Email & IM Logging

[sanderso]

Hi all,

I'm in a small biz which has recently been forced (by the gov) to archive all inbound and outbound communications, including email and instant messages (IM). I need some help/ideas about how to solve this problem.

Now: Current ISP hosts our web site and handles all email to the same domain. All users have Windoze Outlook clients via LAN/DSL and/or remotely via dial up. The ISP says it is unable to log emails (let alone IMs) and suggests setting up our own email server. They've reserved a fixed IP for me if needed.

As one who dabbles w RH8 at home, I thought a *nux solution would be more reliable and less expensive. My dilemma is how do it...thus this posting.

After some early research here, it seems a stand-alone RH box (or other *nux) to intercept and copy all emails to an archive, is (maybe) the way to go.

This idea implies the users would interact w the RH box for all email transactions, and the RH box would interact with the ISP for delivery of the (logged) messages.

Would this involve sendmail, qmail or squirrelmail (hope I have the correct names)? Plus pieces to support SMTP and/or IMAP interface with Outlook? The RH box would be behind a router on the biz LAN.

If this approach makes sense, I don't know how I would handle dial up or web email interaction. Would/could the RH box monitor and support connections via a separate dial up line? And, how would I provide web email access (from an online browser) without exposing the RH box to the outside world??

Finally, any thoughts on logging IMs?

Other than me ( :-O ), no one is skilled enough to do maintenance on an in house email system. So, hopefully the solution will not require a ton of support once configured.

Thanks in advance.

[kshim5]

this is a cool sniffer for AOL instant messengers

http://www.aimsniff.com/

AS for email

http://adc-archmbox.sourceforge.net/

[The Linux Kid]

Since I know from experience that it can be quite tough to do what you are trying, I have a suggestion that can be implemented into Outlook itself.

To complete this, you will need a new folder for all e-mails to be copied to.

1) Goto the tools menu and click rules wizard.
2) Click New
3) Select Start From Blank Rule
4) Select Check Messages When They Arrive
5) Click next
6) Select where my name is in the To box
7) Select where my name is not in the To box
8) Click Next
9) Select Move A Copy to A Specified Folder.
10) On the white box that is just above the next and prev buttons, click specified.
11) Press next
12) Press next
13) Press finish

That will make it all work for you.

For logging IM's, what IM programs do you use? I know for a fact that MSN6 and MSN Plus both have inbuilt logging capibility.

[sanderso]

Originally posted by kshim5
this is a cool sniffer for AOL instant messengers

http://www.aimsniff.com/

AS for email

http://adc-archmbox.sourceforge.net/

Thanx for the info re sniffer. It looks promising.

[sanderso]

Originally posted by The Linux Kid
Since I know from experience that it can be quite tough to do what you are trying, I have a suggestion that can be implemented into Outlook itself.

To complete this, you will need a new folder for all e-mails to be copied to.

1) Goto the tools menu and click rules wizard.
2) Click New
3) Select Start From Blank Rule
4) Select Check Messages When They Arrive
5) Click next
6) Select where my name is in the To box
7) Select where my name is not in the To box
8) Click Next
9) Select Move A Copy to A Specified Folder.
10) On the white box that is just above the next and prev buttons, click specified.
11) Press next
12) Press next
13) Press finish

That will make it all work for you.

For logging IM's, what IM programs do you use? I know for a fact that MSN6 and MSN Plus both have inbuilt logging capibility.

Thanx for the info. It looks like a reasonable solution. My only concern is the 'voluntary' nature of the logging. The user would still have the option of turning it off (that's bad)....unless Outlook allows for the rules to be password protected for admin access only.

The ideal solution would be one which is transparent to the user at the network level. In truth, the ISP provides for logging of inbound messages. Thru the ISP message console, copies of all inbound messages can be re-directed. However, they lack the same functionality for outbound messages....thus my problem.

RE the IMs...most/all users are using AOL's AIM...making it look like the aimsniff pkg would do the job (thanx kshim5).

[The Linux Kid]

All outbound messages are logged in Sent Items unless that feature has been turned off. I can still see your problem with users turning off options though.....