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Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.3 Administration Guide

8.5 Channels

The channel is the fundamental MTA component that processes a message. A channel represents a connection with another computer system or group of systems. The actual hardware connection or software transport or both may vary widely from one channel to the next.

Channels perform the following functions:

Messages are enqueued by channels on the way into the MTA and dequeued on the way out. Typically, a message enters via one channel and leaves by another. A channel might dequeue a message, process the message, or enqueue the message to another MTA channel.

This section consists of the following subsections:

8.5.1 Master and Slave Programs

Generally (but not always), a channel is associated with two programs: master and slave. The slave program accepts messages from another system and adds them to a channel’s message queue. The master program transfers messages from the channel to another system.

For example, an SMTP channel has a master program that transmits messages and a slave program that receives messages. These are, respectively, the SMTP client and server.

The master channel program is typically responsible for outgoing connections where the MTA has initiated the operation. The master channel program:

The slave channel program typically accepts incoming connections where the MTA is responding to an external request. The slave channel program:

For example, Figure 8–3 shows two channel programs, Channel 1 and Channel 2. The slave program in Channel 1 receives a message from a remote system. It looks at the address, applies rewrite rules as necessary, then based on the rewritten address enqueues the message to the appropriate channel message queue.

The master program dequeues the message from the queue and initiates network transport of the message. Note that the master program can only dequeue messages from its own channel queue.

Figure 8–3 Master and Slave Programs

Graphic shows master and slave program interaction.

Although a typical channel has both a master and a slave program, it is possible for a channel to contain only a slave program or a master program. For example, the ims-ms channel supplied with Messaging Server contains only a master program because this channel is responsible only for dequeuing messages to the local message store, as shown in Figure 8–4.

Figure 8–4 ims-ms Channel

Graphic shows ims-ms channel.

8.5.2 Channel Message Queues

All channels have an associated message queue. When a message enters the messaging system, a slave program determines to which message queue the message is enqueued. The enqueued messages are stored in message files in the channel queue directories. By default, these directories are stored at the following location: msg-svr-base/data/queue/channel/*. Information on message queue sizing can be found at Disk Sizing for MTA Message Queues in Sun Java Communications Suite 5 Deployment Planning Guide

Caution – Caution –

Do not add any files or directories in the MTA queue directory (that is, the value of IMTA_QUEUE in the imta_tailor file) as this will cause problems. When using a separate file system for the MTA queue directories, create a subdirectory under that mount point and specify that subdirectory as the value of IMTA_QUEUE.

8.5.3 Channel Definitions

Channel definitions appear in the lower half of the MTA configuration file, imta.cnf, following the rewrite rules (see 10.2 The MTA Configuration File rules section and the start of the channel definitions.

A channel definition contains the name of the channel followed by an optional list of keywords that define the configuration of the channel, and a unique channel tag, which is used in rewrite rules to route messages to the channel. Channel definitions are separated by single blank lines. Comments, but no blank lines, may appear inside a channel definition.


[blank line]
! sample channel definition
Channel_Name keyword1 keyword2
Channel_Tag
[blank line]

Collectively, the channel definitions are referred to as the channel host table. An individual channel definition is called a channel block. For example, in the example below, the channel host table contains three channel definitions or blocks.


! test.cnf - An example configuration file.
!
! Rewrite Rules
      .
      .
      .

! BEGIN CHANNEL DEFINITIONS
! FIRST CHANNEL BLOCK
l
local-host

! SECOND CHANNEL BLOCK
a_channel defragment charset7 usascii
a-daemon

! THIRD CHANNEL BLOCK
b_channel noreverse notices 1 2 3
b-daemon

A typical channel entry will look something like this:


tcp_intranet smtp mx single_sys subdirs 20 noreverse maxjobs 7 SMTP_POOL
maytlsserver allowswitchchannel saslswitchchannel tcp_auth
tcp_intranet-daemon

The first word, in this case tcp_intranet, is the channel name. The last word, in this case tcp_intranet-daemon, is called the channel tag. The channel tag is the name used by rewrite rules to direct messages. The words in between the channel name and channel tag are called channel keywords and specify how the message is to be processed. Hundreds of different keywords allow messages to processed in many ways. A complete listing of channel keywords is listed and described in Chapter 12, Configuring Channel Definitions

The channel host table defines the channels Messaging Server can use and the names of the systems associated with each channel.

On UNIX systems, the first channel block in the file always describes the local channel, l. (An exception is a defaults channel, which can appear before the local channel.) The local channel is used to make routing decisions and for sending mail sent by UNIX mail tools.

You can also set global options for channels in the MTA Option file, option.dat, or set options for a specific channel in a channel option file. For more information on the option files, see 10.4.6 Option File, and 10.4.2 TCP/IP (SMTP) Channel Option Files. For details on configuring channels, see Chapter 12, Configuring Channel Definitions. For more information about creating MTA channels, see 10.2 The MTA Configuration File.