Sun Java System Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 Administration Guide

ProcedureTo Create a New Channel

Steps
  1. Create a new channel called tcp_siroe-daemon and add a new value for the pool keyword.

    Channels are created in the channel block section of /msg_svr_base/config/imta.cnf. The channel should have the same channel keywords on your regular outgoing tcp_* channel. Typically, this is the tcp_local channel, which handles all outbound (internet) traffic. Since siroe.com is out on the internet, this is the channel to emulate. The new channel may look something like this:

    tcp_siroe smtp nomx single_sys remotehost inner allowswitchchannel     \
    dentnonenumeric subdirs 20 maxjobs 7 pool SMTP_SIROE maytlsserver      \
    maysaslserver saslswitchchannel tcp_auth missingrecipientpolicy 0      \    
    tcp_siroe-daemon

    Note the new keyword-value pair pool SMTP_SIROE. This specifies that messages to this channel will only use computer resources from the SMTP_SIROE pool. Note also that a blank line is required before and after the new channel.

  2. Add two rewrite rules to the rewrite rule section of the imta.cnf file to direct email destined for siroe.com to the new channel.

    The new rewrite rules look like this:


    siroe.com     $U%$D@tcp_siroe-daemon
    .siroe.com      $U%$H$D@tcp_siroe-daemon
                         

    These rewrite rules will direct messages to siroe.com (including addresses like host1.siroe.com or hostA.host1.siroe.com) to the new channel whose official host name is tcp_siroe-daemon. The rewriting part of these rules, $U%$D and $U%$H$D, retain the original addresses of the messages. $U copies the user name from original address. % is the separator—the @ between the username and domain. $H copies the unmatched portion of host/domain specification at the left of dot in pattern. $D copies the portion of domain specification that matched.

  3. Define a new job controller pool called SMTP_SIROE.

    In /msg_svr_base/config/job_controller.cnf add the following:


    [POOL=SMTP_SIROE]
    job_limit=10
                         

    This creates a message resource pool called SMTP_SIROE that allows up to 10 jobs to be simultaneously run. Be sure not to leave any blank lines between this pool definition and the others. See The Job Controller for details on jobs and pools.

  4. Restart the MTA.

    Issue the command: imsimta refresh

    This recompiles the configuration and restarts the job controller and dispatcher.

    In this example, a large quantity of email from your internal users is destined for a particular remote site called siroe.com. For some reason, siroe.com, is temporarily unable to accept incoming SMTP connections and thus cannot deliver email. (This type of situation is not a rare occurence.)

    As email destined for siroe.com comes in, the outgoing channel queue, typically tcp_local, will fill up with messages that cannot be delivered. The MTA tries to redeliver these messages periodically (the frequency and number of the retries is configurable using the backoff keywords) and under normal circumstances, no action is needed.

    However, if too many messages get stuck in the queue, other messages may not get delivered in a timely manner because all the channel jobs are working to process the backlog of siroe.com messages. In this situation, you may wish reroute siroe.com messages to a new channel running in its own job controller pool (see The Job Controller). This will allow the other channels to deliver their messages without having to contend for processing resources used by siroe.com messages. Creating a new channel to address this situation is described below.