Allow mixed case email logins. Huge

[IT_Architect]

Wow! This just hit me like a ton of bricks. DirectAdmin does not allow mixed case email logins. I need something that allows the user name login to not be case sensitive.

This is a huge obstacle to getting any company to transfer to a web hoster that uses DirectAdmin. I've never seen an issue like this with any other control panel.

[IT_Architect]

If anybody knows a way around this let me know soon, otherwise, I'm going to turn away a customer in the next few hours that was ready to go on this weekend. I won't disturb his business processes to make a sale.

[Bloory]

It's normal for Linux to distinguish between cases though?

[IT_Architect]

It's normal for Linux to distinguish between cases though?Certainly, but this is not an OS issue. I'm beginning to think that this is an Exim behavior issue vs. Sendmail, QMail, and the rest of the world.

[toml]

I can't think of any *nix mail program that isn't case sensitive. I'm sure with a little work, you can make it case insensitive, you could modify the /etc/exim.pl file and do a tr to change the case. The harder part will be the pop3/imapd, you would need to modify what ever programs (vm-pop3/uw-imap or dovecot) you choose and modify the case. It really is an OS issue, Windows is the only other mainstream OS that doesn't care about the case of the username.

[IT_Architect]

I can't think of any *nix mail program that isn't case sensitive - iPower uses Sendmail. It is not case sensitive.
- QMail on Plesk was not case sensitive.

Those two MTAs handle far more mail than all the others put together by a wide margin.

I fail to see what NIX has to do with whether email datbase indexes are case sensitive or not. Seldom are the business databases NIX servers run indexed case sensitive. They preserve case, but they are not case sensitive.
- Why would anyone want to allow a george@anydomain.com and a George@anydomain.com be two different people in the same domain? _
- Why would you want to sign your name all lower case and show it on your business card that way just to keep a computer happy?
- Why would anyone want such a fragile email system that it couldn't properly route a mixed case email address?

Thanks!

[Chrysalis]

its because at least for the main accounts it uses unix for authentication so will of course use unix specification.

[IT_Architect]

main accounts What is a main account vs. a non-main account, and how is it different?

I'm thinking if iPower can do it with with Sendmail, and Plesk can do it with QMail, then what's the problem with DA and Ensim? The email is too fragile if it cannot handle this.

Thanks!

[toml]

You can send email to george@domain.com and/or GeoRgE@domain.com and they will both go to the same mail box. That should not be a problem. Of course when you go to login to retrieve your messages or login to send messages, then case would matter.

[jmstacey]

Originally posted by IT_Architect
What is a main account vs. a non-main account, and how is it different?

The "main account" email address is created by the Operating system and can not be deleted.

[IT_Architect]

toml You can send email to george@domain.com and/or GeoRgE@domain.com and they will both go to the same mail box. Well that depends. If you send it to someone who is not in your domain, then yes. If you send it to someone else within your domain, then it depends where you authenticate. If you select the box that says "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" then yes. If you check "Log onto my incoming mail server before sending mail, then no. It will not be delivered nor will you get an error informing of that even if you have it set up to return undeliverable errors.
jmstacey The "main account" email address is created by the Operating system and can not be deleted. Got it!

[IT_Architect]

In summary it appears what is needed is a way to lower case the entire user login name.

That would work in any environment. It's not very likely that anyone would have a JimD user and a jimd user. Automatically lower casing the login would solve a raft of email problems. A lot of people are going to want an email that reads GeorgeThomas@ or George.Thomas@. However, it isn't likely that they will consistenly remember to lower case it for their login. Many systems are fine with that, and some are not. Users switch to an MTA that doesn't, you have a mess. The cure for the ones that don't, is to lower case the login. The question is, how can that be done in Ensim?

[nobaloney]

This entire thread is full of fud (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fud).

But rather than delete it I thought I'd try to get it back on track.

1) Delivery is handled in a case insensitive manner, whether by sendmail, exim, sendmail, postfix, qmail, mailtraq, exchange, or any other mailserver I've ever used.

