AppleShare IP 6: Mail Service FAQ Part 2

Questions answered in this document:

1. Why do users get warning messages when mail has been delayed?
2. What is the size limit of enclosures the Mail Server can handle?
3. How can I troubleshoot mail delivery issues?
4. What do I do when the Mail Server cannot startup due to a database error?
5. Can I use the ASIP Mail Tool while the Mail Server is running?
6. How do you set up a mail server on a separate server using only one serial number?
7. Does installing the mail portion of ASIP on a separate computer turn off Mac OS File Sharing (ie Personal File Sharing)?
8. How do I setup a connection to my ISP to retrieve mail if I have an intermittent connection?
9. What else can I do if I have an intermittent connection?
10. Why does the Mail Server make connections to the external network outside the designated schedule?

Question 1: Why do users get warning messages when mail has been delayed?

Answer: The mail server will send an email warning to the sender whenever a mail message has gone undelivered on the server for a default value of 4 hours. The amount of time before the warning is sent can be adjusted in the "Mail Server Settings"; "Mail Out" panel. This feature can also be turned off. When users receive the warning message they do not need to resend the original message.

Question 2: What is the size limit of enclosures the Mail Server can handle?

Answer: The AppleShare IP 6 Mail Server does not limit the file size it sends or receives by default. If you would like to place a limit on the maximum messages size go into the "Mail Server Settings" ; "Mail In" panel and click the checkbox for "Maximum Message size", then set your value. All messages that are sent to the server that are over this size limit are then refused.

Question 3: How can I troubleshoot mail delivery issues?

Answer: Confirm that your network's router or internet gateway allows incoming and/or outgoing SMTP mail delivery. Make sure that your DNS is available and that your MX-records or aliases are setup correctly for your host name. Look at the server and error logs for messages which might indicate what the issue is.

Question 4: What do I do when the Mail Server cannot startup due to a database error?

Answer: Restore your mail database from a backup, or run the ASIP Mail Tool to verify the contents of the database. The database may become unusable if the computer stops responding or from a power loss.

Question 5: Can I use the ASIP Mail Tool while the Mail Server is running?

Answer: No. Both the mail server and mail admin need to be quit before running the ASIP Mail Tool.

Question 6: How do you set up a mail server on a separate server using only one serial number?

Answer: Create the user accounts on your primary ASIP server.

1. Enable mail for each user you wish to have an email account.
2. Create any groups you would like to use.
3. Once you have all your accounts ready, create a copy of your Users & Groups Data File making sure to keep the name of the file the same.
4. Place your copied Users & Groups Data file onto the new computer.
5. Install the Mail AND Web/File servers onto the new computer.
6. Reboot the computer with the shift key down to disable all extensions.
7. Place the Users & Groups Data File from the old computer into the Preferences folder of the new computer. This will overwrite the old file--that is OK.
8. Reboot the computer normally.
9. Open AppleShare Easy Setup and use the same serial number as the old computer.
10. Open Web & File Admin to verify that all your accounts are available with the correct mail settings.

Your new server is now ready to run the mail server, be sure to change any DNS settings to reflect the new IP address of the mail server. An alternative to the above steps is to create an export user file from the old computer and import the users into the new computer. Information on importing and exporting users can be found in the Import/Export Users FAQ.

Question 7: Does installing the mail portion of ASIP on a separate computer turn off Mac OS File Sharing (ie Personal File Sharing)?

Answer: The separate mail server has to use the AppleShare IP Users & Groups file and registry. These items are not compatible with Personal File Sharing. Therefore, you cannot use Personal File Sharing on a standalone ASIP Mail server.

Question 8: How do I setup a connection to my ISP to retrieve mail if I have an intermittent connection?

Answer: You will need to activate and schedule Remote Mail Polling (ETRN) for the Host file of the ISP:

1. Verify with your ISP that they can support ETRN requests.

2. Ask your ISP to set themselves up as a "backup" mail server to your domain name of "company.com".  They'll need to modify the MX-List for "company.com" but they should know what to do.

3. Ask the ISP for the name of the mail server which they have specified as a backup for your mail server, for the purposes of this example we'll call that mail server "mail.myisp.net"

4. Launch ASIP Mail Server & Mail Admin.  After both are up and running bring up the host list window in Mail Admin.

5. In the host list window click on the "Create New Host" button. When the "name" dialog comes up, enter the name of your ISP's mail server from step #3 "mail.myisp.net".

