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Setting Up GroupWise to Work with POP3 Mailboxes: A Small Business Solution

Articles and Tips: article

01 Mar 2003


Excerpts from the PFA Readme file

PFA_READ.PDA that comes with the new POP3 software, which can be found with http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/smallbiz/features/a_nsbs60_pfa_sb.html

If you are running the Novell Small Business Solutions 6 suite and you use domain mail forwarding, incoming Internet e-mail for your organization can be handled by a program called the POP Forwarding Agent (PFA). This agent can collect e-mail for an organization from a POP3 mailbox at an ISP and forward it to local GroupWise user mailboxes at your business.

A Brief Overview

Domain mail forwarding lets a business have a common external e-mail account for the entire business and use the Pop Forwarding Agent to download and distribute messages internally to local e-mail accounts.

To do this, you need to have your ISP set up an e-mail account with domain mailbox forwarding. This usually involves establishing an MX DNS record and some form of virtual domain hosting so all incoming e-mail for the domain goes to a common mailbox. Any e-mail directed to any user in the domain is put in this common mailbox.

The Pop Forwarding Agent configured in domain forwarding mode downloads the messages periodically from the common mailbox and distributes them to individual user account mailboxes inside the company.

When configured, PFA periodically (you can specify the schedule) goes to the corporate mailbox (X on mail.isp.com), pulls down all the e-mail, examines the To: and Cc: fields inside each message for anything matching the company_name.com domain, and transfers the mail messages into their respective local GroupWise account mailboxes. If a mailbox doesn't exist on the local GroupWise mail system, the corresponding message gets sent to the postmaster.

In more detail, the POP forwarding agent works like this:

  • Users anywhere outside your company send e-mail to users at your company. The e-mail gets forwarded to the ISP.

  • The ISP gathers all incoming e-mail and stores it in POP3 mailboxes.

  • The PFA scans the eDirectory tree for the Organization object with a POP3 domain account. It reads the server name, the mailbox name, and the password of the POP account.

  • After the PFA finds a domain POP account, it connects to the POP3 mail server (ISP), authenticates, downloads any waiting e-mail items, and stores them in a queue on your server at sys:\mail\gwdom\pfa.

  • PFA then reads the stored messages from the queue, opens an SMTP connection to GWIA, reads the To: or CC: fields in the message, and forwards the message from the volume to GWIA with the designated user specified in the message header.

  • GWIA then forwards the message to the local GroupWise users. If GWIA cannot distinguish a local user in the message, it forwards the e-mail to the postmaster (usually user Admin) in your company.

  • Messages from personal POP3 mailboxes are forwarded by GroupWise to the corresponding local users.

Setting Up the POP Forwarding Agent (PFA)

Setting up the PFA requires you to complete the following tasks:

  • Setting Up Services with an ISP

    1. Setting Up a Small Business Server

    2. (Conditional) Configuring Multiple POP Accounts per eDirectory

    3. Setting Up GroupWise to Work with POP3 Mailboxes

    Setting Up Services with an ISP

    What you set up with an ISP depends on the type of mail forwarding that you want to accomplish. For a description of the different types and their benefits, see the Overview section found in the PFA_READ.PDA document.

    Domain Mail Forwarding

  • Register a domain name with an ISP, or obtain a subdomain name from your ISP.

    1. Request domain mail forwarding from your ISP with a common POP3 mailbox. This is also known as virtual domain hosting. Usually, the ISP must create an MX record associated with your domain name and create scripts to forward all e-mail from the domain to a common mailbox.

    2. Obtain the ISP's mail server name and mailbox ID (user ID) and password.

    Personal Mail Forwarding

    Obtain the ISP's mail server name and the personal POP3 Internet mailbox ID (user ID) and password for each user.

    Setting Up a Small Business Server

    After obtaining the required services and information from your ISP, complete the following steps on your Small Business server:

  • Install any hardware required for Internet access.

    1. Configure your hardware to connect to the Internet.

    For procedures, see "Setting Up Internet Access" in the Novell Small Business Suite 6 Installation and Administration Guide (http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nsbs60/insadenu/data/hxfj1fr0.html).

    If your Internet connection is set up correctly, then your server will be able to get to the Internet and resolve names.

    1. Make sure that GroupWise is set up and running on the server and client workstations. For setup procedures, see "Setting Up E-Mail" in the Novell Small Business Suite 6 Installation and Administration Guide (http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nsbs60/insadenu/data/actg8tt.html).

    During the GroupWise installation, install ConsoleOne on the workstation to ensure that you have a version that is compatible with the version of GroupWise that you are running.

    1. Make sure that the GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) is set up and running. For Setup procedures, see "Setting Up E-Mail" in the Novell Small Business Suite 6 Installation and Administration Guide (http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nsbs60/insadenu/data/actg8tt.html).

    If you can send outgoing mail, then the GWIA is set up properly.

    1. Download and install PFA files and extend the schema. To do this, perform the following:

      • Unzip the files in nsbs.zip to sys:\pfa on your server

      • At the System Console prompt, enter nwconfig

      • In NWCONFIG, select Product Options > Install a Product Not Listed, then press F3

      • Enter the location where you unzipped the files to (sys:\pfa) and press F10

      • Press Esc

      • From the Configuration Options menu of NWCONFIG, select Directory Options and press Enter

      • Select Extend Schema and press Enter

      • Type the full distinguished username (for example, admin.nsbs_tree) and password of user Admin and press Enter > F3

      • Type sys:\system\schema\pfa.sch and press Enter

      • Exit NWCONFIG

    2. Create the PFA user, assign it a password, then assign it as a trustee to the eDirectory tree with the Read rights to the POP Account and CN attributes. You must also perform the following:

      • Copy the psnap.jar file from the server where the PFA was installed (sys:public\mgmt\consoleone\1.2\snapins\psnap.jar) to the directory on the local workstation where GroupWise and the ConsoleOne snap-ins were installed. For example:

        c:\novell\consoleone\1.2\snapins

      • Start ConsoleOne at the workstation

      • In whatever context you like, create a user with the name PFA. We recommend creating the PFA user in the same container where you installed GroupWise. For example:

        pfa.groupwise

      • Assign the PFA user a surname and a password

        • Note: This password is shown in clear text and is not encrypted. Failure to make the password for the PFA user different from the password that you use for the user that supervises your network can cause a security risk to your network and data.

