Last month I talked about the e-mail system we have had for the last six months and all the work I put into getting that system up and running. I had over six hundred names into that system and I had to enter them all in by hand.

The system had a Web-based format and I could have users remotely check their e-mail from a Web browser or they could set up a redirect and all their e-mail would automatically forward over to their personal e-mail system. Now that that system is all down, we set out to find another solution to help us get our e-mail system back up and running.

Last month, Robert DuGaue from Calweb asked me to try out a system he had that he thought might work for us.

It’s an Intel e-mail machine that was used solely to check e-mail. It is a really nice box and handles e-mail quite nicely the way it is set up. It does not have a Web-based reader, but it does have a way to have each person’s e-mail forwarded over to his or her personal e-mail. You can have several aliases for each mailbox, and its administration could also be handled remotely.

However, it had a few drawbacks. One was the fact that Intel discontinued this model about six months ago. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, because, as long as the system worked, we could at least get by with it, and then we could get by with something else.

It had room store 10 megabytes for each user. However, I started doing the math, and with over six hundred users, I calculated that it would have to have over 10 gigabytes to support just one thousand users. Then I popped the question to Robert, "How many users does this box support?" He replied that it had a limit of two hundred users. So we are back to the drawing board.

It was too bad, because I played with this system for over a couple of weeks and everything worked well. Well, a couple more weeks went by and Robert suggested another system that is also Web-based and has enough support to handle as many users as we need. The only problem I can see with the system is that I have to start entering all those names manually again.

I have to make a decision as to whether to allow users to access their mailboxes from the Web, or just set up an automatic forward for them and not allow Web access. Since Calweb is the one sponsoring our Web site, and they are also the ones sponsoring this system, I am in favor of only forwarding e-mail from this system. If we allow Web access, it would be necessary to allow storing mail on the system, which could require up to ten gigabytes for our system. This is something I have to ask the Steering Committee for as well. I cannot just make the decision myself, even though I will be the postmaster again.

I would really like to make a plug for Robert DuGaue and CalWeb for all the services he supports for the Sacramento PC Users Group. If you are ever in the need for an ISP, I would highly recommend CalWeb. They can be reached at 916-641-9320.