11.3 Setting Up the New Post Office

You should have already reviewed Section 11.2, Planning a New Post Office and filled out the New Post Office Summary Sheet. Complete the following tasks to create a new post office.

11.3.1 Creating the New Post Office

  1. Make sure that you are logged in to the tree where you want to create the post office.

    This must be the same tree as the domain that the post office belongs to (Tree Name on the New Post Office Summary Sheet).

  2. (Conditional) If you are creating the post office on a different machine from where you are running ConsoleOne, make sure that ConsoleOne has write access to the location where you want to create the post office.

    Linux:

    Mount the file system where you want to create the new post office. For assistance, see Section 2.1, ConsoleOne on Linux.

    Windows:

    Map a drive to the location where you want to create the new post office.

  3. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the eDirectory container where you want to create the post office (eDirectory Container on the New Post Office Summary Sheet), then click New > Object.

    New Object dialog box

  4. Double-click GroupWise Post Office, then fill in the fields in the Create GroupWise Post Office dialog box from your New Post Office Summary Sheet.

    Create GroupWise Post Office dialog box

  5. Make sure the Configure Links and Define Additional Properties options are selected, then click OK to display the Link Configuration Wizard.

    Link Configuration Wizard

  6. Follow the on-screen instructions to define how the post office links to its domain (Link to Domain on the New Post Office Summary Sheet).

    When you finish defining the link, ConsoleOne creates the Post Office object and displays the post office Identification page.

    Post Office Identification property page

  7. Provide a description for the new post office (Description on the New Post Office Summary Sheet).

  8. Click GroupWise > Post Office Settings to display the Post Office Settings page.

    Post Office Settings property page

  9. Select the software distribution directory for the post office (Software Distribution Directory on the New Post Office Summary Sheet).

  10. Click GroupWise > Security to display the Security page.

    Security property page

  11. Provide the post office security level and authentication type for the post office (Post Office Security Level on the New Post Office Summary Sheet.

  12. Click OK to save the post office information.

  13. Continue with Configuring the POA for the New Post Office.

11.3.2 Configuring the POA for the New Post Office

Although there are many POA settings, the default settings are sufficient to get your post office operational. However, there are a few important settings that you can conveniently modify before you install the agent software.

  1. In ConsoleOne, double-click the new Post Office object.

  2. Right-click the POA object, then click Properties to display the POA Identification page.

    POA Identification property page

  3. Provide a description for the POA.

    The description displays on the POA agent console as the POA runs.

  4. Select the platform where the POA will run (Agent Platform on the New Post Office Summary Sheet).

  5. (Conditional) If you have created the post office in a clustered environment, follow the instructions in the appropriate section of the GroupWise 2012 Interoperability Guide.

  6. Click OK to save the POA configuration information.

    For more POA configuration options, see Section 12.12, Changing POA Configuration to Meet Post Office Needs.

    Because the security of POA connections with the GroupWise Windows client is vital to the security of your GroupWise system, the following message appears:

    SSL message

  7. (Optional) Click Yes to open the Network Address tab of the POA so that you can enable SSL for the POA, as described in Section 36.3.3, Securing the Post Office with SSL Connections to the POA, and to set up an external IP address for it, as described in Section 36.3.1, Securing Client/Server Access through an External Proxy Server.

    or

    Click No to configure SSL later.

    You continue to receive this message each time you modify the properties of the POA object until you configure SSL and an external address for the POA. However, you can continue with installing and starting the new POA without immediately establishing the recommended security configuration.

  8. Continue with Installing and Starting the New POA.

11.3.3 Installing and Starting the New POA

  1. Install and start the POA for the new post office on the server where you created the post office directory structure.

    For instructions, see Installing GroupWise Agents in the GroupWise 2012 Installation Guide.

  2. Continue with Setting Up User Access to the New Post Office.

11.3.4 Setting Up User Access to the New Post Office

The post office Access Mode determines how GroupWise client users access their mailboxes. By default, the GroupWise Windows client use Client/Server Access Mode to the post office. Client/Server Access Mode provides the following benefits:

  • Client/server access provides the greatest level of security. Users do not need rights to the post office directory because the GroupWise client does not write directly to databases in the post office. All database updates are performed by the POA.

  • Client/server access eliminates the need for separate network logins and passwords. This avoids problems with login restrictions, changing passwords, and insufficient network rights.

  • Client/server access allows the GroupWise client to maintain multiple simultaneous connections to the post office.

  • With client/server access mode, proxy rights can be granted to any user visible in the Address Book.

Historical Note: In GroupWise 5.x, the GroupWise client allowed the user to enter a path to the post office directory during login to facilitate Direct Access mode. The GroupWise 6.x and later Windows client no longer offers that login option. However, you can force the GroupWise 6.x and later Windows client to use Direct Access mode by starting it with the /ph switch and providing the path to the post office directory. However, this access mode is not recommended.

If you have not already done so, establish the recommended security configuration for the POA by following the instructions in: