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The UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 provides a secure, robust, and easy-to-use e-mail and collaboration
server. Based on open standards for e-mail and directory services,
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release 2.0
supports a wide range of popular desktop e-mail clients including
Microsoft Outlook®, Netscape Communicator®,
and Qualcomm® Eudora™.
Revision 3 - January 2, 2003
By Louis D. Imershein
August 27, 2003
The SCO Group
Lindon, UT USA
Copyright © 2003, The
SCO Group, Inc. (“SCO”). All Rights Reserved. No part of this document
may be copied or translated to another language without the express
written consent of The SCO Group. The SCO documents are provided
“as is” and may include technical inaccuracies or typographical
errors. The SCO Group reserves the right to add, delete, change,
or modify Caldera documents at any time without notice. The documents
are for information only. SCO makes no express or implied representations
or warranties of any kind. Caldera International, The SCO Group,
SCO, the SCO logos, SCOx, SCObiz, and TeamSCO, are trademarks or
registered trademarks of The SCO Group. UNIX and UnixWare are used
under exclusive license, are registered trademarks of The Open Group
in the United States and other countries. All other brand and product
names are trademarks or registered marks of the respective companies.
Specifications subject to change.
Table of Contents
| 1. |
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Executive Summary |
| 2. |
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Introduction |
| 3. |
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Features of UnixWare® Office Mail
Server Release 2.0 |
| 4. |
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Architecture Overview |
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4.1 |
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Design Goals |
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4.2 |
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Principle Components |
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4.2.1 |
Postfix |
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4.2.2 |
Cyrus IMAP Server |
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4.2.3 |
OpenLDAP Directory Server |
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4.2.4 |
Server Manager |
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4.2.5 |
Server Utilities |
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4.2.6 |
Preferences Manager |
| 5. |
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SCOoffice Mail Connector |
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5.1 |
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SCOoffice Mail Connector for Microsoft Outlook |
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5.2 |
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SCOoffice Address Book for Microsoft Outlook |
| 6. |
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Partner Products |
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6.1 |
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Anti-Virus |
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6.2 |
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Clustering |
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6.3 |
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Backup Products |
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6.4 |
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FAX Products |
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6.5 |
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Time Management |
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6.6 |
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Trust Services |
| 7. |
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System Requirements |
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release 2.0
Technical White Paper
1. Executive Summary
The UnixWare® Mail Server Release 2.0 provides
a secure, robust, and easy-to-use e-mail and collaboration server.
Based on open standards for e-mail and directory services, UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0 supports a wide range of popular
desktop e-mail clients including Microsoft Outlook®,
Netscape® Communicator, and Qualcomm®
Eudora™.
Each copy of the UnixWare® Office Mail Server
includes a copy of SCO UnixWare® 7.1.3. UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0 is designed to integrate with a wide
range of third-party messaging products that provide backup, fax,
and virus detection services.
This document is meant to provide a high-level technical overview
of the UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0. For additional information, contact your SCO reseller or visit
our website at www.SCO.com.
2. Introduction
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release 2.0
is a server-based e-mail and collaboration platform. E-mail and
collaboration products are especially beneficial in situations that
require solid communication between individuals, as well as those
requiring communications with electronic information services. UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0 takes advantage of the wide availability
of mail clients and web browsers that allow access to information
at any time from anywhere, even under conditions of intermittent
connectivity.
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release 2.0
provides a reliable, robust e-mail and collaboration solution. It
offers a lower cost of ownership than the competition through fast
installation, minimal training requirements, high reliability and
ease of administration. The product is designed so that non-technical
personnel can perform day-to-day administration tasks. Opportunities
for value added development and integration with existing applications
are offered within the architecture of the UnixWare®
Office Mail Server, which is both extensible and modular.
UnixWare® Mail Server Release 2.0 is an
excellent choice for resellers that service customers with Microsoft
Outlook compatible e-mail and collaboration system. UnixWare®
Office Mail Server products provide resellers, solution providers,
and onsite administrators with a highly available, easily managed,
and lower cost alternative to products such as Microsoft Exchange®.
It is when the UnixWare® Office Mail Server
is used with the SCOoffice Mail Connector the Mail Server truly
becomes a low cost alternative to Microsoft Exchange. For the Outlook
end-user, the experience is nearly identical.
3. Features of UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0
| Feature |
Description |
How to use it |
| User-friendly Installation Utility |
The Office Mail Server is easily installed via a graphical interface. |
On UnixWare, mount the CD-ROM, enter the LKP environment, and run the install.sh command. |
| Single-Click Outlook Configuration |
Configuration of Outlook requires a one-click setup via the
Web interface. All that is required is a username and password.
No manual configuration of IMAP is necessary. A Volution menu
bar link is added to Outlook as part of this process, allowing
quick access to Office Mail Server preferences. |
Users login to the Preferences Manager by pointing their web
browsers to the URL, http://server_name/msg
(where server_name is the name of the server hosting Office
Mail Server) and providing a login and password provided by
the administrator. Once the users have logged in, they select
Preferences->Client Setup and click the “Configure” button.
Users then follow the standard Microsoft Windows prompts selecting
to Open the configuration program. Depending on the version
of Microsoft Windows® and Microsoft Outlook®,
Microsoft Windows® may reboot as part
of the configuration process. |
| Calendaring |
The Office Mail Server supports ical calendaring,
the standard for Internet calendaring supported by Microsoft
and many other e-mail client vendors. “Free-busy” information
for user calendars is stored on a central server, which can
be accessed via FTP or WebDAV services. This allows Outlook
users to use Office Mail Server to share calendaring events. |
This feature is configured automatically as part
of the Single-Click Outlook Configuration feature. Users of
Outlook versions prior to 2002 also need to modify their password
as instructed in the documentation to utilize the “free-busy”
component of Calendaring. Once enabled, users can schedule meetings
with multiple members and check when a user is busy on the server
using the standard Outlook interfaces. |
| Directory Support |
User information is stored in the OpenLDAP directory
service by Office Mail Server. |
Administrators manage users through the Web-based
management console. Users can access information about other
Office Mail Server users either by utilizing the built-in Internet
Address Book features of modern e-mail clients such as Microsoft
Outlook®, or via the Preferences Manager
Users->Find User option. |
| Integrated UNIX Support |
Office Mail Server software is bundled with UnixWare®
and runs as an LKP application. This allows the Messaging Server
to take advantage of the stability and reliability of UNIX. |
Mount the Office Mail Server CD-ROM and run the
install.sh command. The installation will automatically tune
UnixWare® for Office Mail Server and
configure the appropriate services. Once installed, Office Mail
Server is managed from within the LKP. |
| Clustering Support |
The Messaging Server product supports ReliantHA
clustering on UnixWare®, providing additional
reliability via fail-over. |
ReliantHA includes sample startup scripts for
cluster-enabling Office Mail Server. See the ReliantHA documentation
for more information. |
| Webmail |
Users can access their e-mail from anywhere on the Web. |
Users point their browsers to the URL http://server_name/horde/imp
and login with their administrator-provided User ID and password. |
| Web Management |
Both administrators and users can manage the
system (or their account) with any standard Web browser. No
special client training is necessary. |
Use a Web browser to login to the server through
the URL http://server_name/msg
. Microsoft Outlook® users can simply
click on the SCOoffice menu option once Outlook has been configured. |
| Built-in Security |
Office Mail Server is integrated with the OpenSSL
package. Secure Internet transport is provided through the SSL
and TLS protocols. |
During installation, the Messaging Server is
automatically configured to use self-signed certificates. To
use this feature, users simply select to use SSL or TLS within
their mail applications. |
| Junk Mail (SPAM) Filtering Capabilities |
Office Mail Server provides a set of general
spam filter rules that can be applied on a per-user or system-wide
basis. In addition, Office Mail Server includes support for
the Realtime Blackhole List (RBL). |
Junk Mail (SPAM) Filtering Capabilities Office Mail Server
provides a set of general spam filter rules that can be applied
on a per-user or system-wide basis. In addition, Office Mail
Server includes support for the Realtime Blackhole List (RBL).
Administrators who subscribe to an RBL service can enter their
service address into the file /etc/postfix/main.cf using standard
UNIX® tools. This default service
is the same as that offered by the non-profit mail-abuse.org
service. Once this step is completed, the administrator simply
selects to enable or disable the service via the Web interface.
