Global System Services Corporation (GSS) - The leading provider of email and messaging, directory services, and groupware consulting and professional services

> Network Administrator Guide > Mail Roadmap

8.2.1

Chapter 1 - cc:Mail Roadmap (1/1)

A cc:Mail system consists of e-mail applications for users, back-end communications software, and administrative tools. These software components work together to integrate OS/2, UNIX, Macintosh, DOS, and Windows workstations into a cross-platform cc:Mail system. Before planning a new cc:Mail system, you'll want to get a clear understanding of the components and overall architecture. This article will provide a roadmap to the components of a cc:Mail system and will help you see how they work and how they fit together.

cc:Mail from 50,000 feet

Looking at a cc:Mail system from the highest level, we can see there are a few basic components (see Figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1: 50,000 Foot View of a cc:Mail System

All cc:Mail systems, regardless of the number of users, have at least a post office, user mail applications and administrative software. If the post office exchanges messages with other post offices or other types of e-mail systems, it may also have one or more cc:Mail Routers and e-mail gateways. These components are described below.

1. Post Office - Most of the cc:Mail system components work by accessing shared files over a network. A set of cc:Mail database files is called a post office. A post office may be accessed by multiple users at the same time or shared. A post office contains a directory of users, mailing lists, and cc:Mail messages.

2. User Mail Applications - User mail applications are the programs that users run to send and receive cc:Mail messages. Usually, these applications read and write messages from a post office.

3. Administrative Software - Programs used to create and maintain post offices are administrative software. These include programs for managing user mailboxes, mailing lists and so forth, as well as programs used to maintain the cc:Mail database files.

4. cc:Mail Routers - cc:Mail Routers deliver messages between post offices and allow Mobile users to exchange mail with the post office. A cc:Mail Router can also deliver updates to the names and addresses listed in post office.

5. Gateways - Lotus and other vendors provide a variety of different gateways that allow cc:Mail users to exchange mail with users of other types of e-mail systems such as the Internet, Notes Mail and MHS based mail systems.

6. cc:Mail Mobile Users - Post offices can have local and Mobile users. Local users access a post office over a LAN with a user mail application. Mobile users download their messages from a post office via a cc:Mail Router.cc:

Mail in its Natural HabitatLooking at the diagram above, you may be wondering how cc:Mail works with different types of networks; where the actual processing occurs; when and how messages are delivered, or where data and software are stored. These and other common questions can be broken down into three areas:

1. The relationship of cc:Mail to the network
2. The cc:Mail file sharing database
3. Important cc:Mail system characteristics

Before you can understand how cc:Mail works, you'll have to know a little about its natural habitat -- an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model network.

Figure 1.2: The OSI Reference Model Snapshot

The figure above includes simplified descriptions of each layer. What's interesting about the OSI model is that it defines an open, hardware-independent system of networking where application programs do not need to concern themselves with lower layers of the network. In fact, nearly all methods of providing access to files over a network can be generally described by the OSI model. These observations will help you to understand the cc:Mail system architecture.

The Relationship of cc:Mail to the Network

One of the implications of the the OSI model is that application software does not necessarily have to support specific network hardware or protocols in order to access information over a network. Accessing and sharing files over a network involves software components on both file servers and workstations. Together, these software components are sometimes referred to as the network operating system. The network operating system does not include application software. Examples of network operating systems, include Novell NetWare, Banyan VINES and Microsoft Lan Manager. In practice, network operating systems provide file I/O redirection and file sharing services. File I/O redirection simply means that an application program need not be concerned with whether files are stored on a local drive or a file server over a network.

The key to understanding cc:Mail is that the software components comprising the cc:Mail system are application software. In other words, cc:Mail is not a client/server system. It may surprise you to learn that, technically, the user mail applications are not data communications applications at all but database applications. Although client/server systems are very popular, the cc:Mail file sharing schema has several key strengths.

Before describing the cc:Mail system architecture further, I'd like to mention that the reason cc:Mail administrators and network professionals sometimes find cc:Mail confusing is that not all of the cc:Mail system components work through file sharing. The cc:Mail Router, for example, is both a database application that moves messages between post offices and a powerful data communications program. The cc:Mail Router can communicate in a variety of ways with other cc:Mail Routers and cc:Mail Mobile users. Unlike user mail applications that access post office files independent of the lower layers of the network, the cc:Mail Routers and e-mail gateways sometimes use lower-level protocols to communicate with other software processes across a network.

This hybrid, non-client/server approach to electronic messaging, including both database applications designed to share files in an OSI model network, and network savvy data communications software has several important implications:

Network operating system and protocol independence: A cc:Mail system can be implemented in any network environment that supports file sharing and record locking. The software components comprising the cc:Mail system use standard file access mechanisms provided by the operating systems of the workstations on which they run. Redirection of file access mechanisms over a network is handled by the network operating system.

