OpsMailmanager FAQs
1. Is it an email archiving system?
OpsMailmanager is a collaboration platform that makes it possible to share both email and document information. It allows you to file emails into a central Alfresco repository, to automate the filing process, and to access emails and attachments quickly. All these will provide significant efficiency gains for your organisation.
You can use OpsMailmanager to archive emails by configuring your email system to automatically copy messages into Alfresco folders - this will move emails away from the email server and save storage requirements. OpsMailmanager does not support the levels of time-stamping, digital signature requirements, encryption and compression services that you would find in a dedicated archiving solution.
2. How much does an OpsMailmanager user or server licence cost?
There is no licence fee for OpsMailmanager software. Opsera charges an annual subscription for enterprise support and access to the source code, mailing lists and technical documentation.The annual enterprise subscription fee is based on the same per CPU model that Alfresco uses for its pricing. There is therefore no restriction on the number of users that can use OMM within your organisation. Please contact opsmailmanager@opsera.com for further information.
3. Alfresco 3.2 has email (IMAP) integration, why shouldn't I just use that?
Alfresco's Community (Labs) edition version 3.2 allows you to do the basic drag & drop of individual emails into Alfresco. By comparison, OpsMailmanager is designed for enterprise implementations to help larger organisations achieve time-saving efficiencies and reduce growing storage costs. OpsMailmanager therefore goes beyond basic drag & drop - additional features include: automating the filing of emails and attachments to Alfresco folders, identifying duplicates to avoid unnecessary storage, viewing documents and triggering Alfresco workflows from within the email client, automating how the email client subscribes to Alfresco folders, and caching of emails and folders to achieve better performance in Enterprise applications.
4. How does it handle attachments?
OpsMailmanager automatically extracts email attachments and stores the files in the Alfresco repository so that they can be indexed and searched separately from the email message. However, the attachments are linked back to the email message they were filed with, so that you can always tell who sent them and when.
5. Does it file emails to the correct folder automatically?
Yes, OpsMailmanager can be configured to move emails to the correct folders in Alfresco based on information such as who the message was to, or from, or even information in the subject line.
6. Where can I find user and developer resources?
Opsera's OpsMailmanger Enterprise Support subscription provides access to the software and source code, and our mailing lists, wiki and technical and user documentation. Once subscribed you can also access our Issue Tracking System and ask our product engineers for configuration and performance tuning advice.
7. What versions of Alfresco does it work on?
OpsMailmanager supports all versions of Alfresco Enterprise from version 2.1 onwards. Alfresco Community (Labs) versions are not covered by the OpsMailmanager subscription.
8. Which operating system and platforms does OpsMailmanager require?
OpsMailmanager integrates with Alfresco via services, so whatever databases and hardware that Alfresco supports, we can also support. Alfresco running on RHEL5 and MySQL is our preferred platform. Opsera also has Alfresco running on Debian, so we can help with Debian/Ubuntu-related installations.
9. There is already an email Archiving Proxy project under SourceForge, can't we just use it instead?
The Inovox email archiving solution is a stand-alone proxy that provides support for either the SMTP protocol or the POP3 protocol. It allows you to store emails sent from/to the Alfresco web client. Unlike OpsMailmanager, it does not support email clients that use IMAP (e.g. MS Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Novell Groupwise), and so does not provide a way of moving emails between your email system and Alfresco or of viewing Alfresco folders and messages from your email system.
10. I'm using MS Outlook, can't I just use the Alfresco Outlook plug-in?
The Outlook plug-in has not been actively developed since March 2007, and there is no activity in forums around it. It requires you to install the .NET Framework version 1.1.4322, which is not available by default from the Microsoft download site. Unlike OpsMailmanager it does not allow you to view the emails you added to Alfresco from Outlook, nor does it provide the attachment handling and auto-filing features available in OpsMailmanager.
11. What email systems does it work with?
OpsMailmanager works with Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Thunderbird, and Novelle GroupWise, and any other email client that supports the IMAP (internet message access protocol) standard.
