Review: MailMarshal for SMTP

MailMarshal sits on top of any email server and scans messages flowing through an organization. It not only scans words in messages but also in attached documents, and it also scans for viruses using third-party virus scanners.

A scanner called SpamCensor applies various techniques to determine what is and is not spam. MailMarshal is available for both Exchange and for SMTP gateways. We tested the SMTP version.

The software can be installed on a separate server or can be on the same server as the email application, which is how we set it up.

Installation was reasonably straightforward though some reconfiguring of ports is necessary if you are running the SMTP proxy on the same server. The manual was helpful in explaining how to do this but we did end up calling support (which was helpful) to resolve some tricky configurations.

There are two main windows to look at, the Console and the Configurator. The Configurator sets up MailMarshal to work on the server and the Console monitors what is happening on the server. Each is impressive both in what information is presented and the available settings.

Because there is a lot that can be done with the product, it may seem a bit daunting at first.

We ran the test with just the SpamCensor running. The mail processed pretty quickly and MailMarshal flagged up a respectable amount of spam. This figure would have been a lot higher if all anti-spam options were turned on. Only three false positives were found in the spam folder which is impressive given the number of tricky emails we included in the sample.

Reporting is good with combined graphs showing blocked mail of all sorts, including spam and corporate policy infringements. The MailMarshal console was particularly strong and, overall, this product is worth further consideration.

For:

Very good admin console.

Somewhat tricky to set up so more automation would help.

A good contender from an established brand.