Users manage their own SPAM filtering rules via the Preferences
Manager Preferences->Junk Mail option.
|
Multi-domain Mail Server Capabilities
|
The Office Mail Server supports the ability to
serve multiple mail domains from a single server. The is useful
for service providers or resellers wishing to provide mail services
to multiple sites from a single server. |
Administrators can create and manage domains
via the Web-based administration interface. Mail domains must
also be managed as MX records in a DNS server that may reside
on a different system. |
Supports 2,500 simultaneous users
|
At installation time, Office Mail Server pre-tunes
support for up to 2,500 simultaneous users on standard hardware. |
No action is necessary; this is done automatically
at installation. |
| Dedicated Mail Server |
The Office Mail Server is designed to act as
a standalone dedicated electronic mail server. All account information
is stored in a centralized LDAP database. In order to protect
the system from local root security exploits, Office Mail Server
users do not have system accounts. |
All Office Mail Server Users can be managed in
the LDAP directory via the Web-based management interface, command
line tools, or third-party LDAP management interfaces. |
Message Filtering
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Office Mail Server has the ability to reject
mail messages based on header information, message body content,
or SMTP envelope information. The server also supports the ability
to create server-side rules for depositing content into specific
mailboxes. These capabilities can be used to help protect networks
from unwanted viruses and junk mail. |
Message filtering is managed by editing filtering
files in the /etc/postfix directory as instructed by the documentation. |
Single Instance Message Store
|
This feature allows e-mail messages sent to multiple
users on the same Office Mail Server system to be stored as
a single copy, rather than one copy per user. |
Single Instance Message Store is disabled by
default. For help enabling this feature contact your support
provider. |
| Quota Support |
This feature allows the administrator to enforce
the size of the mailboxes allowed on a system. |
A default quota can be set from the command-line
using the msgaclset utility. Once set, all users will be created
with that quota. Once a user is created, the administrator can
modify a user’s quota using the Web-based management tool
via the Users->View Quota link. |
| International Language support |
The administration and preferences tools are
localized into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish
languages. |
Set the preferred language type in the browser
configuration. The proper language files will automatically
appear. |
| Third-party software integration |
The Office Mail Server is designed to easily
integrate with third party anti-SPAM, anti-virus, enterprise
calendaring, and fax solutions. |
See product documentation for details. |
4. Architecture Overview
4.1 Design Goals
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release 2.0
is a complete Mail Server solution. The design goals of the Mail
Server Release 2.0 product required that it be:
- Easy to install
- Easy to use
- Easy of manage
- Stable
- Secure
- Work with popular e-mail clients
SCO achieved these goals by developing easy-to-use
management and installation tools and integrating them into a set
of open source components built entirely around directory services.
4.2 Principle Components
The principle components of the UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0 include:
- Postfix
- Cyrus
- Open LDAP
- Server Manager
- Server Utilities
- Preferences Manager
4.2.1 Postfix
The heart of any Mail Server is the Mail Transfer Agent (MTA).
This component is responsible for queuing and routing e-mail messages,
handling mailing lists and aliases, and forwarding e-mail. Postfix
is the MTA used by the UnixWare® Office Mail
Server Release 2.0. Unlike other MTA systems, Postfix (originally
known as IBM Secure Mailer) was designed explicitly with security
in mind. SCO's engineering team has specially configured Postfix
to query the LDAP server for information needed to deliver mail,
resolve mail addresses, and offer SSL and TLS support.
4.2.2 Cyrus IMAP Server
Cyrus is used to store mail folders. The Cyrus message store provides
access to personal e-mail through the Internet Message Access Protocol
(IMAP4) and Post Office Protocol (POP). IMAP and POP server are
key components that allow e-mail clients to connect to the server
and fetchmail. The Cyrus server differs from other message store
and IMAP server implementations in that it runs on "sealed"
servers, where users are not normally permitted to login. When a
user connects to the Cyrus server, the server queries the LDAP directory
for authentication of users using the pam_ldap interface provided
in the LKP environment on UnixWare®.
The Cyrus message store is stored in parts of the file system that
are private to the Cyrus system. All user access to mail is supported
through clients using the IMAP and POP3 protocols. The Cyrus mailbox
format provides a message store that is much more scalable than
the traditional flat file format. The fetchmail utility is available
to retrieve mail stored in traditional UNIX flat file mailbox format.
SCO has specially modified the Cyrus IMAP server to provide improved
scalability through additional locking and coherency features. SCO
has also tuned Cyrus to optimize performance for up to 2500 simultaneous
IMAP connections.
4.2.3 OpenLDAP Directory Server
The UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 uses a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory
to store information concerning mail accounts, mail aliases, and
the mail domains configured on a server. OpenLDAP is the directory
server for Mail Server Release 2.0. Both personal and corporate
user information and e-mail authentication data are stored in the
directory and easily managed using the Office Mail Server's “Server
Manager” utility.
