InformationWeek

June 21, 1999

E-Mail System Test Methods

By Alan Zeichick

ur test system consisted of a Fast Ethernet LAN with two Windows NT 4 Service Pack 4 servers active for this review, as well as three client workstations.

A 400-MHz Pentium II Compaq ProLiant 1600 with 128 Mbytes of RAM was used to evaluate Stalker's CommuniGate Pro and Ipswitch's IMail. A dual 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon IBM Netfinity 5500 with 256 Mbytes of RAM was used for Eudora's WorldMail and Isocor's N-Plex; because we were not running benchmarks, the performance difference between those machines did not affect the reviews. The systems were reformatted with a clean copy of Windows NT 4 between installations; no other applications or HTTP servers were running on those servers.

For client access, we used Microsoft's Outlook Express, Eudora Pro version 4.1, and Netscape's Communicator 4.5.

We created about 100 accounts on each server, assigning some as POP3, some as IMAP4, and, if possible, others as Web accounts. Some accounts were also given administrative privileges. We required secure access using the APOP protocol for at least one LAN account. We used a variety of administrative functions, including creating and deleting accounts, creating aliases, forwarding, and vacation auto-replies. We also created and used one mailing list.

For spam filtering, we set filters to block E-mail from all Hotmail and one Yahoo address and then attempted to send messages from test accounts. If any of the servers offered virus scanning, we had some test viruses prepared, but this test was not required.

Return to main story, "E-Mail Showdown."