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Sun Java System Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 Administration Guide

Managing Mailing Lists

To Access Mailing Lists

This section describes how to get to the administration interface for your mailing lists. Because Messaging Server mailing lists are stored as attributes of group entries in an LDAP user directory, managing mailing lists means accessing and modifying directory groups.

To Create a New Group

To create a new mailing list, you create a new group in the directory. You must also install a mail account for that group; if you do not install the mail account, the mail-administration portion of Console is not available for that group. (The full process of creating a directory group and specifying other kinds of group information is described in more detail in the chapter on User and Group Administration, of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.)

To create a new mailing list:

ProcedureTo Create a New Group

Steps

  1. In the Console main window, click the Users and Groups tab.

  2. From the drop-down list, choose New Group and click Create.

  3. Select an organizational unit for the group and click OK.

  4. In the Create Group window, enter the information required to create the group entry as described in the chapter on User and Group Administration, of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.

    Note that For mailing-list purposes only, you do not have to add members using the Users and Groups Members tab; you can instead add them using the Mail account Email-Only Members tab:

    • Regular group members have full mailing-list privileges, but they also have any other privileges that their group membership indicates. You add regular members (either static or dynamic) through the Members tab.

    • Mailing-list members have group privileges limited to those provided by the mailing-list component of the group (which may or may not be the only purpose for the group’s existence). Mailing-list members are called email-only members, and you add them through the Mail tab.

  5. Leave the Create Group window open and click the Account tab.

    A list of installed products for the group account appears in the right pane.

  6. Click the Mail Account box.

    The Mail tab becomes visible in the Create Group window.

  7. Click the Mail tab in the Create Group window, then click the appropriate tab in the right pane.

  8. Enter your changes, then click OK at the bottom of the Create Group window.

    This action submits your entries and dismisses the Create Group window.

    Note –

    Clicking OK at the bottom of any mail administration window submits all of the current mail configuration information entered in all of the mail administration tabs. Make sure you complete all setup procedures in the relevant windows before clicking OK.

To Access an Existing Group

To modify an existing mailing list, or to add mailing-list capabilities to an existing group, you access the appropriate group in the user directory and then add or modify its mail-account attributes.

ProcedureTo Access an Existing Group

Steps

  1. In the Console main window, click the Users and Groups tab.

  2. In the Users and Groups main window, Click Search or Advanced Search.

  3. Enter your search criteria (such as the group’s name) in the Search window, and perform the search of the user directory.

  4. Return to the Users and Groups main window, select a group from the search results and click Edit.

  5. If the Mail tab is not visible in the Edit Entry window, do this:

    • Click the Account tab. A list of installed accounts appears in the right pane.

    • Check the Mail Account box. The Mail tab displays in the Edit Entry window.

  6. In the Edit Entry window, click the Mail tab, then click the tab you want in the right pane.

    (These tabs are identical to those you access through the Create Group window.)

  7. Enter your changes, then click OK at the bottom of the Edit Entry window to submit your modifications.

To Specify Mailing List Settings

Before mail can be delivered successfully to your mailing list, you must specify its mail-addressing information. This consists of the primary address for the group and any alternate addresses you want to accept as aliases to the primary address. You can also specify the owner(s) of the list, optional descriptive information, members, attributes, restrictions, and actions (email responses) of the mailing list.

To specify mailing-list information:

ProcedureTo Specify Mailing List Settings

Steps

  1. In Console, access the Create Group or Edit Entry window, as described in To Access Mailing Lists

  2. Click the Mail tab.

  3. Click the Settings tab, if it is not already the active tab.

  4. (Required) Enter the mailing list’s primary email address.

    This is the publicized address to which this list’s mail will be delivered. There can be only one primary address for a list. It must be a correctly formatted SMTP address that conforms to RFC 821 specifications.

  5. (Optional) Specify an alternate address for the mailing list.

    An alternate address is an alias for the group’s primary address. You can use this feature to:

    • Ensure proper delivery of a frequently misspelled address.

    • Enable host name hiding in outgoing mail headers. To do so, supply an alternate address that includes the host name and do not include the host name in the group’s Primary email address.

      You can specify any number of alternate addresses for a group, as long as each address is unique. Messages that arrive for any of these aliases are directed to the primary address.

    To add an alternate email address:

    1. Click the Add button beneath the Alternative email addresses field.

    2. In the Alternative Email Addresses window, enter an alternate address. (You can add as many alternate addresses as you like, but you can enter only one address each time you open this window.)

    3. Click OK to add the alternate address and close the Alternative Email Addresses window. (To enter another alternate address, click Add again to re-open the Alternative Email Addresses window.)

  6. (Optional) In the “Errors to” field, enter the email address of a person to whom errors delivering messages posted to the list should be sent.