    3. Add the PFA user as a trustee to the eDirectory tree, and then assign it the Compare and Read rights to the POP Account and CN attributes and make them inheritable.

      • Select the eDirectory Tree object.

      • Right-click the eDirectory object, then click Properties.

      • Click the NDS Rights tab.

      • Click Add Trustee.

      • Browse to the PFA User object and click OK.

      • Select All Attribute Rights, then click Delete Property > Yes.

      • Click Add Property > Show All Properties > POP Account > OK.

      • Make sure the Compare and Read attributes and Inheritable check boxes are checked.

      • Click Add Property > Show All Properties > CN > OK.

      • Make sure the Compare, Read, and Inheritable check boxes are checked and click OK > OK.

    Using Edit or another text file editor, open the sys:\system\pfa.ncf file and make sure the username PFA user matches the PFA username, context, and password that you assigned earlier.

    The contents of sys:system\pfa.ncf file might look something like the following:

    
java ... com.novell.popford.pfa .pfa.groupwise pfa

    The last two arguments in this command correspond to the username (.pfa.groupwise) and the password (pfa).

    (Conditional) You can choose to remove the pfa password (last argument) from the command in the pfa.ncf file. If you do so, PFA will prompt for the password every time it is loaded. The advantage of putting the password in the pfa.ncf file is that if for some reason your server reboots and no one is present to enter the password, the PFA agent will load and continue to function automatically. The disadvantage of putting the password in this file is that it is less secure.

    1. Set up PFA to start automatically whenever the server is started by adding the pfa command to the autoexec.ncf file.

    2. (Conditional) Configure any Organization objects to use PFA for domain forwarding accounts.

    If you are configuring multiple domains, use the procedures in "Configuring Multiple POP Accounts per eDirectory Object" and "Configuring Domain Mail Forwarding from Multiple Domains" found in the next two headings.

    If you are configuring personal mail forwarding only, skip to Step 10.

    • From a workstation, log in to the network as a user with the Supervisor right to the Server object.

    • Start ConsoleOne.

    • In the Directory view (left window), right-click and an Organization object, and then click Properties.

    • Click the POP Account tab and enter the POP account information for the organization.

    • POP Host: The name of the mail server at your ISP (for example, mail.myisp.com).

    • POP User Name: The common mailbox name at your ISP (f or example, X).

    • Password: The password for your company's or organization's mailbox at your ISP.

    • Click OK to save the settings.

    If you plan to use personal mail forwarding, continue with Step 10; otherwise, you are finished setting up the PFA.

    1. Configure each User object to use PFA for personal mail forwarding accounts. If you are configuring multiple POP accounts per User object, use the procedures in "Configuring Multiple POP Accounts per eDirectory Object" under the next heading.

      • If you are not already logged in, log in to the network as a user with the Supervisor right to the Server object from a workstation.

      • If you are not already running ConsoleOne, start it from the workstation.

      • In the Directory view (left window) of ConsoleOne, select the container object for your users.

      • In the Object view (right window), right-click a user object, then click Properties.

      • Make sure the user has a GroupWise account. Click the GroupWise tab, then click the Account tab to display the account page.

    If a post office is specified, then the user has a GroupWise account. If not, do the following to assign the user an account:

    • In the Post Office field, click the browse icon, then browse to the Post Office container that you want to assign the user to and select it.

    • Click OK > Apply.

    • Specify the POP Account information for the user. Click the POP Account tab and enter the following information:

    • POP Host: The name of the mail server at your ISP (for example, mail.myisp.com).

    • POP User Name: The username for the individual mailbox at the ISP (for example, jdoe).

    • Password: The password for the individual mailbox at the ISP.

    • Click OK to save the settings.

    • Repeat these steps for each user.

    Configuring Multiple POP Accounts per eDirectory Object

    To configure the Organization (domain mail forwarding) or User object (personal mail forwarding) using ConsoleOne, complete the following steps:

  • If you are not already running ConsoleOne, start it from the workstation.

    1. Browse to and right-click the appropriate Organization object (domain forwarding) or User object (personal forwarding) in the eDirectory tree.

    2. Click Properties.

    3. Specify information for the first POP account. Click the POP Account tab and enter the following information:

      • POP Host: The name of the mail server at your ISP (for example pop3.myrealbox.com). This name is usually different from the Host for your organization.

      • POP User Name: For domain mail forwarding, this is the common mailbox name at your ISP such as X. For personal mail forwarding, this is the username for the individual mailbox at the ISP (for example, jdoe).

      • Password: For domain mail forwarding, this is the POP password for your company's or organization's mailbox at your ISP (for example, companyone. For personal mail forwarding, this is the password for the individual mailbox at the ISP (for example, thunder).

    4. Click OK.

    5. Right-click the same object, click properties, then specify the required information for each additional domain or personal POP account.

      • Click the Other tab.

      • Select the POP Account attribute and click Add.

    * Originally published in Novell AppNotes

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    The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.

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