Mail Directories

The first choice concerns where users' incoming mail is kept. To users, the mailboxes appear to be in the directory /var/mail, but if space on the relevant disk partition is limited, you may prefer for /var/mail to be a link to another directory. Earlier versions of Netra (Netra j 1.0 or Netra i 3.1) linked /var/mail to /export/mail. The form shows whether /var/mail is currently linked to another directory, and gives the option of either keeping the mail in /var/mail or to link it.

If the location of the mailboxes changes, the mailboxes are moved to the new location from the current mail directory unless the /var/mail directory was mounted onto the Netra server from another server. In the latter case, the remote directory is unmounted without moving the mailboxes.

Directory Sharing

The second choice concerns whether the mailbox directory should be shared so that it can be mounted onto other computers. If the directory is to be shared, other computers can mount the Netra server's /var/mail directory so that it appears to be part of their own file system. (The directory /var/mail can be mounted as such even if it is actually linked to another directory.)

Mail Return Address Path Format

The third choice determines the format of the return address on outgoing mail, which can be either user@host.domain or user@domain. For example, suppose the Netra server's host name is stimpy and that stimpy resides in the domain cartoon.net. With the user@host.domain format, mail from the user setup goes out as from the sender setup@stimpy.cartoon.net, while with the user@domain format it is setup@cartoon.net.

The return address is used when people reply to messages sent out by the Netra server. For mail using the user@domain format to find its way back, the DNS server needs to know what server(s) deal with mail on the domain. This is accomplished by adding an MX record to the DNS database. If the Netra server is acting as the primary domain name server for the domain in which the server resides, this can be done through the Name Services module (See "Name Service Administration "). With reference to the example above, you would modify the domain cartoon.net by making an entry in the Mail Addresses/Preferences/Mail Servers box; in this case the mail address would be cartoon.net, the preference can be 5, and the mail server stimpy.cartoon.net.

To Configure a Server to Provide Mail Services

1. From the Main Administration page, under "Network Service Administration," click Mail, then click Configure this server as mailhost and a mailserver.

   The Configure Mail Services Administration page is displayed.

2. Complete the form using the information in the following table.

   Table 3-2 Mail Administration

   Option	Description
   Store Mail in /var/mail	Store mail in /var/mail directory
   Link /var/mail to directory	Link /var/mail to the directory specified in the textbox and store the mail in that directory.
   Do you want the mail directory to be shared?	Determine whether other computers can mount the mailbox directory. Select yes or no.
   Mail return address path format is: user@host.domain	The return address on mail includes the host name of the Netra server.
   Mail return address path format is: user@domain	The return address on mail does not include the host name of the Netra server. For the mail format of user@domain to be used, the DNS primary server must have a mail exchanger record (MX record) for the Netra server in its database.

To Modify Mail Services

1. From the Main Administration page, under "Network Service Administration," click Mail, then click Modify the mail services.

   The Modify Mail Services Administration page is displayed.

2. Complete the form using the information in Table 3-2.

To Disable Netra Mail Services

1. From the Main Administration page, under "Network Service Administration," click Mail, then click Unconfigure the mail services configuration.

   The Unconfigure Mail Services Administration page is displayed.

2. Click OK to confirm the operation.

   This restores the mail configuration to what it was before being configured by Netra j.