The LDAP directory is an object-oriented database, where virtual
objects representing physical objects are stored hierarchically.
Relationships between virtual objects govern the behavior and configuration
of the physical systems the objects represent. By creating or changing
the relationship of a virtual object in the directory, it is possible
to change the physical systems’ behavior or configuration.
A directory is a powerful data repository for the UnixWare®
Office Mail Server because it identifies every resource and how
each relates to other resources. A directory can also be extended
to include new types of resources, to modify existing resources,
or to add additional attributes to describe them.
4.2.4 Server Manager
The Server Manager is the principal UnixWare®
Office Mail Server administrative utility. It is a Web-based management
interface, built with the PHP scripting language. The Server Manager
provides support for all functions required to administer an office
Mail Server on a day-to-day basis. The Server Manager provides functionality
to:
- Add/delete/modify virtual hosts, mail users, and mail aliases
- Monitor mail services
- Control client user privileges
The Server Manager provides Mail Server administration screens
only accessible by the “admin” administrative user account.
By default the Server Manager is served by the Apache Web server
at: https://hostname/msg.
4.2.5 Server Utilities
All modifications done by the Server Manager or Preferences Manager
are routed through the Server Utilities. These are a suite of utilities,
some binary and some Perl scripts, that perform the actual work
of day-to-day administration tasks. Perl based utilities can be
modified to add extra site-specific features. For example, a simple
modification to the msgusercreate utility could be used to enforce
a disk quota limit or make sure that a user is also added to a non-LDAP
aware application. Additionally, the Server Utilities provide some
functionality not offered by the Server Manager. For example, the
msgvscan utility can integrate third-party virus scanners with UnixWare®
Office Mail Server Release 2.0.
4.2.6 Preferences Manager
The Preferences Manager is the end-user equivalent of the Server
Manager. From the Preferences Manager Web page users can login with
their mail user ID and password to:
- Obtain information about mail client settings
- Configure Microsoft Outlook
- Manage their address book information
- Setup forwarding to another account
- Set a vacation mail notice
- Change their e-mail user password
- Locate information about other e-mail users<
- Manage and share mailing lists
As with the Server Manager, the Preferences Manager is accessed
from the URL https://hostname/msg
Microsoft Outlook users can take advantage of the one-click Microsoft
Outlook configuration tool provided as part of the Preferences Manager
interface. At the press of a button, the client is automatically
configured for mail, calendaring, and address book features of the
UnixWare® Office Mail Server.
By selecting this option, a Windows Scripting Host (WSH) configuration
script is generated on the fly by the msggenclientconfig utility.
This script is used to configure Outlook and to download an additional
COM add-in that adds access to the Preferences Manager as an option
from the Microsoft Outlook menus.
5. SCOoffice Mail Connector
The SCOoffice Mail Connector contains two components, the
Mail Connector itself and the SCOoffice Address Book which
is described in section 5.2.
5.1 SCOoffice Mail Connector for Microsoft Outlook
The Mail Connector is an Exchange Client Extension* that enables
any version of Microsoft Outlook from 97 through 2002 to change
its message, calendar, contact and other stores from Exchange to
an Internet Mail Access Protocol service.. Outlook 98 and Outlook
2000 must be configured in Corporate Workgroup mode so that the
necessary services of Outlook will be installed and enabled. Outlook
97 and Outlook 2002 have no concept of the Corporate Workgroup mode
and provide the necessary services by default.
With SCO’s solution, the Connector provides complete mapping
and synchronization of the user’s mail and special folders
to the Cyrus IMAP server using the IMAP protocol. MAPI is not used.
While this is nothing new for standard mail folders this is very
significant in regard to the sharing of the special folders such
as calendar, contacts, journal, notes, and tasks. The sharing of
the special folders marks the introduction of meaningful collaboration
with Outlook on an IMAP based messaging platform. The collaborative
features of Outlook that were once available only with Exchange
are now a reality without Exchange.
The Connector adds a toolbar of five buttons to the Outlook menu
which allows the user to configure e-mail accounts, set folder synchronization
options, share folders and set folder access permissions. Aside
form this toolbar the user experience of using Outlook with the
Connector is essentially unchanged from that of Outlook with Exchange.
