I am looking for advice on a set-up which would permit the following, if possible. For clarity, I am running a dedicated physical server (live) running Virtualmin with each Virtualmin server hosting a Drupal installation. I use Google apps for email on each of the Drupal installations, with the users created manually in Google Apps. I also run the DNS Server for each of the Domains.
I would like to set-up a system which allows me to:
○ Keep Google Apps receiving mail (incoming mail server?)
○ Send bulk mail (12,000 is the largest subscriber number a the moment) from the server URL, e.g info@example.com
○ Integrate the mail system with Drupal to 1) keep the subscriber list updated 2) Make rich HTML mail with dynamic content from the Drupal Site.
I do not expect to get a solution to all of this but wanted to lay out what I am trying to achieve as it may influence how I achieve each step. I have keep the terminology to a minimum in case I misused it. I do not want to use a system such as mail chimp.
I have always found this forum incredibly helpful so if anyone has advice(for any of the steps) please feel free to share. Many thanks.
You can certainly use Virtualmin for just outgoing email. Every user account can automatically be used to authenticate and send out email via Postfix, you don’t need to configure any additional stuff for that.
Since your incoming email service is Google Apps, you need to keep the “Mail for Domain” feature turned off. But that only refers to receiving email, i.e. Postfix will not be configured to feel responsible for these domains. Sending out email works regardless of that.
For sending bulk email, I recommend using some appropriate web software. The script installers in Virtualmin contain some mass emailers if I recall correctly. Otherwise Google will certainly find some. Make sure to use a software where you can limit the speed of sending emails, because many recipient services restrict how many emails your system can send to them each minute/hour/etc., and will blacklist you if you exceed those limits.
Can’t say anything about Drupal, have no experience with that.
Thank you for the response Locutus, this is exactly what I needed to hear. I had hoped to do a ‘mailout’ first then report back but have not perfected the email formatting generated within the Drupal system. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the wise words words.