MailEnable Components
MailEnable is comprised of Connectors, Agents and Services. The definitions of these components are described below.
Connectors
Connectors move mail between systems or subsystems (local or remote). A mail connector allows MailEnable to send and receive mail messages to and from external systems. MailEnable has several mail connectors: SMTP, POP Retrieval, Post office and List connectors.
SMTP connector
The SMTP connector is responsible for both receiving inbound SMTP mail and delivering outbound SMTP mail.
Post office connector
The Post office connector is responsible for delivering mail to a post office. It processes mailbox level filters, handles quotas, autoresponders, delivery events, groups and redirections.
List connector
The list connector is responsible for receiving and delivering mail to users that are subscribed to the lists.
POP Retrieval connector
The POP Retrieval connector will download mail from a remote POP server and deliver to a local mailbox.
Agents
Agents run perform specific management or operating functions for MailEnable itself. An example of an Agent is the Mail Transfer Agent. Its function is to move messages between connectors. It also processes the pickup event and global filters
Services
Services expose MailEnable functionality to external agents or programs. An example of a service is the POP3 service. This service allows mail clients to access mail from their post office.
Services allow external programs (usually email clients) to access the message store.
When a user wants to read email that has been sent to their mail server for handling, there are several mail services that can be used to retrieve the email messages so that the user can read them in their email client. These services include:
- POP3
- IMAP4
- HTTPMail
- Web mail
Administration
From an administration perspective, MailEnable is comprised of the following components.
- Post offices
- Domains
- Mailboxes
- Lists
- Groups
Post office
A post office is used to host multiple mailboxes and domains under one area. For example, to provide mail hosting for multiple companies, each company would have a post office. A post office can have multiple domains and mailboxes assigned to it. A small mail server might only have one post office. Post offices can have the same name as a domain. It is common for hosting companies to use a domain name as a post office name and to only have one domain within that post office with the same name.
Domains
Multiple domains can be assigned to a post office. At least one domain needs to be configured in order to have a valid email address.
Mailboxes
A mailbox is a repository for email. It is used to store emails for one or more email addresses. When a user connects with a mail client application (Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.), they connect to a mailbox to retrieve their email. When creating a mailbox, MailEnable will automatically create an email address for each domain in the post office, using the format mailboxname@domain. A mailbox can have multiple email addresses. This means a user only requires one mailbox to connect to, from which they can retrieve email from all their email addresses.
Email addresses
Each mailbox can have one or more email address mapped to it. It is only possible to add an email that matches an existing domain for the post office. When a mailbox is created, MailEnable will automatically create email addresses for each of the domains for the post office.
Lists
MailEnable contains a list server that enables people to subscribe and unsubscribe to a list. A list is an online discussion group or information mailout, where emails are sent out to all the members. People are able to post to the list (e.g. list@companyx.com), and the server will duplicate their email and send it out to all the members.
Groups
A group is an email address that maps to one or more other email addresses. For example, a group which has the recipient as staff@companyx.com can have 50 email addresses as members of this group. When someone emails staff@companyx.com, the email is duplicated and sent to all 50 members.