"No Cost" Option:
Use web.mit.edu
"Some Cost" Option:
Run a content-less webserver
"Some Cost" Option:
Let W91 do it
"Last Resort" Option:
Do-it-yourself
The MIT WebMail server is a dedicated webserver which provides a secure (https) connection between the webserver and webbrowsers, and a secure (imap-ssl) connection between the webserver and the central MIT mail hubs. Thus, it is a web-based IMAP mail client for people whose mail resides on one of the central MIT mail servers (po9.mit.edu, etc.).
The "persistent url" (the one we always refer to in documentation) is http://web.mit.edu/webmail, which is a static page in the "webmail" locker. This page is accessible via http or https, is always available since it is served via web.mit.edu, and we are not likely to change it. We use it to list scheduled outages, as it is available even if the actual webmail server is not.
The actual WebMail server is accessible at
https://webmail.mit.edu/ .
The name webmail.mit.edu is a CNAME, or a nickname, for a computer whose
IP address is 18.7.21.99
athena% nslookup webmail
Non-authoritative answer:
webmail.MIT.EDU canonical name = WEBSNAIL.MIT.EDU.
Name: WEBSNAIL.MIT.EDU
Address: 18.7.21.99
We use a cname, and not the actual name, since this simplifies the
situation if we need to move the service to a new machine.
The software that goes into the WebMail webserver comes from various sources:
- openssl, for building secure connection capability (https and imap-ssl)
- apache webserver
- apache-ssl, for enabling https capability
- php, since that is what the application is written in
- gettext, needed by the application
- postgres, needed by the application
- imap, needed by the application
- horde and imp, the "application": the actual webmail interface