30.1 Configuring Basic SMTP/MIME Settings

Basic SMTP/MIME settings configure the following aspects of GWIA functioning:

  • Number of send and receive threads that the GWIA starts and how often the send threads poll for outgoing messages

  • Hostname of the server where the GWIA is running and of a relay host if your system includes one

  • IP address to bind to at connection time if the server has multiple IP addresses

  • Whether to use 7-bit or 8-bit encoding for outgoing messages

  • How to handle messages that cannot be sent immediately and must be deferred

  • Whether to notify senders when messages are delayed

  • Whether to display GroupWise version information when establishing an SNMP connection

To set the GWIA basic SMTP/MIME settings:

  1. In the GroupWise Admin console, browse to and click the GWIA.

  2. Click the SMTP/MIME tab, then click Settings.

  3. Fill in the fields:

    Enable SMTP Service: SMTP service is on by default. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑smtp switch.

    Number of SMTP Send Threads: The SMTP send threads setting lets you specify the number of threads that process SMTP send requests. Each thread is equivalent to one connection. The default is 8 threads. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑sd switch.

    Number of SMTP Receive Threads: The SMTP receive threads setting lets you specify the number of threads that process SMTP receive requests. Each thread is equivalent to one connection. The default is 16 threads. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑rd switch.

    Kill Threads on Exit or Restart: Configure the GWIA to stop immediately, without allowing its send/receive threads to perform their normal shutdown procedures. The normal termination of all send/receive threads can take several minutes, especially if a large message is being processed. By terminating immediately, a needed restart can occur immediately as well. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑killthreads switch.

    Enable iCal Service: Configure the GWIA to convert outbound GroupWise Calendar items into MIME text/calendar iCal objects and to convert incoming MIME text/calendar messages into GroupWise Calendar items. Enabling the iCal service provides the functionality described in Accepting or Declining Internet Items in the GroupWise 2014 R2 Client User Guide. This setting corresponds with the GWIA's ‑‑imip switch.

    Hostname/DNS "A Record" Name: The Hostname/DNS “A Record” name setting lets you identify the hostname of the server where the GWIA resides, or in other words the A Record in your DNS table that associates a hostname with the server’s IP address (for example, gwia.novell.com). This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s --hn switch.

    If you leave this field blank, the GWIA uses the hostname obtained by querying the hosts file from the server.

    Relay Host for Outbound Messages: The relay host setting can be used if you want to use one or more relay hosts to route all outbound Internet email. Specify the IP address or DNS hostname of the relay hosts. Use a space between relay hosts in a list. Relay hosts can be part of your network or can reside at the Internet service provider’s site. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s --mh switch.

    If multiple hosts are specified, they are used in a round robin fashion with the GWIA starting over at the top of the list each time the GWIA is started. If there is an error sending through one host, the error will be logged in the GWIA logs and the GWIA will use the next host in the list. As long as the error wasn’t a fatal error, the message that failed to send will be placed in a deferred folder and the GWIA will follow the intervals configured for deferred messages. If a fatal error is received, the GWIA will stop attempting to contact the host and report the error message in the GWIA logs.

    If you want to use a relay host, but you want some outbound messages sent directly to the destination host rather than to the relay host, you can use a route configuration file (route.cfg). Whenever a message is addressed to a user at a host that is included in the route.cfg file, the GWIA sends the message directly to the host rather than to the relay host. For information about creating a route.cfg file, see Section 30.8, Using a Route Configuration File.

    Scan Cycle for Send Directory: The Scan cycle setting specifies how often the GWIA polls for outgoing messages. The default is 10 seconds. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s --p switch.

    Use 7 Bit Encoding for All Outbound Messages: By default, the GWIA uses 8-bit MIME encoding for any outbound messages that are HTML-formatted or that contain 8-bit characters. If, after connecting with the receiving SMTP host, the GWIA discovers that the receiving SMTP host cannot handle 8-bit MIME encoded messages, the GWIA converts the messages to 7-bit encoding.

    With this option selected, the GWIA automatically uses 7-bit encoding and does not attempt to use 8-bit MIME encoding. You should use this option if you are using a relay host that does not support 8-bit MIME encoding. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s --force7bitout switch.

    Maximum Number of Hours to Retry a Deferred Message: Specify the number of hours after which the GWIA stops trying to send deferred messages. The default is 96 hours (4 days). You might prefer to receive an undeliverable notification sooner, perhaps in as little as 5 hours. A deferred message is any message that can’t be sent because of a temporary problem (host down, MX record not found, and so on). This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s --maxdeferhours switch.

    Intervals to Retry a Deferred Message: Specify in a comma-delimited list the number of minutes after which the GWIA retries sending deferred messages. The default is 20, 20, 20, 60. The GWIA interprets this list as follows: It retries 20 minutes after the initial send, 20 minutes after the first retry, 20 minutes after the second retry, and 60 minutes after the third retry. Thereafter, it retries based on the final retry interval until the number of hours specified in the Maximum Number of Hours to Retry a Deferred Message field is reached. You can provide additional retry intervals as needed. It is the last retry interval that repeats until the maximum number of hours is reached. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑msgdeferinterval switch.

    Return Notification to Sender When a Message Is Delayed: Provide a notification message to users whose email messages cannot be immediately sent out across the Internet. This provides more noticeable notification to users than manually checking the Properties page of the sent item to see whether it has been sent. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑delayedmsgnotification switch.

    Do Not Publish GroupWise Information on an Initial SMTP Connection: This option suppresses the GroupWise version and copyright date information that the GWIA typically responds with when contacted by another SMTP host or a telnet session. It is enabled by default. This setting corresponds with the GWIA’s ‑‑nosmtpversion switch.

  4. Click Save, then click Close to return to the main Admin console window.