access-domains - This security measure allows you to limit access to certain post.office operations from within a specified domain. for example, an access domain can be used to limit where mail for an account can be collected. See chapter 4 for more.
account and module configuration databases - All configuration information for post.office is contained in these databases. As you would expect, account information is in the account database, while configuration information is found in the configuration databases (1 for each module). All of the configuration information is controlled by the various forms which are described in chapters 5 and 6.
account form - You use this form to set up or change post.office accounts, one of your main jobs as postmaster. The form, which consists of fields which you fill out to configure an account, is described in chapter 5.
account database - see account and module configuration databases
account manager - This module maintains the account database when using the E-mail interface to the system. What this means is that it takes all the account forms which you mail in and uses the information you provide to update the account database.
account's-password - This is the password which is provided to every user with an account. The password is used to make changes to the account (the user can only change certain configuration options) and when picking up mail via POP.
account, default - This is a special account which can be used to pre-configure the blank account form to suit your purpose. If you have to set up large numbers of accounts where most of the fields are the same you can save yourself some time by pre-setting certain defaults. See section 6.2.
account, postmaster - This is the most powerful account in post.office. The settings in this account control access to the program and should be chosen appropriately.
accounts - All information relating to sorting incoming messages is held in accounts. Accounts specify for which addresses post.office should accept messages, and what is should do with those message once they are accepted. Every user who gets messages via post.office has an account.
address - The information in an E-mail message which allows the programs that handle the message to decide what to do. Addresses are found both on message headers and on message envelopes.
addressing protocols - The addressing rules that make E-mail possible. SMTP is the most widely used protocol on the Internet. Other protocols include X400 and UUCP
alias account - An account which delivers messages to one or more other accounts, so that it serves as an alias for these other accounts. Alias accounts do not deliver messages directly to users.
alias address - A secondary address for an account, generally a variation on the primary address. In some cases it is convenient to have more than one address for a single account.
attachment, MIME - MIME is a protocol which allows you to include multimedia in E-mail messages. MIME complements the SMTP protocol and just as it is an amendment to SMTP, a MIME attachment must be amended to an SMTP message. Since not all user agents support MIME, you may want to double check that whoever gets your message has a MIME-enabled user agent
auto-reply utility - This post.office feature automatically responds to messages sent to accounts with the auto-reply activated. You can use auto-reply to let people now you're on vacation if they try to E-mail you while you're out of town, to answer FAQ requests, or to participate in the information revolution in any number of ways.
body - E-mail messages are made of an envelope, a header, and a body. While there are all kinds of rules about how to use headers (you never actually have to deal with envelopes), you can do whatever you like with the body of the message.
channel aliases - An efficient way for post.office to forward E-mail from its host to another (other) host (s).
configuration database - see account and module configuration databases
configuration manager - This is the post.office module which controls the configuration of all post.office modules (but not the account database) when using the E-mail interface to the system, issuing and processing configuration forms. Requests for these forms should be sent to:
configuration@your.host.domain
delivery - After post.office receives a message for someone with a post.office account, it must deliver it. Available delivery options are UNIX, POP3, and program delivery.
dispatcher - This is the daemon or service component of post.office. The dispatcher initiates all post.office processes and monitors ports for incoming messages and finger queries.
domain name system (DNS) - The DNS is the addressing protocol which allows the Internet network's computers to find each other. E-mail addresses are based on DNS addresses. Every computer (and user) in a network using the DNS has a unique address. You need DNS service to run your mail system. You may provide this service internally by running a DNS server, or your Internet provider may supply this service to you as part of your Internet connectivity.
echo - Like the "reply" setting of the auto-reply feature, echo sends a copy of the auto-reply message specified for an account to anybody who contacts that account. The original message is sent along with the reply message.
envelopes - E-mail messages are stored in electronic "envelopes" while they are being shunted around from place to place by various E-mail programs. Envelopes are only used by programs. Users always see messages when they are open, that is, they see headers followed by a body (see headers & body).
error messages - post.office will generate error messages in a number of situations, notably when it gets an E-mail message it doesn't want to deal with, as well as when other things go awry in any way. Certain error messages require you to resolve the error (called error action forms). These contain fields, much like the other forms, which you must fill out and return to the error handler. Others (called notification errors) are for informational purposes only.
error handler - this module handles all post.office errors. It issues error messages and processes error action forms after they are filled out by the postmaster
FAQ - An abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions: E-mail jargon for lists of questions you've been asked so often you just wrote down the answers so you could put on a sour face and grunt out "Read the FAQ."
field - Forms are made up of fields preceded by a technical sounding word or two and a colon. Fields on E-mail forms are the space between the two brackets. Forms are filled out by filling out the fields, which means typing technical sounding words or phrases into it. The fields in forms correspond to fields in the account and configuration database.
finger query - A finger query is a common rudimentary directory service where you can "finger" an E-mail address. Folks make all sorts of information available this way such as phone numbers, street addresses and anything else that may come to mind. post.office answers finger queries to addresses it recognizes with any information placed in the "finger-information:" field of that account.
