Stripping email into DB

[Cakkafracle]

Hey there FlashFolks

I have a project on the table where a Call In centre gathers information for my client and will email the results of each recieved call to a designated email address...

The server can be either UNIX or NT, as we still have to decide that. Perhaps a recommendation on that would be nice too. *I* would prefer UNIX/Apache as I don't like MS too much, but if NT can perform this task easier, so be it.

How do I get the server to automatically recognize that it's recieved this special email, parse it, and enter the data into the DB?

I'm not asking how to parse, I understand that, but rather the automatic retrieval of the email. I'm not a server administrator so I'm a little lost as to how to approach this...

Thanks!

Cakk

[Musicman]

Hi,

on unix server you can use procmail to send a mail to a script. The condition probably would be a specific sender and/or subject.
Are you actually planning to have the database on a web server (e.g. so that people can check on their trouble tickets) or are you thinking about an in-house server at your (client's?) company. If you have a web server hosted for this purpose, it should be no real problem to set up an extra email address just for it, as well.

Musicman

[Cakkafracle]

That's right, on a web server. Hopefully the ISP will be helpful in setting it up. We will be moving to an in-house web server eventually, and most likely scaling it up to a more fully featured contact management solution (like GoldMine), but for now a fairly simple user account situation.

Thank you for the help, now I can approach the web host with a specific request :)

Cakk