Webtop mail mobile clients autoconfig/autodiscovery

[DavidePrincipi]

Mobile applications like Outlook and K9 Mail support auto configuration protocols. Also iOS phones can download and install mail/calendar automated configuration files. As Webtop does not have an official mobile application, it would be nice to ease the configuration of existing apps.

Proposed solution

The Webtop applications already provides a full Apache+PHP web stack that fits the implementation needs of this new feature.

Alternative solutions

Add a web stack to Mail, because autodiscovery is indipendent from the Webtop application.

Additional context

https://wiki.nethserver.org/doku.php?id=email_autoconfiguration

See also

• Discussion https://mattermost.nethesis.it/nethesis/pl/niibwyguobndfgkza158kythka

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Thanks to @lucagasparini and Yuri Lagotto SOLUZIONI INFORMATICHE PROFESSIONALI SRL

[stephdl]

QA Test Plan – email client Autoconfiguration

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Pre-requisites

Target version of webtop: ghcr.io/nethserver/webtop:1.4.2-testing.1

install the webtop version of the QA, with an account provider and a mail server
I provide here some tests for email clients using the autodiscovery (thunderbird like) and autodiscover(Outlook like), IOS clients are not included in this test

Mandatory DNS Records

• mail.domain.com → A record → this is the Mail server hostname

• MX record for domain.com → pointing to mail.domain.com

• domain.com → A record → mail server host (domain.com is the mail domain)

• autoconfig.domain.com → A record → WebTop host

• autodiscover.domain.com → A record → WebTop host

• SRV record:
  Type: SRV
  Service: _autodiscover
  Protocol: _tcp
  TTL: 3600
  Priority: 10
  Weight: 10
  Port: 443
  Target: autodiscover.domain.com

Optional (Recommended) DNS Records

• imap.domain.com → A record → Mail server host
• smtp.domain.com → A record → Mail server host

this is an example at digital ocean for configuring the dns

Certificates

• Valid Let's Encrypt certificates for:
• autoconfig.domain.com
• autodiscover.domain.com
• mail.domain.com
• also for optional dns entries imap.domain.com and smtp.domain.com

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Once webtop is configured to the mail server you can test the autoconfiguration of clients. before to proceed

• verify webtop is still available and workable
• you can check if the configuration is available by reaching the URL
  • https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml
  • https://autoconfig.domain.com/mail/config-v1.1.xml

Test 1: Outlook (Windows)

Steps

1. Open Outlook and add a new account using only email + password.
2. Outlook should:

• Resolve the SRV record _autodiscover._tcp.domain.com. (eg: https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml)
• Contact autodiscover.domain.com over HTTPS (port 443).
• Fetch autodiscover.xml.
• Configure IMAPS (993) and SMTPS (465) using mail.domain.com.

Expected Result

• Account is auto-configured without manual input.
• IMAP over SSL (993), SMTP over SSL (465) are used.
• Server names and ports match configuration.

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Test 2: Outlook (Mobile)

Steps

1. Add a new account using Outlook mobile app.
2. The app should:

• Follow the same discovery flow as desktop Outlook.
• Configure IMAPS (993) and SMTPS (465).

Expected Result

• Account auto-configured.
• Encrypted connections used on correct ports.
• No errors or manual intervention required.

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Test 3: Thunderbird

Steps

1. Add a new account using only email + password.
2. Thunderbird should:

• Access https://autoconfig.domain.com/mail/config-v1.1.xml.
• Configure:
  • IMAP on port 143 with STARTTLS
  • SMTP on port 587 with STARTTLS

Expected Result

• Account is auto-configured.
• Correct STARTTLS ports and domain names are used.
• No security warnings.

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Test 4: K-9 Mail (Android)

Steps

1. Add a new account using only email + password.
2. K-9 Mail should:

• Query autoconfig.domain.com for configuration.
• Configure:
  • IMAP on port 143 with STARTTLS
  • SMTP on port 587 with STARTTLS

Expected Result

• Account is set up automatically.
• Encrypted communication is active.
• No certificate or configuration errors.

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