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Using AS/400 as a mail hub
By Kirk Hale, search400 member
What else can you do with your AS/400? Reader Kirk Hale
suggests that it may be a good idea to route all your
mail through the box.
In a shop where you may have a number of terminal users
and PC users, it may be to your advantage to route all
your email through your AS/400. This will give you the
opportunity to capture your email and store it for your
terminal users, package it up and store it for any POP
clients you have and forward the mail on to another mail
server you may be using, such as Domino or Exchange. The
following configurations are required to accomplish this:
1. SMTP must be started "strtcpsvr *smtp".
2. MSF must be started "strmsf". You may wish to increase
the number of server MSF jobs started to accommodate
larger volumes of mail.
3. The type of mail user is defined in the directory
entry for the user as follows:
* Local terminal user should be set as "Mail service
level 1 (user index) and "Preferred Address 1 (User
ID/Address) Note: If the user is going to be allowed
to send outside the company, you should enter an
SMTP alias F19 and change under "Environment
Information" in Office Vision administration, change
the setting for "Allow Internet Addressing" from N
to Y.
* POP Mail Client should be set as "Mail service level
2 (System Message Store and "Preferred Address 9
(SMTP) Note: You should also enter an SMTP alias
F19.
For a user on another mail system such as Domino or
Exchange, there are two ways to handle this. You can
simply specify an alternate domain in their SMTP alias
entry and include that domain in your host table entries
under "cfgtcp". That would redirect the mail for that
user to the address associated with that domain, which
would be the address of your alternate mail server. When
using this technique, however, you may have problems
sending mail directly out of the AS/400 for those users.
SMTP will want to verify that the domain exists, and
unless you have an internal DNS with that domain defined,
it may not send for those users. This technique will also
attach the alternate domain to the users return address
example, user@priv.domain.com instead of user@domain.com.
I prefer the following technique for mail forwarding as
defined in IBM's online support line database.
* Create two new user defined fields in the system
directory.
CHGSYSDIRA USRDFNFLD((FORWARDING *NONE *ADD *ADDDRESS 256) (FWDSRVLVL *NONE *ADD *MSFSRVLVL 1)). The previous step is performed only once.
* Next you will have to modify the user's directory entry with the following command:
CHGDIRE USRID(old addr) USRDFNFLD((FORWARDING *NONE newuserid@domain)) MSFSRVLVL(FWDSRVLVL *NONE) PREFADR(FORWARDING *NONE MIME). This user's mail will now be forwarded to the new address, which can be the alternate domain, e.g. user@priv.domain.com, while keeping their SMTP alias entry as user@domain.com. This will eliminate the problems associated with the previous example.
These suggestions will allow you to use your AS/400 as a mail clearing house for all your incoming mail to your company and accommodate all three types of mail users.
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