Blaise Alleyne

What free software email (postfix/dovecot) control panel do you use? (Or do you?)

Blaise Alleyne at

I'm shuffling servers around again. I've used Virtualmin for the past 5 years. I'm pretty happy with it as far as control panels go, but I have mixed feelings about control panels. I could handle web config and maybe even DNS zone files on my own (manually, with Ansible, etc.), but it's email where a web-based control panel seems important -- especially for giving a client access to manage accounts/forwarders on their own domains.

I feel like there aren't many great free software options out there because everyone's using Gmail... I've been using Postfix and Dovecot, trying to find a better control panel...

  • Virtualmin: does the trick... though it's more of a full control panel, better with one instance on one massive server... but I'm considering splitting things up a bit; also, usernames are awkward and confusing for people since they're different from your email address, e.g. jsmith.somedomain for jsmith@somedomain.com, confusing for the average webmail user
  • Postfixadmin? -- seems ancient and abandoned, last release 2009? There are more recent tutorials, and people seem to be using it... but it doesn't seem like it has a future
  • VboxAdm? Latest release, 2012...
  • Maybe Ratuus? Or http://www.vimbadmin.net/?
  • Modoboa and Møil seem worth a look...

Does anyone have experience with these projects? Or better recommendations for a web-based Postfix/Dovecot administration?

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hah, I should say, I bet most people either: (a) use Gmail, (b) use cPanel, or (c) roll their own email server from the command line.

I'm tempted with c, but being able to give a less technical user control to manage accounts/forwarders for their domain doesn't seem possible if everything managed on the command line.

Blaise Alleyne at 2015-12-02T23:45:33Z

Jason Self likes this.

I go with the command line but I did set up the GPLed version of Virtualmin for people to be able to manage their stuff on their own and make my life a little easier. (Be careful because there is both a free and proprietary version of Virtualmin.)

Jason Self at 2015-12-03T04:18:18Z

Yes, I mean the GPL version of Virtualmin.

Do you use Virtualmin just for email then? Does it work okay when it's not managing everything?

Blaise Alleyne at 2015-12-03T14:56:13Z

Yes, it works fine for not managing everything. It seems very modular and configurable.

Jason Self at 2015-12-03T16:12:52Z

Blaise Alleyne likes this.