Auto updates for Smartermail (like OTA or the way antivirus do it ?)

Idea shared by Shivam Parikh - 12/30/2016 at 8:54 AM

Declined

Auto updates for Smartermail (like OTA or the way antivirus do it ?)

How about an option for us Admins to click on "update" and an auto-updated or installer to download the update (minor or major) and simplify installations or upgrades completely ensuring SmarterMail is up to date as long as the Admin wishes to do so.

15 Replies

Reply to Thread

Gabriele Maoret Replied

1/2/2017 at 12:22 PM

Like Kerio Connect already do!

Shivam Parikh Replied

2/22/2017 at 9:36 PM

Any chance we can see this ?

Employee Replied

3/28/2017 at 5:50 PM

Employee Post

Thanks for the suggestion, Shivam! I can definitely see the benefit in allowing the system to auto-update, and it's something we'd like to see in the future. However, this functionality will not make it into SmarterMail 16.

I'm going to move this to the standard SmarterMail category so that this request is not lost when we close the SmarterMail 16.x BETA Category down the road.

Thanks!

Diego Medaglia Replied

4/10/2025 at 12:30 PM

Almost 10 years later and this request has not been implemented.

Many open source app doing this like NextCloud.

Curtis Kropar www.HawaiianHope.org Replied

4/15/2025 at 10:49 AM

The problem with this is that it has the potential to introduce unwanted changes and bugs that were not caught before release. The last several releases are examples of that. People download and install the most recent thing, then discover problems with it. Maybe if there was a "stable" release thread that did not introduce new features and only security updates or something, then an automated update might be good. But as it is now, this actually scares me more than it excites me to want it.

www.HawaiianHope.org - Providing technology services to non profit organizations, low income families, homeless shelters, clean and sober houses and prisoner reentry programs. Since 2015, We have refurbished over 11,000 Computers !

Brian Bjerring-Jensen Replied

4/15/2025 at 12:32 PM

Oh please no. It will create havoc!

Oliver Replied

4/15/2025 at 2:24 PM

I completely agree with @Curtis and @Brian.

echoDreamz Replied

4/16/2025 at 1:41 PM

Absolutely not... Zero auto updates here, we control the entire update process, we do them manually for everything, not just SmarterMail. If ST does give SM an auto-update capability, I would hope they would make it default to disabled requiring admins to opt-in manually.

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

4/17/2025 at 12:00 AM

I agree 100% with echoDreamz, Brian and Curtis!

No forced auto update, please!

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

Richard Laliberte Replied

4/17/2025 at 4:57 AM

So, i agree with everyone that there should be no auto updates, but i would love the option for in-program updating. We are an exception to most people on the forum, we have a hosted SM solution with a vendor, and as such have some limitations. We can't log into the SM systems and download updates / patches / special builds, as all the licensing it handled through our provider, but it's a dedicated server that we have full control over. having an option within SM to see available versions, quickly review changelogs, and decide for ourselves if we want to apply updates (or role back an update) would be nice.

Some of our software we current work with is also module based, so we can decide which specific area's we want to update, not just the entire all in one updates. this has been beneficial as it lets us update one piece at a time to monitor for side effects at a smaller scale. Maybe SM should look at this type of approach? oo, there's a MAPI update, oo there is a language update, oo there is a ... update, and if that one section breaks it can be rolled back.

There have been a lot of necessary updates over the past year that are necessary, but as we've all see, can't be applied because of errors here or there that are completely unrelated. So yeah, maybe it's something that can be considered?

Curtis Kropar www.HawaiianHope.org Replied

4/17/2025 at 9:07 AM

@Richard. You say you have a dedicated server that you have full control over, but can not update SM because the vendor provides that ? So your SM is not running on your server, but is given to you as a separate service ? Or am i misunderstanding this ?

Richard Laliberte Replied

4/17/2025 at 9:41 AM

We have a dedicated server from our hosting provider that i can do just about anything with, BUT, our licensing is handled by the provider, and we can't just log into SM's portal and download latest special releases/updates, and they won't give us access as they "control" the licensing unfortunately. If i'm provided with a special build via email, or a link posted on threads, i can install the update myself, but that's about it unfortunately. The bulk of the reason is that our provider is well versed in smartermail and running servers, and we pay for the support services so i can focus on client items. We are a relatively small shop, so we don't have the luxury of having our own datacenter and/or network admins to run things (gotta love cost savings).

Other software we are running on other servers has more control for updates built right into the software, that's why i mention it. For instance, we run Coldfusion as our development software, and they have more module based updating (albeit it could be better) but i can update some systems separately from the main core, and major patches / updates are primary just core items, thus avoiding some of the issues that we see in these forums just about daily lol

Zach Sylvester Replied

4/17/2025 at 10:22 AM

Employee Post

Hey everyone,

We had a meeting a while ago where I brought up this feature request. The consensus was that one of the core values we offer our customers is full control over their servers, and we felt that implementing an auto-update feature would take away from that.

That said, it's worth noting that SmarterMail can be installed headlessly using scripts. Both the Windows and Linux installers support command-line arguments, so if you'd like to automate the update process, scripting is an option. Additionally, if you're using Docker, you could look into tools like Watchtower to automatically update your instance.

While we understand that having an update button in the interface would be convenient, we currently have no plans to implement such a feature. As a result, I'll go ahead and mark this feature request as declined.

Kind regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com