Mail Alias Administration

The Netra Mail Administration module enables you to add and modify aliases that mail a copy of a message sent to the name to one or more users. Typically, such aliases are used to distribute messages to an interest group or to redirect a single users' mail, either because their mail should go to another server, or because they receive mail under an alternate name. Mail aliases that map names to a group of recipients are called as mailing lists, while mail aliases that map a name to a single user are called alias names.

In addition to creating new aliases, the mail administration module also allows you to modify two important system aliases: root and postmaster. These are standard names that people use for convenience: if you do not know who is in charge of a system, you use root to reach the systems administrator, and postmaster to reach the person who administers mail. Note that although root is a valid user, mail to root should always be redirected to a regular user (previous versions of the Netra software had a special form to administer the system administrator alias).

Mailing Lists

An example of how you might use a mailing list is to send messages to members of a volleyball team. You could create an alias with the name "vball" that has the email addresses of all the team members as the recipients. This way, mail sent to "vball" reaches the whole team without the sender needing to know the members' individual addresses (or even exactly who is on the team at any given point). When a member leaves or a new member joins, you update the alias.

Alias Names

Alias names redirect mail to single users. For instance, the user Tom Jones with user name "tom" may want to receive mail as "tjones". In this case, you would add an alias with the name "tjones" and the single recipient "tom." If John Smith, with user name "john," has left and wants to receive mail at his new address of jsmith at "otherdomain," add an alias that maps "john" to "jsmith@otherdomain."

To Modify the System and Mail Administrator Aliases

1. From the Main Administration page, under "Network Service Administration," click Mail.

   The Mail Administration page is displayed.

2. Click Modify either System Administrator alias or Mail Administrator alias.

3. Enter the mail addresses of the alias members (see the following table).

   Table 3-3 System Administrator Alias Administration

   Option	Description
   Alias Members	A list of people, one per line, who receive mail sent to root or postmaster. Each line must be a valid email address.

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   Note -

   If the Netra software has been installed onto a server that mounts /var/mail from a remote server, mail is handled by the remote server. This situation requires that the members of the administrator aliases are valid mail addresses on the remote server.

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4. Click OK.