Connector toolbar buttons:
- IMAP Mailboxes - Configure e-mail accounts and local storage
(PST) files. Existing PST files can be used or a new PST file can
be created. Profiles, mail accounts and Personal Storage Files can
also be managed using the standard Outlook and Windows Control Panel
menus.
- Mailbox - Specify the IMAP server and IMAP account logon information
to which the Outlook e-mail account mail folders are synchronized.
- Folders - Allows the user to set up 4 modes of folder synchronization.
It also allows the user to share folders by granting specific access
rights to specific users or all users. Connector folder permissions
are synonymous with IMAP ACL’s.
- Synchronize - When pressed, this button synchronizes the selected
folder in Outlooks PST file (local message store) with the corresponding
folder on the IMAP server.
- About - Provides Connector version and company information.
With UnixWare® Office Mail Server
and the SCOoffice Mail Connector combined users can collaborate
seamlessly. Following are some examples of collaboration:
- Shared public and private folders
- Shared special folders - Contacts, Journals, Notes, Tasks, etc.
- Fine grained user access controls
- Shared global address lists
- Shared Calendars
- Delegate calendar administration
- Direct booking of resources
- Private Discussion Groups
5.2 SCOoffice Address Book for Microsoft Outlook
The SCOoffice Mail Connector includes an additional Outlook
extension called the SCOoffice Address Book. This feature provides
seamless Outlook address list integration and a persistent address
list display which allows the user to scroll through address book
contents without having to perform a search. Further, it provides
increased address book search performance, customizable sorting,
and customizable address list search criteria based on LDAP attributes.
The result is usability superior to native Outlook LDAP address
books.
Like the Connector, the Address Book is compatible with all versions
of Microsoft Outlook. Since the Address Book is a MAPI service provider
Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 are required to be configured in Corporate
Workgroup mode so that the necessary services of Outlook will be
installed and enabled. Outlook 97 and Outlook 2002 have no concept
of the Corporate Workgroup mode and provide the necessary services
by default.
6. Partner Products
6.1 Anti-Virus
The UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 supports anti-virus products from Sophos (http://www.sophos.com)
and Computer Associates (http://www.ca.com)
out of the box. Other products may require additional configuration.
6.2 Clustering
SCO provides the Reliant® HA clustering
solution for UnixWare®. The latest version
of ReliantHA comes with sample scripts and macros that can be used
to configure a clustered Mail Server environment. ReliantHA allows
the creation of high-availability clusters of 2-4 nodes, with all
nodes simultaneously active. The product supports automated fault
detection and recovery with standard Intel-based servers and off-the-shelf
RAID and networking solutions.
Additional information on Reliant/HA can be found at: http://www.SCO.com/products/clustering
6.3 Backup Products
The UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 supports a wide range of backup software solutions including:
These products offer many competitive features. SCO recommends
that you examine them closely to determine which solution is the
right one for your application.
6.4 FAX Products
Faximum Software's Faximum Messaging Server is specifically designed
to integrate with the UnixWare® Office
Mail Server. For additional details on this product see the Faximum
website at: http://www.faximum.com/fms
Esker's VSI-Fax product is another fax product that is compatible
with the UnixWare® Office Mail Server.
Information of VSI fax can be found at: http://www.esker.com
6.5 Time Management
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 works seamlessly with time management solutions, including the
Steltor CorporateTime Server and CorporateTime Outlook Connector
products recently acquired by Oracle.
6.6 Trust Services
UnixWare® Office Mail Server Release
2.0 has been tested with SSL Webserver certificates issued by Thawte
(http://www.thawte.com).
Certificates that are compatible with the Apache Web server will
generally function with Mail Server Release 2.0.
7. System Requirements
Supported Operating Platforms:
- 10 User UnixWare® Office Mail Edition
includes the UnixWare® Base Edition
and supports up to 1Gb of RAM
- 100 User UnixWare® Office Mail Edition
includes the UnixWare® Business Edition
and supports up to 4Gb of RAM
RAM: Minimum 64MB system + 1MB per connected user, 512MB
recommended (in addition to platform requirements)
Processor: A single 2Ghz CPU is adequate for servicing up
to 5,000 simultaneous user accounts
Disk Space: Minimum 40MB system + appropriate mailbox allocation
per user (in addition to platform requirements)
Networking: TCP/IP Networking with DNS name resolution configured
Installation Profile: UnixWare 7.1.3 + LKP + Web Server
profile
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