Hi, I'm setting up a linode for 2 separate non-profit organizations and need a solution for their 2x50 or so mail accounts, of which around 2x20 are active. (+a few low-traffic ML)

I've looked into google apps, but we have too many users for the free version and since the NPOs are in Europe, we have no US 503c status and can't apply for google apps for NPOs. Do you know of any other external host which supplies (ideally free) mail?

Apart from that, I've looked into Citadel, which is easy to configure but seems a bit too complex and confusing for my users and their needs (basic e-mail). Is there any way of "dumbing down" Citadel?
I like the feel of Zimbra, but that seems to eat lots of resources and would probably require at least 1GB RAM for the number of users planned (which tend to log on more frequently once around specific dates).

Although I feel comfortable setting up web servers, I'd like to avoid the hassle of setting up a postfix/dovecot/roundcube combo. Does someone have a nice suggestion for me?

I haven't played with Zimbra in awhile, but I've noticed spam/virus filtering to be the most resource-intensive part of handling e-mail. If that's the case with Zimbra, offloading that to another service (e.g. Postini) could reduce its footprint a bit. However, Postini is $1/user/month, which is more than a Linode 1024.

Since (I believe) Citadel serves out IMAP, you could use Roundcube or something else for the actual end user interface and just use Citadel for internal admin stuff.

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I like Citadel. You could use SquirrelMail with it. We use Evolution and the Google Email (not Gmail) client on AndroidOS. Really any IMAP client is fine.

hoopycat: does your redaction signature mean that you suggest people should or should not include their domain name in a post, just curious?

I suggest people should include their domain name in a post, especially with mail-related problems. If someone is having trouble receiving mail, the first thing I'm going to want to do is test and see if it's one of the usual forehead-smackers

My tests are usually something like:

$ dig +trace example.com mx
(check for sensible delegation/NS records, see if the MX record is there)
$ dig example.com mx
$ dig example.com soa
(see what I've got cached)
$ dig +trace example.com
$ dig example.com
(check the A record for example.com)
$ dig mail.example.com   (or whatever the MX says)
$ dig www.example.com
(do they imply they just have one linode?  if so, make sure the IPs "match")
$ whois 192.0.2.1
(is it a linode IP?)

Then it's time to start sweet-talking the SMTP server...

$ nc mail.example.com 25
<<< 220 framboise.example.com ESMTP Postfix cause I speak of the pompatus of love
>>> HELO blah
<<< 250 framboise.example.com
>>> MAIL from: <rtucker@hoopycat.com>
<<< 250 2.1.0 Ok
>>> RCPT to: <asdfasdf@example.com>
<<< 504 5.5.2 <blah>: Helo command rejected: need fully-qualified hostname
>>> URMOM
<<< 502 5.5.2 Error: command not recognized

... you get the idea.

Sure, I can ask "so, what does it look like when you do 'dig +trace domain.com mx'?", but... well, that takes a loooong time. Especially when it turns out their local ISP blocks port 25 outbound and that's the whole problem...

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Ok I see, that makes sense, thanks.

Thanks for the replies - I'll be sure to include the "URMOM" command on my SMTP server to save you trouble while debugging my installation.
jebblue: do you use the citadel frontend? Have you found a theme that doesn't look like it's from the 90s?

I ssh tunnel in to use the ugly web interface in Citadel only to do admin stuff, not on a regular basis. If I want to check my mail from other locations or from my Android phone, I use secure IMAP which is built into Citadel.