form - Forms are specialized E-mail or Web documents used to configure and administrate post.office. Forms are composed of fields, where specific instructions to post.office are entered. Forms require a password, if appropriate, to be accepted by post.office. While most forms are only for the postmaster, users can use a form called the information form to configure certain aspects of their accounts.
headers - Headers, which precede the body of an E-mail message, contain information useful to E-mail programs and users trying to make sense of the message: who it's for, who sent it, when it was sent, what it is about, and so forth. Headers have to be written strictly according to the SMTP protocol so that E-mail programs will be able to parse ("read" in computerspeak) them.
hub, mail system - Sometimes it is a good idea for mail systems to be oriented towards a single host, which acts as a hub for the system. When two networks are separated by a firewall, for example, the firewall computer often acts as a mail hub.
IMAP - A remote pick-up E-mail protocol which is similar to POP3. On UNIX systems, in order to use IMAP with post.office, select UNIX delivery and have your IMAP server retrieve messages from your maildrop file.
Mail eXchange (MX) record - A list of hosts that will accept mail for a domain and tells the world how to contact a domain, such as software.com. This is necessary in order to get mail to a disconnected host or when a system goes down, as well as to distribute load (give several hosts the same preference value). MX records are part of the DNS. For more on how to use them, you may want to refer to some of the sources discussed in appendix E, References. or discuss them with your DNS service provider (often your Internet provider.
mail queue - For various reasons beyond its control, post.office is frequently unable to deliver messages immediately and must wait a while (generally 1/2 to 2 hours) and then re-attempt delivery. During this wait, undelivered messages are stored in the mail queue. You may want to manually deliver messages in the queue, for example if you know that a queued message can now be delivered. Use the mail queue form or the processq command (command line) to do this.
mailbox directory - Messages stored for POP3 delivery are held in the mailbox directory.
message transport agent (MTA) - Programs such as post.office which exchange E-mail with other MTAs and accept and deliver messages to user agents. (see chapter 1).
message - The fundamental unit of E-mail, a message consists of a header and a body and is often contained in an envelope while it is in transit from the sender to the recipient.
MIME - A protocol which allows the attachment of multimedia files to SMTP messages. see attachment, mime.
multimedia - Technical word for fancy computer stuff. To wit: video and audio files, graphics, "rich" text (text with features such as bold and italics).
MX records - see mail exchange records.
passwords - One building block in the security features of post.office. Passwords are required to process forms and to retrieve messages via POP3.
post office protocol, version 3, (POP3) - POP3 allows remote delivery of messages to users on computers other than the post.office host. With POP3, users who do not have login accounts can nevertheless have E-mail accounts. What's more, they can send and retrieve their messages from they please. Although some security concerns may constrain the scope of "wherever".
postmaster - The big cheese of the post.office system, the postmaster creates new E-mail accounts, makes certain changes to existing accounts (users can make some themselves), processes errors, configures the postal system, as well as providing remedial counseling for folks who are hard of E-mail.
remote configuration & management - This is what you're doing when you're filling out post.office forms (via E-mail or the Web) on another host. It should be painless and quick. If it isn't, please write to us support@software.com so we can fix it.
reply (user agent feature) - Most user agents have a "reply" feature which allows you to automatically return a message to its sender along with any modifications you'd like to make. Use this feature to return E-mail forms to post.office.
reply-message - The reply feature of the auto-reply utility automatically sends a reply message to anybody who sends a message to an account with the reply feature activated. The reply message you send can be anything from a few words to bulky multimedia attachments.
sendmail - This is the most common MTA used on UNIX machines currently. post.office can be used as a drop in replacement for sendmail in most applications. You'll find the post.office interface is considerably more accessible and powerful than sendmail. Additionally, you'll probably discover that post.office is highly security conscious and efficient to meet your enterprise mail system needs today and in the future.
SMTP - (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) This is the E-mail protocol most commonly used by the Internet. It is implemented by the post.office SMTP channel
TCP/IP - (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) TCP/IP is the protocol suite which underlies much Internet activity, such as the SMTP protocol.
user agent (UA) - User agents are the programs which help users send and receive E-mail.
user - Short for computer user. A sterile but useful short-cut.
UUCP - (UNIX to UNIX Copy Protocol) An older UNIX E-mail addressing protocol still employed in some legacy mail systems. This protocol is not efficient in large Wide Area Networks like the Internet, so has lost most of its popularity except where it carries over from older existing systems.
vacation - This auto-reply feature is useful to let people know if you'll be away from your E-mail for a while. It automatically sends everyone who contacts you a message (only one) saying when you'll be back, and anything else you'd like to say.
WWW-server - The post.office module which supplies and responds to web forms on the post.office web interface. The web server makes sure that changes you make are correctly implemented in the various account and module databases.
X400 - The ISO X400 protocol has been hampered by the fact that there are 3 versions of the OSI protocol suite which are not interoperable. Additionally, it is insufficiently specified so two systems based on the same version may not be interoperable. X400-based E-mail networks have not been as successful as SMTP.