Plesk 7.0.3 with Merak Mailserver

[nilrod]

Hello.

I just noticed that the Merak Mailserver is now available as an option under Server > Default Components.

My question is: How do I switch?

I don't have any email accounts in Plesk yet to worry about so I tried to simply change mail server right there under Default Components after disabling all Mail Enable services and installing Merak. This seems to have worked but when i run the Plesk Reconfigurater application and select "Change Plesk mailboxes location" I can see that it is set to "C:\Program Files\SWsoft\Plesk\Mail Enable". This doesn't seem right and I don't know what to set it to now.
The default Merak installation directory? The Merak directory for mail?

Is it even possible to change mail server after Plesk has been installed?

I don't have any clients or domains in my Plesk system yet so reinstalling everything wouldn't be too big of a deal. However, I can't find any notes in the documentation on how to install with Merak.
(Actually I can't even find anything on the SWsoft website abut Plesk supporting Merak other than here on the forums. )

Also: Will spamassassin still work with Merak as the mailserver?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Nicklas

 

[cviviani]

I installed first merak and then plesk.
I let run spamassassin over merak

I must still solve a small tunnel problem.

 

[Jeomja]

We too are currently trying to get the Plesk7.03 working (correctly) with Merak Mail server.

Recently (12/27) we had our server provider (EV1SERVERS) restore our Windows 2003 Standard server. We were given specific steps by support to take and the process was laid out.

Unfortunatly the deployment of Merak and Plesk have been a diaster. We have an incrediable number of errors since the install, however our server provider has done a few band-aid type fixes, that result in more PLESK errors.

In addition, we has both MYSQL and MSSQL on our machine.

Mail Enable (services) have been disabled, however when server is restarted we have both Mail Enable and Merak trying to start. This conflict seems to create additional Plesk errors.

Another problem has prevented us from setting (activating) our MSSQL database server login in server administration.

Although I can add domains, they do not cdreate mail accounts and/or MSSQL data base option for the domains

Anyone with simukar problems, please respond with simular fixes. I have been down almost 2 weeks

 

[cviviani]

first merak then plesk. when you install Plesk select option merak and mailenabele disable. go with the options carefully through and reads all possibilities. there is 3 options to adjusts - if I remember correctly.

plesk may not be deinstalliert before. it must be on clean server.

 

[nilrod]

I have everything up and running now and here's a rundown of how I did it.

* Install Plesk together with Mail Enable.
* Install Merak Mail Server, be careful to choose mail storage directory wisely or it will end up using c:\program files\merak\mail
* Stop and disable all Mail Enable related services in service manager.
* Start all Merak related services in service manager.
* Change to Merak in Plesk server settings.
* Finetune Merak configuration using Merak Administrator as settings such as relay by ip are not applied here by Plesk.

The only problem now is that I cannot seem to uninstall the mail enable services and every time I run the wizards in plesk reconfigurator the mail enable services are started again. I can live with this as I expect this to be fixed in later upgrades and I appreciate that SWsoft decided that the Merak support now is good enough to release into Plesk despite these small issues.

 

[Jeomja]

Originally posted by nilrod
I have everything up and running now and here's a rundown of how I did it.

* Install Plesk together with Mail Enable.
* Install Merak Mail Server, be careful to choose mail storage directory wisely or it will end up using c:\program files\merak\mail
* Stop and disable all Mail Enable related services in service manager.
* Start all Merak related services in service manager.
* Change to Merak in Plesk server settings.
* Finetune Merak configuration using Merak Administrator as settings such as relay by ip are not applied here by Plesk.

The only problem now is that I cannot seem to uninstall the mail enable services and every time I run the wizards in plesk reconfigurator the mail enable services are started again. .

We finally solved our Plesk/ MSSQL intertragation, thus giving Domain an opportunity to create databases from the Plesk control panel. What we discovered. Plesk fails to setup the MSSQL sa and password the the plesk mysql database during setup. There is another post with simular problem, and we had to add entries in mysql psa database to 'misc' table.

I am amazed that plesk would release such a crappy product as seen in 7.03


You said choose merak mail storage directory wisely? Where should we have selected?


If anybody notices, you can not choose not to install mail enable. When I tried to just select install entire feature Merak
and unselect Mail Enable it would not allow me.

Our Merak situation is still a problem.
We too have followed simular steps as you have outlined, however there remains a problem/error with plesk interfacing with Merak Mail Server professional.

From what we see, there is not a way to disable Mail Enable services from Windows server 2003 services.

Altough Mail Enable is disabled and merak is enabled, Plesk overrides the desired Windows service settings and enables/starts both the mail enable and merak mail servers when you reboot the server.

I am curious if you were able to retain your desired merak / plesk config after server restart?



mailmng.exe error

Run-Time error: MerakCOM.AccountObject.Save failed for name=mytest and domain ev1test.com [ev1test.com]
at (Merak::MerakMailName::MerakMailName line 27)
at execute console command --add-mailname(vconsoleapp::start line 124)
at execute "C:\PROGRA~1\SWsoft\Plesk\admin\bin\mailmng.exe" "--add-mailname" "--domain-name=ev1test.com" "--mailname=mytest"(vconsoleapp::run line 134)
Execute file name: C:\PROGRA~1\SWsoft\Plesk\admin\bin\mailmng.exe

 

[cviviani]

install server new (clean)
install merak 7.6.4
install plesk custom select no mailserver
reboot
logon plesk panel and lok to the defaultcomponents push radio button merak. it is not instalt start setup again (custem ) select merak support.

 

[pesja]

cviviani

Can you of anybody else write me e simple guide how to install Merak 7.6.x in combination with Plesk. I Tried al above, but still it won't work.

 

[cviviani]

install server new (clean)

look to my install notes
http://forum.plesk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=94943#post94943
at this point make a image ie acronis
install merak 7.6.4 before plesk ! !

install plesk custom select no mailserver
reboot
logon plesk panel and lok to the defaultcomponents push radio button merak.
it is not instalt start plesk setup again (custem ) select merak support.

 

[pesja]

Okay, it's working, but not 100%. Now i can sent mails but i cannot receive mails. Neither on the normal pop-account or the webmail-account (it is the same, but okay)

Somebody an solution?

 

[cviviani]

what for ip have the server so i can check our smtp

 

[flyby]

I installed plesk 7.0.3 + hotfix mail enable and all.

I stop pop3/smtp server for mail enable

Install merak 8.0.3 standart whit ALL module groupware, instant massenger, anti-virus and so. I standard dir c:/program files/merak (plesk makes some changes in merak so it is working)

Change from mail enable to merak i default components

I then set the service pop3 and smtp to manuel, and stop them in server 2003 (admin. tools->Services). So there is not starting when reboot.

And it works.

New problems:
1) But the new backup tool dos not work anymore, i think that it is becores the merak mail server. And it is no able to backup mail.
Also Plesk dos not setup the new mail account as a POP3/IMAP account but only POP3 account, so you have to du it your self i merak.

2) I setup horde to mange IMAP, but it dons not show any folders, only inbox. I try setting up at new folder, and I can se in merak, but horde dos not show it.

3) autoresponser dos not work anymore. It is not setup i merak.