for generating ZIP files
• Flite and GD image support for CAPTCHA and image resizing

If you wish to make use of POP3 SSL or IMAP4 SSL you will additionally need --with-imap-ssl compiled with PHP (completely optional setting). IMAP SSL mode will behave as POP3 without access to IMAP folders, etc.

How to test your setup:

We have provided a number of test PHP scripts so you can see if your server will be able to run DWmail. These simple scripts will test that these requirements above are met.

It is strongly recommended that if you have any doubts as to whether your system supports the requirements you should install download and use the test scripts first. There are no refunds for this product if your system does not meet the system requirements. PHP 4.1.0 or greater is especially important as our products will not work on older versions due to structural changes of the PHP language. Also see sending email through DWmail, behind the scenes.

Please note: DWmail only supports SMTP and SMTP authentication for local mail accounts. This means that you must run DWmail in 'local' mode which only allows connection to a single mail server rather than the default 'remote' mode which allows connections to any POP3 or IMAP4 server on the Internet. The reason behind this is if DWmail is set to remote mode, any user could connect to any POP3 server in the world but yet use your SMTP server to send outbound email. This is dangerous as it could lead to blacklisting or your SMTP server being used as a spam relay.

Client Browser Support:

DWmail has successfully been tested on a range of client browsers including Internet Explorer 6, Mozilla, Firefox, Safari and Konquerer. WYSWIYG email sending requires at least Internet Explorer 5.5+, Mozilla 1.4+, Firefox 0.6.1+ or Opera 9+. For the best user experience it is strongly recommended have JavaScript enabled.

Test environments:

Dominion Web have successfully tested DWmail on varying systems from Windows to Linux and have personally tested the following versions:

PHP

• 4.1.0
• 4.2.0
• 4.3.0
• 4.3.1
• 4.3.2
• 4.3.3
• 4.3.4
• 4.3.5
• 4.3.6
• 4.3.7
• 4.3.10
• 5.0.0
• 5.1.0
• 5.2.0

MySQL

• 3.23
• 4.0
• 4.1
• 5.0

PostgreSQL

• 7.4
• 8.2

Web Servers

• Apache 1.3.x
• Apache 2.0.x
• IIS 5
• IIS 6
• IIS 7

Email MTAs

• Courier IMAP with qmail

DWmail also has a guided setup process which can generate configuration files for you in addition to installing and the database.

INSTALLATION METHODS

As mentioned above the are two key ways to install DWmail

• Automated - using the Windows installer application to upload files to any type of server
• Manual - uploading the DWmail package via your own FTP application