Artaxerxes SOAP Daemon
Amin Astaneh (amin@aminastaneh.net)
July 2011

The original Xerxes project (http://xerxes.qwik.net/) filled the needs of web-based email administration using open-source tools, however there were several shortcomings in its design:

1) No separation between business logic and presentation
2) Used a PHP-based IMAP library that had past issues with interfacing with Cyrus-IMAP
3) Had insufficient logic to determine that mailbox and database entries are in-sync
4) Used older PHP conventions and packages 

Therefore, for a long time I have considered a rewrite. My greatest reservation about that was that I have limited time to work on it since I left Qwik.net several years ago. Also, Google Apps. They already provide email services for a domain name for free. However, for those admins that are unable to use Google or prefer to privately host email, I have come up with a solution:

Artaxerxes manipulates Cyrus mailboxes and maintains a MySQL database just as the original Xerxes did. The only difference is that being a SOAP daemon, Artaxerxes simply provides an API. There is no presentation or UI whatsoever, allowing others to write frontends in any language/platform/purpose they see fit. 
 
Artaxerxes Details:

* Written in Perl. This was done in order to leverage the native Cyradm Perl libraries to make manipulating mailboxes rock-solid.

* The database schema has been redesigned for simplicity. This allows features to be added to Artaxerxes with minimal pain.

What's Here Now:

* A basic CGI script that allows creation/deletion of mail domains and users. 

* Stores password hashes in MD5. Yes, the cool kids say bcrypt. PAM-MySQL doesn't support bcrypt. It's better than plain, OK?

* Uses Apache for SSL and authentication to the SOAP service. 

* An example set of client scripts in Perl to demonstrate current functionality.

What's still needed:

* Need to implement functions to support mail forwards

* Need to implement functions to manipulate user/domain attributes

* Need to formalize a set of return codes.

* ACL support to grant adminuser access to domains

* Finally, formalize and document the API for developers to use

I hope this grows to an easy-to-use and effective email virtual-domain solution. Enjoy!

-Amin Astaneh