  7. (Optional) In the “Messaging Server hostname” field, enter the host name of the machine hosting this mailing list.

    If the “Primary email address” field for this mailing list includes a host name, you can leave this field blank. If you implement host-name hiding by having no host name in the primary email address, specify the host name in this field.

    Unlike a user mail account, if you do not specify a host name for a mailing list, any host that has access to the list’s LDAP entry will be able to process the list (which, in most cases, is what you want). If you want to restrict processing of the list to one or more specific hosts, you should specify one or more host names. For example, you may want to force a large group to be processed on an under-utilized server to reduce stress on a server that is more heavily used.

    Note that this window lets you enter only one host name at a time. To enter multiple host names, use the ldapmodify command line utility.

  8. (Optional) Enter a mailing list owner.

    A list owner has administrative privileges for adding or removing users, modifying configuration settings, or deleting the list.

    To specify a new mailing list owner, click the Owners tab and then either:

    • Click Add, then enter the distinguished name (DN) of a new mailing list owner (such as uid=jsmith, ou=people, o=siroe.com) in the Enter List Owner’s DN window and click OK.

    • Click Search to open the Search Users and Group window to locate an owner.

      Note that selecting an owner from the Search Users and Group window automatically adds the correct syntax of the DN for you. For more details on the Search Users and Groups window, see the chapter on User and Group Administration, of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.

  9. (Optional) Add descriptive information.

    To add text or a URL for information purposes (not for use by Messaging Server), click the Descriptions tab, then use one or both of the following options:

    • Enter a description of the purpose or nature of the mailing list.

    • Enter a URL to an HTML page providing additional information about the mailing list. This is for informational purposes only; the URL is not used by Messaging Server.

  10. Click OK at the bottom of the Edit Entry window if you have finished making changes to this mailing list. Otherwise, click other tabs to continue making changes.

To Specify List Members

To add email-only members to your mailing list, use one or both of the following methods:

The mailing-list members described here are called email-only members in the Users and Groups interface of Console because they have group privileges limited to those provided by the mailing-list component of the group. “Regular” group members, which you add using a different part of the interface (described in the chapter on User and Group Administration of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide), might have additional privileges or responsibilities beyond those of mailing-list members. For more information on groups, see the chapter on User and Group Administration of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.

To Define Dynamic Membership Criteria

Dynamic criteria consist of LDAP search URLs that are used as filters in searching the user directory for determining membership. This mechanism is dynamic in that, when a message arrives for the group, the individuals that receive it are determined by a directory search rather than by consulting a static list of names. You can thus create and maintain very large or complex groups without having to track each member explicitly.

LDAP search filters must be formatted in LDAP URL syntax. For more detailed information on constructing LDAP filters, see the chapter on User and Group Administration of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide. See also the Sun Java System Directory Server documentation and RFC 1959.

An LDAP URL has the following syntax:

ldap://hostname:port/base_dn?attributes?scope?filter

where the options of the URL have the following meanings:

Table C–1 LDAP URL Options

option  

Description  

hostname

Host name of the Directory Server (Defaults to the Directory server host name used by Messaging Server). 

port

Port number for the LDAP server. If no port is specified, it defaults to the standard LDAP port used by Messaging Server. 

base_dn

Distinguished name of an entry in the directory, to be used as the search base. This component is required. 

attributes

The attributes to be returned. These attributes are supplied by Messaging Server. 

scope

Scope of search: 

A scope of base retrieves information only on the search base (base_dn) itself.

A scope of one retrieves information one level below the search base (the search-base level is not included).

A scope of sub retrieves information on the search base and all entries below the search base.

filter

Search filter to apply to entries within the specified scope of the search. If no filter is specified, (objectclass=*) is used.

The following is an example of an LDAP search URL that filters for users who have Sunnyvale as their mail host:

ldap:///o=Siroe Corp,c=US??sub?(&(mailHost=sunnyvale.siroe.com)
  (objectClass=inetLocalMailRecipient))

The above URL filters for users who are members of the organization of Siroe (o=Siroe), in the United States (c=US), and have a mail host of Sunnyvale (mailHost=sunnyvale). The objectClass attribute defines the type of entry for which to search, in this case inetLocalMailRecipient (objectClass=inetLocalMailRecipient).

Note that when you create a search filter using Console, all group names are ignored; that is, only user names are included in the search results whereas group members are not. The purpose of this setting is to avoid duplicating users that are also group members in the search results. This setting can be overridden using the command line configuration utility (configutil), but it is not recommended.

As noted in the next section, Console provides a template window (the Construct LDAP Search URL window) that you can use as an aid in building a search URL.