Distributed processing: No processing must occur on the file server. The cc:Mail user mail applications, administrative utilities, Routers and gateways all use the processing power of the workstations they run on. User mail applications communicate with each other by reading and writing data to post offices. Normally, no cc:Mail software runs on the file server.

Interoperability: Interoperability is a function of the network operating system software and of applications. User mail applications running on different types of computers can access the same cc:Mail post office when the network operating systems supports file sharing across platforms. Most network operating systems support more than one type of computer.

Platform-independent file attachment handling: Any file can be attached to a cc:Mail message and routed through a cc:Mail system. Files can be singular text or binary objects or they may be complex, consisting of multiple parts. Any user mail application can attach files. The integrity of complex files, such as Macintosh files, is preserved throughout the cc:Mail system, even when messages including these files are forwarded by user mail applications running in operating environments that do not support complex files.

Dedicated cc:Mail Routers and gateways: cc:Mail Routers and e-mail gateways run on dedicated workstations. In some network environments, however, Routers and gateways may also be run on a non-dedicated file server.

The cc:Mail File Sharing Database

Architectural characteristics of cc:Mail are made possible by its application-layer interface with the network operating system. These characteristics include:

Cross-platform architecture: Since interoperability is built-in to all cc:Mail software components, the cc:Mail system is inherently cross-platform. The cc:Mail software supports several workstation operating systems. For the cc:Mail system to function across platforms, the network operating system must support the sharing of files between the different types of computers.

Data transparency: In a cc:Mail system messages can be exchanged between different types of computers without the need for data conversion. The cc:Mail database provides a common format for message data exchanged between different types of computers. As a result, cc:Mail messages produced on one type of computer can be read on another.

Instant local delivery: Message delivery is instant between users on the same cc:Mail post office. When cc:Mail a message is sent between users on the same post office, the mail application on the sender's workstation immediately writes the message into the recipient's mailbox. Sending and delivering the message are the same thing.

Store-and-forward: Messages that are addressed to users at other post offices or users of other e-mail systems are queued up for a cc:Mail Router or for an e-mail gateway. Messages are stored in the originating post office until a cc:Mail Router or e-mail gateway sends then to the next destination.

Efficient storage: When a message is sent to multiple recipients, only one copy of the message is stored in each post office. Only if a user replies to or forwards a message will a new copy be generated.

Important cc:Mail System Characteristics

There are a few other important characteristics cc:Mail as a system, including:

Optional local or centralized administration: Post offices can be administered locally or administration functions can be centralized using cc:Mail's Automatic Directory Exchange and Wide Area Mail Management capabilities.

Scalability: A cc:Mail system can easily be expanded to interconnect large numbers of users and many sites. This is accomplished by designing appropriate cc:Mail message routing topologies.

Extensibility: A cc:Mail system can include e-mail gateways to many other types of e-mail systems. One e-mail gateway can typically service many post offices, if not an entire cc:Mail system. By finding common message formats between e-mail systems, a cc:Mail system can communicate with virtually any other e-mail system.

Automation: Many routine tasks, including maintenance tasks, can be automated through batch or command files. Directory information can also be automatically synchronized between cc:Mail post offices.

Open Application Program Interfaces (APIs): There are several APIs that enable administrators, system integrators, and programmers to access cc:Mail databases and to use cc:Mail systems as a transport for application-specific data. Available APIs include ASCII file formats for the import and export of messages, file attachments and directory information as well as software APIs such as Vendor-Independent Messaging (VIM) and Microsoft's Mail API (MAPI).

Messaging reliant applications: The APIs and automation facilities available for cc:Mail make it possible to develop both commercial and internal applications that use the cc:Mail system as a transport for application-specific data. For example, the Lotus Organizer product relies on cc:Mail messages containing attached files. An example of an internal application would be an automated process that picks up database files at one site and sends them through a cc:Mail system to another site where the files are detached from cc:Mail messages and dropped off in a specific directory for processing by a database application.

A Closer Look at the cc:Mail Post Office

A cc:Mail post office is a set of database files that contain messages, user mailboxes, bulletin boards, mail lists, a Router call lists, directory exchange information and a post office profile. Most of these post office components are straightforward, and are summarized below:

cc:Mail Messages: A cc:Mail message typically consists of text and may include one or more file attachments. Messages are not events but data that are acted upon by cc:Mail software. Messages can include one or more attachments. Messages can be unique, having only one recipient, or non-unique, having multiple recipients.

