| Oracle® Email Administrator's Guide Release 2 (9.0.4.1) Part Number B10720-02 |
|
|
View PDF |
| Oracle® Email Administrator's Guide Release 2 (9.0.4.1) Part Number B10720-02 |
|
|
View PDF |
This chapter provides an overview of the Oracle Email system and describes its major features.
This chapter contains the following topics:
Oracle Email is a reliable, scalable, and secure messaging system that reduces administration, hardware, and software costs by providing a consolidated mail store.
Oracle Email uses the Oracle9i database as a single message store for e-mail taking advantage of the Oracle core competencies in providing access to, storing, and managing all types of information. Using the highly scalable and reliable Oracle9i message store as a foundation, Oracle Email provides message delivery, standards- based client access, browser-based clients, and administration utilities.
Oracle Email contains Oracle Calendar, Oracle CorporateSync, and Oracle Outlook Connector.
Oracle Email is designed to grow to almost any size while maintaining its performance and ease of administration. The Oracle Email system can be customized based on how many messages need to be stored, how many users access the system under peak loads, and how many messages are sent and received over a period of time. The Oracle Email internet computing architecture enables customers to support thousands of users on a single system, if necessary. Customers have the option of creating a two-tier system with a single host supporting a few thousand users, or a three-tier system with protocol access servers separate from the message database supporting many thousands of users. This architecture enables customers to add hardware at any tier, expanding the system to support a virtually unlimited number of users.
Oracle Email stores all messages in the Oracle9i database. Oracle Email users can access and manage all messages from the interface of their choice, including a Web browser, phone, PDA, and fax machine. The Oracle9i database enables Oracle Email to offer data availability, data integrity, low recovery time, and fault-tolerance. Oracle Email takes advantage of Oracle9i database multithreading, parallel processing, high availability support, and high performance.
Oracle Email enables users to access messages with the standards-based messaging client of their choice. Messages can be accessed using any client compliant with Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) or Post Office Protocol (POP), such as Netscape Messenger, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Eudora Pro Lite. Oracle Email provides directory services using the light-weight directory access protocol (LDAP) standard-compliant Oracle Internet Directory.
Oracle WebMail provides Internet access to Oracle Email through a standard Web browser. Browser-based clients provide all of the advantages of internet computing: increased reliability because no dedicated client is needed; decreased support and administration costs due to the system being maintained in a professional data center; and increased message access because there are no local message storage requirements. Users can access and manage all aspects of their Oracle Email account from Oracle Webmail.
Oracle Email provides a wide range of server side filters that enable certain actions to be taken at various events. A variety of built-in actions, such as move, delete, and forward can be used to quickly assemble complex filtering logic with optimized e-mail operations. Filters can be defined to cover a wide range of events, such as delivery, copy, delete, and relay, enabling fine-grained control over a message's lifespan. In addition to built-in actions, server side filters include a PL/SQL Application Programming Interface (API), enabling customers to write their own customized actions and conditions.
PL/SQL and Java programmers can create custom applications to integrate Oracle Email with other applications. Oracle Email APIs enable applications to directly manipulate stored messages as well as create outgoing messages that follow the MIME standard. Combined with server-side rules, large numbers of messages can be processed and managed by applications integrated with Oracle Email.
Oracle Email simplifies administration and management by integrating with Oracle Enterprise Manager, enabling consolidated, Web-based management of the total Oracle environment as well as integration into existing system monitoring infrastructures. Oracle Email also supports multiple domains with delegated administration on the same system, enabling hosting.