To Add Mailing-List Members

To add (email-only) members to a mailing list:

ProcedureTo Add Mailing-List Members

Steps

  1. In Console, access the Create Group or Edit Entry window, as described in To Access Mailing Lists

  2. Click the Mail tab.

  3. Click the Email-only Members tab.

    • (Optional) To specify an LDAP Search URL for determining membership, click the Add button beneath the “Dynamic criteria for email-only membership” field, then in the Add Dynamic Criterion window:

    • Enter an LDAP Search URL in the field or click the Construct button to open the Construct LDAP Search URL window, a template that aids construction of the search URL.

    • Click OK to add your entry to the “Dynamic criteria for email-only membership” field and dismiss the Add Dynamic Criterion window.

      For instructions on creating an LDAP Search URL, see To Define Dynamic Membership Criteria

  4. (Optional) To add an individual member to the mailing list, click the Add button beneath the “Members with email only membership” field, then in the Add Email-Only Member window:

    • Enter the primary address for the new member in the field. The primary address must be a correctly-formatted SMTP address that conforms to RFC 821 specifications. You should not enter an alternate address—especially if you specify restrictions for the group. You can add only one new member each time you open this window; the field cannot hold more than one address.

    • Click OK to add the user to the members list and dismiss the Add Email-Only Member window. To enter another address, click Add again to re-open the Add Email-Only Member window.

  5. Click OK at the bottom of the Edit Entry window if you have finished making changes to this mailing list. Otherwise, click other tabs to continue making changes.

To Define Message-Posting Restrictions

You can impose various kinds of restrictions on messages sent to a mailing list. You can define the set of people allowed to post messages, you can require authentication of senders, you can restrict where posted messages can come from, and you can limit the size of a posted message. Messages that violate the restrictions are rejected.

Note –

Although these restrictions are useful for controlling several aspects of the incoming messages for a group, they are not intended to provide high-security access control.

ProcedureTo Define Message-Posting Restrictions

Steps

  1. In Console, access the Create Group or Edit Entry window, as described in To Access Mailing Lists

  2. Click the Mail tab.

  3. Click the Restrictions tab.

  4. (Optional) Define the allowed senders by choosing one of the following options:

    • Anyone: No restrictions on senders. (This is the default.) Note that if you choose this option, you cannot select SMTP authentication described in the next step.

    • Anyone in the mailing list: Only mailing-list members (including group members that are not email-only members) can post messages.

    • Anyone in the following list: Only those users explicitly listed in the following field can post messages.

      If you choose “Anyone in the following list”, to add a sender click Add below the Allowed Senders field—or you can click Search to open the Search Users and Groups window. If you click Add, the Add Allowed Sender window opens. Enter the email address or distinguished name (DN) of the allowed sender into the field. Click OK to add the sender to the Allowed Senders field and dismiss the Add Allowed Sender window. Repeat this step for all other allowed senders you want to add.

      For a description of the Search Users and Groups window, see the chapter on User and Group Administration, of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.

  5. (Optional) Define the allowed sender domains to restrict where senders can post messages from:

    • Click the Add button beneath the Allowed sender domains field.

    • In the Add Allowed Sender Domain window, enter a domain name, then click OK to add the domain to the list.

      Note that a domain automatically includes any of its subdomains. For example, siroe.com includes sales.siroe.com.

  6. (Optional) Define the maximum permitted message size.

    Enter the size (in bytes).

  7. Click OK at the bottom of the Edit Entry window if you have finished making changes to this mailing list. Otherwise, click other tabs to continue making changes.

To Define Moderators

You can add one or more moderators for a mailing list.

When a moderator receives the forwarded message, that person decides how to process the message. (In the case of multiple moderators, processing of the message is determined by the action taken by the first moderator.) Processing might include approving the message and forwarding it back to the list (perhaps with a password) or deleting it.

ProcedureTo Define Moderators

Steps

  1. In Console, access the Create Group or Edit Entry window, as described in To Access Mailing Lists

  2. Click the Mail tab.

  3. Click the Moderators tab.

  4. Click the Add button beneath the List moderators field.

  5. In the Add Moderator window, enter a moderator’s primary email address or distinguished name (DN) in the field. You can enter the address explicitly or you can click Search to use the Search Users and Groups window to locate an address. Note that you can add only one moderator each time you open the Add Moderator window.

    For a description of the Search Users and Groups window, see the chapter on User and Group Administration, of the Sun ONE Server Console 5.2 Server Management Guide.

  6. Click OK to add the moderator to the List Moderators list and dismiss the Add Moderator window. (To enter another address, click Add again to re-open the Add Moderator window.)

  7. Click OK at the bottom of the Edit Entry window if you have finished making changes to this mailing list. Otherwise, click other tabs to continue making changes.