Your Novell Filr site can be configured to send email through an existing email system or through the included Postfix SMTP outbound mail server. The following activities generate email from the Filr site:
Filr users can subscribe to email notifications, so that they automatically receive a message whenever content of interest changes. For more information, see Subscribing to a Folder or Filr
in Getting Informed
in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.
Filr users can configure folders that they own to send email notifications to other users. For more information, see Configuring Folders to Send Email Notifications to Other Users
in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.
Filr users can send email messages to folder contributors, as described in Sending an Email to Folder Contributors
in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.
Filr users can send notifications when a folder of file is shared, as described in Sharing Files and Folders
in the Filr 2.0: Web Application User Guide.
After installation, outbound email can be disabled, enabled and customized on the Filr site, as described in Section 5.0, Enabling and Customizing Filr’s Email Services. However, you must configure outbound email in the Filr appliance.
Follow the steps in Section 1.1, Changing Configuration Options for the Filr Appliance.
You can modify the following configuration options:
Use Local Postfix Mail Server: Select this option to use the Postfix mail server, which is the default mail system included with Filr. To use another mail system (such as GroupWise), deselect this option, then specify the appropriate information for the protocol, host, and port of the mail system that you want to use.
Protocol: Select the type of protocol your email system uses. For more information, see Section 1.9.3, Outbound Email Protocol.
Host: Specify the hostname of your SMTP mail server. For more information, see Section 1.9.4, Outbound Email Host.
Port: The port through which Filr can connect to the SMTP mail server. The default SMTP port of 25 is typically appropriate, unless the SMTP mail server requires port 465 or 587 for SMTPS connections.
Time Zone: Select the time zone that you want Filr to use when sending email messages. When the Filr site sends email notifications for scheduled events, the messages are time-stamped according to the time zone you specify here during installation. This setting allows you to use a time zone for email notifications that is different from the time zone where the server is located. For more information, see Section 1.9.4, Outbound Email Host.
User Name: Specify an email address to be used when sending outbound email. Many SMTP mail hosts require a valid email address before they establish the SMTP connection.
This user name is used to authenticate to the email server (if required), and is used as the From component of email notifications that are sent from Filr.
For more information, see Section 1.9.5, Outbound Email Authentication.
Password: Specify a password for the user name. Some email systems also require a password. Some do not. If authentication is required, you should also provide a password. For more information, see Section 1.9.5, Outbound Email Authentication.
Authentication required: Select this option to require authentication.
Allow sending email to all users: Select this option to allow users to send email to the All Users group.
By default, this functionality is not enabled. On a very large Filr site, when a user sends a message to all Filr users, a very large number of email messages is generated.
Force HTTPS links: Select this option for all links contained in outbound email messages to be secure HTTP (HTTPS) instead of HTTP.
If this option is not selected, links contained in outbound email messages match the way that the user who sends the email connects to the Filr site: if the user connects via HTTP, links are HTTP. If the user connects via HTTPS, links are HTTPS.
Enable STARTTLS: Select this option to enable STARTTLS on the Filr system. Depending on how your email application is configured, you might need to configure Filr outbound email with TLS over SMTP for secure email. Novell GroupWise, for example, can be configured to require this. If you are using GroupWise or another email application that requires this type of configuration, you can configure Filr with TLS over SMTP by enabling STARTTLS.
From email address override: Specify the email address that you want to appear in the From address for messages sent from the Filr site.
Use from email address override for all outbound email: Select this option to always use the address that you specified in the From email address override field for messages sent from Filr. (For more information about the activities that generate email from Filr, see Section 1.9.1, Understanding Outbound Email.)
If this option is not selected and there is an email address in the From email address override field, the email address is used only in messages that Filr sends out as a result of a subscription (either when you subscribe to receive email notifications about a file or folder, or another user subscribes you to receive notifications).
Connection Timeout (in seconds): Specify the amount of time before the connection times out.
Click OK, then click Reconfigure Filr Server for your changes to take effect.
NOTE:This stops and restarts your Filr server. As this results in server downtime, you should restart the server at off-peak hours.
Email systems communicate by using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). You need to determine whether the email system that you want your Filr site to communicate with is using SMTP or SMTPS (secure SMTP).
For GroupWise, you can check how the Internet Agent is configured:
In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Internet Agent object, then click Properties.
Click GroupWise > Network Address.
In the SMTP field, if the SSL column displays Disabled, GroupWise is using SMTP. If the SSL column displays Enabled, GroupWise is using SMTPS.
Click Cancel to close the Network Address page.
If the email system requires SMTPS, see Section 31.4, Securing Email Transfer.
In order to send messages to your email system, Filr needs to know the host name of your SMTP mail server.
The default SMTP port of 25 is typically appropriate, unless the SMTP mail server requires port 465 or 587 for SMTPS connections.
If you are using GroupWise, this is the host name of a server where the Internet Agent is running. GroupWise always uses port 25, even when SSL is enabled.
When the Filr site sends email notifications for scheduled events, the messages are time-stamped according to the time zone you specify here during installation. This setting allows you to use a time zone for email notifications that is different from the time zone where the server is located. The time zone list is grouped first by continent or region, optionally by country or state, and lastly by city. Common selections for United States time zones:
|
Time Zone |
Continent/City |
|---|---|
|
Pacific Time |
America/Los Angeles |
|
Mountain Time |
America/Denver |
|
Central Time |
America/Chicago |
|
Eastern Time |
America/New York |
Many SMTP mail hosts require a valid email address before they establish the SMTP connection. Some email systems can construct a valid email address if you specify only a valid user name; other email systems require that you specify the full email address for successful authentication. You should provide a user name (email address) to ensure a successful connection. Email notifications from the Filr system are sent using this email address in the From field.
Some email systems also require a password. If authentication is required, you should also provide a password.
Consider the following tips when using GroupWise or Exchange:
If you are using Novell GroupWise, the GroupWise Internet Agent does not require authentication in order to receive inbound messages. However, the /forceinboundauth startup switch is available for use in the Internet Agent startup file (gwia.cfg) to configure the Internet Agent to refuse SMTP connections where a valid email user name and password are not provided. The Internet Agent can accept just the user name or the full email address.
If you are using Microsoft Exchange and you set up the outbound email server to require authentication (by selecting the option Authentication Required), Exchange must be configured to allow the From address to be different from the user who is configured for Exchange authentication. The Exchange permission that you need to add is ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Sender.
This is required because Exchange, by default, enforces that the From address of outbound emails match the exchange user who you configured for authentication, and many emails that are sent from Filr use the From address of the Filr user who is performing an action.