Mailbox: A cc:Mail mailbox is a location in a post office where a user can send, receive and store their e-mail messages. A mailbox is usually associated with the name of a user, such as "John Smith" or with a function like "Information Systems" or "Facilities". A mailbox can contain folders and private mailing lists. Mailboxes are private and are password protected. Even the cc:Mail Administrator cannot look at private messages without changing a user's password and leaving any new messages marked as having been read.

Folders: Folders are locations within a user's mailbox where messages can be filed away. Users can create folders and copy or move messages to them through the user mail application. Certain folders, including "Trash," "Drafts," and "Message Log," have pre-defined, designated uses in the user mail applications.

Bulletin Boards: The cc:Mail Administrator can create bulletin boards in the post office where users can post messages for all to see. In Release 6, the administrator can also set up restricted bulletin boards, that can be viewed only by a specific group of users.

cc:Mail Directory: Contains a list of user names and post offices. The cc:Mail Directory can contain the names of local and remote users. It can also contain the names of users using other e-mail systems.

Mailing Lists: Public mailing lists are created and managed by the cc:Mail Administrator. Public mailing lists can be used by all users to address messages. In addition, users may create private mailing lists for their own use. Both public and private mailing lists contain only names from the cc:Mail Directory.

Local and Remote Users and Post Offices: A post office can have local and remote users, along with other post offices, listed in its directory. The terms local and remote are relative to the post office under discussion. The term local user refers to any user whose e-mail messages are stored in the post office referred to, and the term remote user refers to any user whose e-mail messages are stored in another post office. The term local post office means whatever post office is referred to, and the term remote post office means any other post office.

Router Call List: The Call List specifies which other post offices the cc:Mail Router should connect to, how often to connect, and what types of messages to exchange. The call list is not visible to users.

Post Office Profile: The administrator can set a number of attributes in the Post Office Profile which apply to the entire post office including security features such as the minimum password length, password expiration, and number of incorrect login tries before a user's mailbox is locked.

cc:Mail Products and Packaging

The cc:Mail product line has changed and evolved over the years to include a number of product packages, each containing different subsets of cc:Mail software to meet the needs of diverse customers. Since the product packaging is likely to change again in the future, I will explain what the individual components are, so you can make sure you have what you need in any particular cc:Mail product before you buy.

Front-end Components: User Mail Applications

User mail applications are the programs that people use to access their mailboxes and send messages. Lotus provides mail applications for the OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, DOS and Windows operating systems. Some of the main capabilities of the user mail applications include:

Viewing filters: Most user mail applications also have viewers allowing common file types to be displayed and printed without the user having an application that can handle the specific file format.

Application integration: The cc:Mail user mail applications can launch applications associated with specific file types based on file names or other file attributes, depending on the operating environment.

Mail enabling: In the MS Windows operating environment, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) are also supported. DDE and OLE provide facilities for mail enabling applications. In the OS/2 operating environment, the OS/2 Workplace shell allows all objects to be mail-enabled.

Multimedia Messaging

The user mail applications have no intrinsic multimedia functionality. However, application integration allows user mail applications to launch other applications capable of graphics, sound or video output, when present. Workstations can be configured with a set of helper applications that are launched whenever a user opens a multimedia file, such as an MS Windows wave sound file or a QuickTime movie file, within a cc:Mail message. Similarly, multimedia functionality across platforms depends on the presence of applications on each platform that can handle the same type of file.

There are many more specific user mail application features worth mentioning, however, the focus of this book is on cc:Mail as a system rather than on end-user functionality. While the popularity of cc:Mail is largely due to its award-winning user mail applications, cc:Mail could not have won millions of users without a robust and highly configurable back-end.

Back-End Components

Back-End components are the parts of the cc:Mail system that are "behind the scenes" from the user's point of view. These include the programs and tools that the cc:Mail Administrator uses to build and maintain the cc:Mail system as well as the mechanisms for mail exchange to and from other post offices and e-mail systems. Combinations of cc:Mail back-end components have been packaged under various names, such as cc:Mail Platform Pack, cc:Mail Group Pack, cc:Mail Router, etc. Lotus is currently bundling the back-end components together in a separate box called cc:Mail Post Office and Router which contains all the back-end components but does not contain any user mail applications. Regardless of how they're bundled, it's important to know which components you need to build your system.