For example, mail to Jeff@ and to jeff@ my domains on DA servers get delivered to my jeff@ (lower case mailbox).

Which is how it should be.

And mail to Jeff@ and to jeff@ my domains on sendmail-powered servers get delivered to my jeff mailboxes on those servers.

Tested just now. They both work exactly the same way.

So exim and sendmail are working as they should.

So both Bloory and toml didn't do their homework; exim and sendmail both have the code built-in so that the local part of the address is handled in a case-insensitive manner.

IT_Architect writes:

- iPower uses Sendmail. It is not case sensitive.
- QMail on Plesk was not case sensitive.

And while he's wrong about the case in the name qmail, he's absolutely right that it's not case sensitive. Neither is exim.

I also tried creating a new email account Jeffwhile jeff already exists. DA won't let me do that. The other control panels don't let me do it either.

IT_Architect writes:

If you select the box that says "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" then yes. If you check "Log onto my incoming mail server before sending mail, then no. It will not be delivered nor will you get an error informing of that even if you have it set up to return undeliverable errors.
I have no idea what that means because nowhere in DirectAdmin do I see that selection.

Are you writing about a setting in your email client? If so, what is that email client and what is it doing with your answer? DA is working correctly as I poiinted out. What is your client doing incorrectly?

Is it trying to log in with an uppercase letter? If so, why? Where did someone set up an account with an uppercase letter in the login name in an email client?

Even so...

Testing just a minute ago shows that on all tested platforms I have access to, IMAP logins work, converting uppercase to lowercase, while POP3 logins don't work, as they don't do the conversion.

That's been the same on every linux and unix-based platform I've had access to in order to test.

So where's the difference?

IT_Architect, If your client really has something that doesn't work under DA that works under other platforms, then let's figure out specifically what and why.

Involving something that's obviously client specific may be important to your client, but unless it can be somehow matched to a behavior on a DA-based server, there's nothing to be done about it through DA.

Jeff

[nobaloney]

I took a quick break after posting the above, and thought about it a few more minutes...

There have been some posts on these forums discussing an alternate to the pop3 server currently in use.

Perhaps you should search for that thread.

The fact that DA and the pop server used by DA successfully handles many thousands of email addresses in many environments must prove your issue isn't common.

Surely that you have to log in as email@example.com is an even bigger issue; Plesk, for example, doesn't require it.

So if you can convice your client of that limitation, how come you can't convince them of the need to use a lower case login?

Jeff

[toml]

Originally posted by jlasman

So both Bloory and toml didn't do their homework; exim and sendmail both have the code built-in so that the local part of the address is handled in a case-insensitive manner.

Jeff

I did say that they would be delived in a case insensitive way. See the post about george@domain.com and GeoRgE@domain.com where I said they would both to to the same mailbox. I then said that logging in would be the problem.

[IT_Architect]

In summary it appears what is needed is a way to lower case the entire user login name.

That would work in any environment. It's not very likely that anyone would have a JimD user and a jimd user. Automatically lower casing the login would solve a raft of email problems. A lot of people are going to want an email that reads GeorgeThomas@ or George.Thomas@. However, it isn't likely that they will consistenly remember to lower case it for their login. Many systems are fine with that, and some are not. Users switch to an MTA that doesn't, you have a mess. The cure for the ones that don't, is to lower case the login. The question is, how can that be done in Ensim?

Thanks all for your thoughts!

[IT_Architect]

I'm moving on with life since from what I see on this thread, making caseless login happen in Ensim doesn't seem to be an easy proposition.

[nobaloney]

You've managed to confuse me again.

I'm presuming you don't mean Ensim, but rather exim.

But exim isn't the problem. It's all about the pop daemon.

Has anyone checked to see if switching to Dovecot helps?

Jeff

[IT_Architect]

But exim isn't the problem. It's all about the pop daemon. Got it! That makes sense since I don't recall getting an error on the sending end, only on the receiving end. :(