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From: Port Able on 30 Dec 2009 13:43
I am currently consulting for a small retailer. They have been using
an online email service provider for the past few years to blast
personalized emails to their customers (opt-in, and 100-200 thousand
emails at a time). They have asked me to see if we can install an
email server in house to accomplish the same thing and eliminate the
monthly costs. I am fairly familiar with Linux/Unix and with databases
(mysql and postgresql). I have not done anything with Sendmail or
Postfix but feel comfortable following the documentation. I have also
ordered the two books that I could find on Postfix.

My questions
are: has anyone used Postfix for this purpose? Do the online ESP's
develop their own email servers? Do any of them use Sendmail,
Postfix or qmail?


Thanks in advance for any information or links.


From: Matt Hayes on 30 Dec 2009 13:46
On 12/30/2009 1:43 PM, Port Able wrote:
> I am currently consulting for a small retailer. They have been using an
> online email service provider for the past few years to blast
> personalized emails to their customers (opt-in, and 100-200 thousand
> emails at a time). They have asked me to see if we can install an email
> server in house to accomplish the same thing and eliminate the monthly
> costs. I am fairly familiar with Linux/Unix and with databases (mysql
> and postgresql). I have not done anything with Sendmail or Postfix but
> feel comfortable following the documentation. I have also ordered the
> two books that I could find on Postfix.
>
> My questions are: has anyone used Postfix for this purpose? Do the
> online ESP's develop their own email servers? Do any of them use
> Sendmail, Postfix or qmail?
>
>
> Thanks in advance for any information or links.
>


Port,

I would suggest checking into MailMan or other mail 'list' software.

-Matt

From: Brian Evans - Postfix List on 30 Dec 2009 13:49
On 12/30/2009 1:43 PM, Port Able wrote:
> I am currently consulting for a small retailer. They have been using
> an online email service provider for the past few years to blast
> personalized emails to their customers (opt-in, and 100-200 thousand
> emails at a time). They have asked me to see if we can install an
> email server in house to accomplish the same thing and eliminate the
> monthly costs. I am fairly familiar with Linux/Unix and with
> databases (mysql and postgresql). I have not done anything with
> Sendmail or Postfix but feel comfortable following the documentation.
> I have also ordered the two books that I could find on Postfix.
>
> My questions are: has anyone used Postfix for this purpose? Do the
> online ESP's develop their own email servers? Do any of them use
> Sendmail, Postfix or qmail?

Postfix does not create any messages (minus administrative notices). It
is simply the delivery vehicle.

Software such as mailman or ezmlm is more suited to mailing lists.
All such software can use Postfix to do the delivery.

From: Brian Mathis on 30 Dec 2009 14:20
On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Port Able <ableport(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am currently consulting for a small retailer.  They have been using an
> online email service provider for the past few years to blast personalized
> emails to their customers (opt-in, and 100-200 thousand emails at a time)..
> They have asked me to see if we can install an email server in house to
> accomplish the same thing and eliminate the monthly costs.  I am fairly
> familiar with Linux/Unix and with databases (mysql and postgresql).  I have
> not done anything with Sendmail or Postfix but feel comfortable following
> the documentation.  I have also ordered the two books that I could find on
> Postfix.
>
> My questions are: has anyone used Postfix for this purpose?  Do the online
> ESP's develop their own email servers?  Do any of them use Sendmail, Postfix
> or qmail?
>
> Thanks in advance for any information or links.


I've not used mailmain or ezmlm for this purpose, but so called
"mailing list software" that's available as open source is often meant
to be used for having discussions with numerous people through email.
Using systems like that as a bulk mailer is generally a really bad
idea and requires a lot of intricate configuration to ensure no one
can reply to the whole list, etc...

To accomplish this in my company, I setup postfix as the mail relay
server, and use GroupMail 5
(http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/default.asp) [1] as the sending
client. Groupmail manages the lists and provides a nice "Windows"
front-end for whoever is doing the sending. GroupMail isn't free, but
we've been using the Personal Edition and it has enough features to
meet our needs.

One of the biggest issues you're going to run into is that your IPs
might get labeled as a spammer, even though this is opt-in. Dealing
with that can be a big headache and is generally what you pay the
monthly fee for. Sending legitimate bulk email is not a simple matter
of hitting "Send" -- you also need to deal with the multiple issues
that come up when doing it. This is the value that the other company
brings to the table.


[1] I have no affiliation with GroupMail 5.

From: Stan Hoeppner on 30 Dec 2009 14:22
Port Able put forth on 12/30/2009 12:43 PM:
> I am currently consulting for a small retailer. They have been using an
> online email service provider for the past few years to blast
> personalized emails to their customers (opt-in, and 100-200 thousand
> emails at a time). They have asked me to see if we can install an email
> server in house to accomplish the same thing and eliminate the monthly
> costs. I am fairly familiar with Linux/Unix and with databases (mysql
> and postgresql). I have not done anything with Sendmail or Postfix but
> feel comfortable following the documentation. I have also ordered the
> two books that I could find on Postfix.
>
> My questions are: has anyone used Postfix for this purpose? Do the
> online ESP's develop their own email servers? Do any of them use
> Sendmail, Postfix or qmail?

You really should ask this question on spam-l. There is an ESP discussion
currently taking place. Would be perfect timing.

Far more important that the software platform you choose to do this is your
deliverability. Good ESPs know how to keep their customers mailings from
hitting DNSBLs and other black lists. The last thing you want to do is set this
thing up, and on the first run get your IP address blacklisted by Spamhaus.

http://spam-l.com/mailman/listinfo/spam-l

100K to 200K bulk mailings are not for amateurs.

One question: are they not happy with the level of service their current ESP is
providing, or are they merely trying to cut costs?

--
Stan

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