6. When this entry shows up in the list, highlight it and click "Edit Host" button in the Host List window.

7. In the Edit hosts Window for the ISP mail server, click the "Schedule" Tab:

• a) from the pop-up menu select "Set Allowed Connection Times".
• b) setup a schedule of allowed connection times on the 7 day 24 hour panel.  Green means allowed to connect at that time, grey means do not connect at that time.
• c) click the "Remote Mail Polling (ETRN)" checkbox in the lower right hand corner.

Those are the major steps you have to take.  The ASIP 6 Mail Server will now "poll" your ISP's mail server during allowed connection times and ask it to send any mail waiting for your domain name.

Question 9: What else can I do if I have an intermittent connection?

Answer:

• Forward all your outgoing mail via your ISP's SMTP mail server.
• Tell your AppleShare IP Mail Server its name for aliases or private IP networks (such as with the Vicom Gateway or other PPP dialup IP gateways).
• Set up a default schedule for all outgoing mail.

Forwarding all your remote mail through one SMTP mail server:

When running with a dialup connection, it is sometimes useful to have all your outgoing mail sent to one SMTP mail server, so that your AppleShare IP mail server doesn't waste time sending mail to various mail server's all over the internet (which may be down or unreachable at the time your server is connected).  Forwarding all your mail to another SMTP mail server with a full time internet connection is a method of offloading mail delivery to another server which has the bandwidth and the time to complete the message delivery process.

1. Launch Mail Admin, with the ASIP Mail Server running
2. From the "Server Menu" choose "Mail Server Settings"
3. Click the "Mail Out" Tab.
4. Click the "Relay all SMTP mail via" check box
5. In the text field next to the check box enter the name of your ISP's mail server.
6. Click "Save" & close the window.

All outgoing mail will now be forwarded to the designated SMTP mail server to complete the delivery process.  Setting this option has no effect on mail that is being delivered to your local users, it will only affect mail that has to be delivered to other mail servers.

Tell your AppleShare IP Mail Server its name for aliases or private IP networks (such as with the Vicom Gateway or other PPP dialup IP gateways).

1. Launch Mail Admin, with the ASIP Mail Server running.
2. Determine the domain name(s) that your ISP has registered for your company or mail server. These are the name(s) other people will use to send you mail.
3. Open the Host List window in Mail Admin.
4. Click the "New Host" button in the Host List window.
5. Enter the name of your mail server from step two.
6. Select the host you just created when it appears in the list.
7. Click the "Edit Host" button.
8. Click the "Mail Out" tab.
9. Click the "Relay all SMTP mail via" check box.
10. Enter the private-IP address of your ASIP mail server in the text box.
11. Click "Save".
12. Repeat starting at step 4 for each additional name your want your mail server to "know about".

Setup a default schedule for all outgoing mail

1. Launch Mail Admin, with the ASIP Mail Server running.
2. Open the Host List window in Mail Admin.
3. From the "Server" menu choose "Edit Default Host Profile..."
4. Click each of the four tabs "Mail In", "Mail Out", "Schedule", and "Network".
5. Make sure all settings are the way you want them for all outgoing mail. In particular make sure to setup the schedule that you want mail to be sent with.
6. Click "Save".

Now whenever mail is sent by your users to any other internet mail server, the outgoing mail will "wait" until an allowed connection time to be sent.  Using this in combination with the global server setting to relay all outgoing mail via one server is a powerful combination, which will hold all your outgoing mail until an allowed connection time, and then when a connection is allowed all the mail will be sent to one SMTP server all at once.

Note: Changing default settings does not modify the preferences or schedule for any host that already exists in the host list window. If you want these preexisting hosts to have the current default settings, then you must manually edit each of the hosts in the window. Or as a trick, if all the existing hosts have zero messages waiting to be sent, then you can simply delete them.  When they get recreated by the mail server, they will get a new "copy" of the current default host settings with the appropriate schedule and preferences.

Question 10: Why does the Mail Server make connections to the external network outside the designated schedule?

Answer: The Mail Server may establish a connection outside a designated schedule if a DNS lookup is needed for a new host. This may occur if a DNS lookup has not happened in a long time. If you are using your ISP's DNS server and you are using a dial-up connection, when the mail server makes a DNS request it will bring up the connection to query the ISP's DNS server. You can prevent this from happening by:

• Setting up a DNS system on your local network
• Expand the time allowed to connect to the external network.