At a minimum, the administrative tools are required for the installation and maintenance of any cc:Mail system. In Release 6, back-end components are available for the DOS and OS/2 operating environments. For the DOS environment, the administrative tools include ADMIN.EXE, CHKSTAT.EXE, RECLAIM.EXE, ANALYZE.EXE, CCSAVE.EXE, and others depending on which version of cc:Mail you have (In the OS/2 operating environment, the administrative tools are named ADMIN2.EXE, CHKSTAT2.EXE, RECLAIM2.EXE, ANALYZE2.EXE, and so forth). These tools provide the following capabilities:

ADMIN.EXE

Creation of post offices
Creation of mailboxes, bulletin boards and mailing lists
Control of post office security and passwords
Control of message routing and directory propagation between post offices

CHKSTAT.EXE

Basic diagnostic checking of the post office files
Correction of problems in post office files
Statistical reporting of mail and disk space usage and other user and post office information

RECLAIM.EXE

Routine post office maintenance to defragment the post office database, reclaim disk space and optimize performance

ANALYZE.EXE

Advanced diagnostic checking of the post office files

CCSAVE.EXE

Live backup while the post office is in use

If you plan to have more than one cc:Mail post office, or if you have users who will use one of the cc:Mail Mobile products to dial into a cc:Mail Router, you will also need one or more cc:Mail Routers. Since connectivity between multiple sites is a key reason for implementing an e-mail system, most cc:Mail installations do have at least one Router. The cc:Mail Router provides the following functions:

Moves messages between cc:Mail post office databases on a LAN

Exchanges messages with other cc:Mail Routers

Exchanges messages with users of cc:Mail Mobile

Sends, receives and applies updates to the cc:Mail Directory

Runs batch or command files scheduled by the administrator

In the DOS operating environment the cc:Mail Router program in named ROUTER.EXE and in the OS/2 environment, it is named ROUTER2.EXE.

Another back-end component that provides a lot of useful capabilities is Import/Export. The Import/Export utilities handle processing of both messages and the directory as follows:

Exports messages from the post office into a text file

Imports messages from a text file to the post office

Exports directory entries from the post office into a text file

Imports directory entries and changes from a text file into the post office

Allows the administrator to export a user's entire mailbox and messages out of one post office and import it into another one

In the DOS operating environment the Import/Export programs are named IMPORT.EXE and EXPORT.EXE. In the OS/2 operating environment the Import/Export programs are named IMPORT2.EXE and EXPORT2.EXE.

Several non-Lotus e-mail gateway products that work with cc:Mail use Import/Export as a mechanism for moving mail messages and directory updates back and forth between cc:Mail and a non-native format such as X.400. The Import/Export utilities may also be used in DOS batch files or OS/2 command files that are run automatically by the cc:Mail Router. The Import utility, for example, can be used to deliver status or alert messages to the cc:Mail Administrator when a specified condition is true.

The last back-end component, new in Release 6, is the post office Migration tool which allows you to convert a post office created with a cc:Mail version older than Release 6 to the new Release 6 post office format. See Appendix A for more information about using the Migration tool.

cc:Mail Release 6 - the Evolution of cc:Mail

cc:Mail Release 6 is the latest generation of cc:Mail software and it contains significant improvements over all previous versions of cc:Mail. The most significant change is the new 24x7 post office architecture. The 24x7 post office can stay up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even during the time that post office maintenance procedures are in progress. Since previous versions of cc:Mail did not have this capability, cc:Mail administrators had to schedule post office downtime to the maintenance utilities. The Release 6 database architecture provides 24x7 capability which greatly simplifies the steps necessary to perform routine maintenance on the post office database files.

The Release 6 database design also includes support for features that will be added to future releases of the user mail applications. As a result of the database file format change, you should be aware of differences between Release 6 and earlier versions, particularly with respect to migrating to Release 6 from previous versions of cc:Mail which you may already have installed.

What's New in Release 6

cc:Mail Release 6 contains a number of new features which significantly enhance the product, particularly for cc:Mail systems with a large number of sites as well as for international and multinational organizations.

24x7 post office operation with on-line maintenance
Support for European character sets
Directory sorting based on language
Bulletin board membership
Maximum post office size doubled from 2 to 4 gigabytes
Improved security and encryption
Mobile message and directory synchronization
Usability improvements in the user mail applications

The cc:Mail database file format used in Release 6 is sometimes called "DB8." DB8 is actually the version number of the post office file format. Database version numbers, sometimes called "post office levels," are independent of version numbers used for cc:Mail software. Interestingly, cc:Mail software prior to Release 6, used post office level 6, or "DB6." However, most Release 6 software is not compatible with DB6.

Next Chapter...

Back to Contents

©1996, 1997 by Global System Services Corporation (GSS) Portions of this material are ©1995 by Ron Herardian

DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPY OF THIS INFORMATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. NO PART OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM BY ANY ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL MEANS, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL, WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF GLOBAL SYSTEM SERVICES CORPORATION.