Review: Kerio Connect 7 email server

The latest version of the Kerio Mail Server comes with new features and a new name - Kerio Connect - to better reflect how the product has evolved in the past few years. It's no longer 'just' a mail server but, like market leader Exchange, a fully fledged messaging and collaboration solution, connecting users whether in the office, on the road or at home, as the Kerio marketing slogan puts it.

New name aside, Kerio Connect is effectively the same solid SMTP messaging and collaboration/groupware product it always was. It matches Exchange in most areas of functionality, but is a lot easier to manage and can be hosted on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. There's also a VMware virtual appliance implementation, which we downloaded and used for our tests.

The virtual appliance is a fantastic idea, making for a very quick and painless install on our VMware server. Just a few minutes, in fact. Installing on other platforms is pretty easy too, with very little intervention required apart from telling the installer what domain name to use and the password for the administrator. Of course, as with any messaging server, DNS and firewall changes may also be required to direct mail to the target system, but that's not difficult and, in most cases, you can be up and running in under half an hour.

Web-based interface
Simple management has long been a key feature of the Kerio product and remains so in the new Connect version. One very obvious and immediate difference, however, is the use of a web-based interface, rather than the native Windows and Linux consoles previously employed. The older consoles are still there, which is fine, but it's hard to understand why as they don't provide support for any of the new features implemented in this release and won't be developed any further.

We used the web interface exclusively as it can now be used to manage everything, requires no extra setup and proved very easy to navigate. We were also impressed by its responsiveness, as some web interfaces can be very sluggish. In fact, our only complaint was the US flag shown in the top corner to indicate English language settings. A UK flag or no flag at all would be preferable over here, something we're told the developers are looking into.

From the web console we found it easy to set up our users, opting to map to existing accounts in Active Directory then tweaking the Connect settings. There's support for Apple's OpenDirectory service, while user data can be stored in a built-in database for small deployments. That said, Kerio is quite openly looking to broaden the appeal of its product beyond its usual SMB marketplace, hence another new feature, the distributed domain.

Domain management
A distributed domain does away with the need for mail servers deployed in remote offices to each host their own separate messaging domain. Instead, a common domain can be spread across multiple servers regardless of location, simplifying management and making it easier for users to collaborate and share information. As a result there's just one global address book, plus it's easier for users to share information and schedule meetings and other events just as if connected to the same server.

There are a few restrictions. Users have to be authenticated via a directory service for a distributed domain to be deployed, but you'd have that anyway, and messages have to be relayed through the master server rather than sent direct from each host, which could be an issue should the master server suffer a problem. However, we tested by installing a second server and found it a very easy option to configure, with much of the hard work done by a wizard started from the web console.

Nothing needs to happen at the user end to work with a distributed domain, as Kerio Connect supports the same array of POP3/IMAP4 messaging clients as the previous version. Somewhat inevitably the emphasis is very much on Outlook, with the usual plug-in for that all important Exchange-like experience, but other platforms also get a look in. Mac users get support for the open CardDAV protocol in this release to synchronise with the Apple address book in the latest Snow Leopard operating system.

Web-based client
There's also a web-based client providing access to messaging and collaboration features. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to find little change in the Outlook-like interface employed here, with no conversation support as in Gmail and the forthcoming Exchange 2010 product, for example, and a rigid folder structure for management.

Other enhancements in the Connect 7 release include an extension of the wireless synchronisation facilities to support more devices, including Google's Nexus One and the Palm Pre. You can also change the default port used to accept incoming emails (from port 25 to 587) to handle locations such as hotels and airports, where port 25 traffic may be routinely blocked.

Another small but potentially very valuable change is the ability to rename the primary messaging domain. This is notoriously difficult to do on most messaging servers, and it's amazing how often customers want to change the name of their domain, typically following a merger or acquisition. You do need to restart the server to do this on Kerio Connect, but otherwise it's a doddle.

Overall, we found Kerio Connect a very capable and easy-to-use messaging and collaboration solution with a lot to entice customers away from Exchange. It's also cheaper, especially when hosted on Linux servers, and a lot simpler to deploy and administer despite the addition of the extra features and functionality. That said, the market is changing and it's not all about on-premise solutions any more. Hosted services such as Google Apps and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite are increasingly part of the equation.

Server requires 1GHz processor plus 512MB RAM, running Windows 2000 or later, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4/5, CentOS 5.2. SUSE/openSUSE 10/11, Debian 5.0, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Support for Mac OSX 10.4 or above on PowerPC or Intel based apple Mac platforms. VMware virtual appliance also available, running CentOS. Client support for Outlook 2000 or above, Windows Mail/Calendar (Vista), Entourage 2004/8, Apple Mail/iCal/Address Book. Web client compatible with most browsers.