E-Mail Management

Domain Management : UserGate Mail Server can process mail from one or more domains. Domain is the key setting for the mail server. An administrator may list all domains that need to be processed by Mail Server.

LDAP Synchronization: this option is used to synchronize accounts with LDAP directories, such as MS Active Directory. You can import user accounts from an LDAP directory: it allows full control of accounts, reduces possible errors and simplifies administration.

Mail Shadowing: You can automatically copy all incoming messages to a specified e-mail address. Any existing email address can be used for Shadow Mail. Incoming mail will be copied unconditionally, regardless of any further processing of mail by antispam or antivirus modules and regardless of applicable user rights for mail processing.

Web Client: UserGate Mail Server e-mail access through a Web client that allows full access to your e-mail from any browser application.

Remote Access: Administrator Console can be used for remote administration of your mail server. Administrator Console is an independent application that communicates with the server via a special protocol not involving TCP. You can add rules to allow Administrator Console connection to the server from listed IP addresses only.

Remote Account Management: You can associate each local account in UserGate Mail Server with a remote account. If there are new messages in a remote mailbox, they will be automatically downloaded to a local account and, depending on the settings, may be deleted from the remote mailbox. If the local account or associated domain is inactive, messages will not be downloaded from remote accounts.

Distribution Lists: UserGate Mail Server supports three distribution modes. In Public mode, users can send messages from any address. In Membership mode, only users listed in the distribution list properties can send messages to the distribution group. Announcement mode is used when a certain account needs to send messages to all addresses on the distribution list.

Rules system: All messages in UserGate Mail Server are processed according to message rules. Rules are a combination of conditions with AND/OR logic and one or more operations that will take place if the condition is true. Rules are implemented in a top-down sequence, which means that each message can be matched to several rules. For non-linear message processing, you can select the “Stop Processing” option to disregard downstream rules or “Jump to Rule” to jump to a certain downstream rule.

E-mail Security:

Dual Antivirus Protection: Mail security in UserGate Mail Server is guaranteed by two integrated antivirus modules from Kaspersky Lab and Panda Security. Both modules scan mail traffic and can be used separately or together, for sequential mail scanning.

Secure Protocols: The product features SSL, POP3s, SMTPs and IMAPs support for secure access to online mail servers. Mail Server uses a special .pem (Private Enhanced Mail) file to work with SSL versions of mail protocols. Mail Server administrator may view the existing server certificates, import/export certificates, or create and remove a certificate on SSL Certificates page.

Mail Spam Protection

Commtouch Anti-Spam Gateway is a patented spam protection solution for mail servers and SMTP gates. Commtouch module is uses a unique filter based on proprietary RPD (Recurrent-Pattern Detection) algorithm that helps identify spam by its main feature – frequency of occurrence. Unlike other antispam filter vendors, Commtouch does not provide filter updates based on a typical content definitions database: its product scans mail traffic for spam patterns.

When the Anti-Spam Enterprise gate receives an e-mail, it looks for the relevant rule in the local policies that applies either to the company in general or to the particular users. If the message does not match any of the rules, Commtouch module starts looking through local cache with previous responses by the Anti-Spam Detection Center. If it still cannot find a rule for the message, the gate module sends a request to the Anti-Spam Detection Center located at Commtouch. If the Center is unavailable, the message is delivered to the user’s inbox. If a message is classified as spam, the gate module acts according to its configuration settings. A legitimate message is delivered to the user mailbox.

SpamAssasin antispam module is an expandable spam mail filter. The module filters incoming mail by consecutively passing them through a series of tests. Each test has a certain “value.” If a message passes a test successfully, the value is added to the total score. The value may be both positive and negative; all positive values are called “spam” and negative values – “ham.” The message passes all tests, after which the module calculates the total score. Higher scores mean higher possibility that the message contains spam. SpamAssassin has an adjustable limit. If the message exceeds the limit, it is classified as spam. As a rule, the limit should be set to let a spam message match more than one criteria. Matching just one test is not enough to exceed the limit.

Other Antispam Methods: Greylisting is a tool to delay mail delivery. An incoming message is not delivered immediately, and the sender receives a message requesting to retry sending the message later. The data triplet (information about the sender, source and destination addresses) remains unchanged. If the incoming message’s triplet matches one of the triplets in the list, the message is delivered immediately (this means the sender is trying to send the message again). This helps filter spammers, because they usually do not retry sending messages to the same addresses.

Dynamic blacklist (DNSBL) is a network service offered by blacklist providers. These providers track IP addresses (sometimes domain names) compromised by spam.

Tarpitting is a method of delaying delivery of mail from a remote server suspected in spam distribution. A server may become suspicious due to the large number of recipients of the same letter. If this number exceeds a set limit, tarpitting will apply to all further messages from that server.

SURBL filtering is used to detect spam by URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) contained in the message text (verification against blacklists). The module extracts the domain component (2 or 3 levels) for each URL found in the message, adds a SURBL name suffix and sends a DNS request to the SURBL server(s) address.

Data Backup

UserGate Mail Server’s backup feature will help you minimize the risk of data loss. The program supports scheduled backup and recovery from the backup file on the server where the Mail Server is installed, as well as on any other server.