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8.2.5a

Chapter 5a - cc:Mail Post Office (Database) Administration Methods (1/2)

This describes the command line options and syntax, the various menu options, and the statistical information which appears at the top of the administration program Main Menu.

The Administration Program Command Line

The basic parameters for the administration program allow the administrator to supply three pieces of information which are necessary for starting the administration program. These are the post office name, post office password and the path to where the post office database files are stored. The general command line format for the administration program is:

ADMIN PO-name PO-password PO-path

In addition to these three basic parameters, the administration command line also supports a number of other parameters which are primarily used to enable or disable specific features of the program. For backward compatibility and consistency with other cc:Mail administrative utilities, the administration program supports three slightly different types of command line syntax. This section will briefly explain the differences between these, and will provide a table for reference.

The Old Standard Syntax

The oldest and simplest command line syntax which is compatible with all DOS and OS/2 versions of the cc:Mail administration program requires simply that the post office name, post office password and post office path be entered, separated by spaces, on the administration program command line. Here’s a sample of how you would run the DOS version of ADMIN for a post office called ENCORE-SF which is located in O:\CCDATA and has a password of TOP!SECRET1

ADMIN ENCORE-SF TOP!SECRET1 O:\CCDATA

Parameters in the old standard command line syntax are not preceded by any type of identifier to indicate what information is being supplied. As a result, the command line parameters must be entered in a specific order or they will not be correctly interpreted by the administration program and the you will be prompted to re-enter the information. The post office name must come first, followed by the password and then the post office path. Any other parameters must come after the post office path on the command line. All of the command line parameters for the administration program are optional - - you can run the administration program by just typing "admin" for the DOS version or "admin2" for the OS/2 version, and the administration program will prompt you to input the post office name, password and path.

The advantage to using the old syntax is its simplicity and the fact that it is compatible with all DOS and OS/2 versions of the cc:Mail administration program. Many administrators who have upgraded from earlier versions of cc:Mail continue to use the old syntax out of habit, or because they have set up batch files or command files in the past, and haven’t updated them to use the newer syntax. The main drawbacks to using this older command line syntax are that it is sensitive to the order in which the parameters are entered, and this syntax may not be supported in the future.

The "/" Syntax

In addition to the old syntax just described, cc:Mail versions 4.x and later began supporting a new command line syntax which required a unique identifier before each parameter to indicate what information was being supplied. Since this new syntax explicitly identifies each piece of information being supplied on the command line, it avoids the problems associated with the order-dependent parameters of the old syntax and as a result, the administrator can enter the command line parameters in any order. Identifiers for the basic parameters are as follows:

Optionally, a dash "-" can be used instead of a slash "/" for each parameter.

Here are two examples of how to run the DOS version of ADMIN using the newer syntax for a post office called ENCORE-SF which is located in O:\CCDATA and has a password of TOP!SECRET1

ADMIN /NENCORE-SF /PTOP!SECRET1 /DO:\CCDATA

ADMIN /DO:\CCDATA /NENCORE-SF /PTOP!SECRET1

As you can see from the above examples, the order in which the parameters appear on the command line is not important. Just as with the old syntax, all of the parameters are optional, and the administration program will prompt you for any of the basic information which was not supplied on the command line.

New In Release 6

In Release 6, the administration program added support for a slight variation on the "/" command line syntax. This latest syntax is exactly the same as that just described above, except that it requires that you type a space between each "/" parameter and the data associated with it. So instead of "/Ppassword" to specify the password, you would specify "/P password".

This variation on the command line syntax was added for consistency with the other administrative utilities such as CHKSTAT, RECLAIM and ANALYZE, which have been completely rewritten for Release 6 and which only support this latest variation on the "/" syntax. If you frequently switch back and forth between using the administration program and the other administrative tools, it is easier to use the same command line syntax for all the programs. Here is an example of how to run the DOS version of ADMIN using the above described variation on the "/" syntax for a post office called ENCORE-SF which is located in O:\CCDATA and has a password of TOP!SECRET1

ADMIN /N ENCORE-SF /P TOP!SECRET1 /D O:\CCDATA

Do not mix any of the above three types of command line syntax on the same command line. The administration program will display an error message and then prompt you to re-enter the name password and path.

Optional Parameters

In addition to the post office name, password and directory, there are several other command line options which can be used to enable or disable specific functionality of the administration program. Here is a table which summarizes the optional command line parameters:

The /DIRPROP/Y parameter will enables Automatic directory Exchange (ADE) functionality for the post office. You only need to put this option on the command line once to turn the directory propagation functionality on. It will remain enabled until you run the administration program again with the /DIRPROP/N option. ADE is a whole topic in itself and requires some planning before you start to implement. Briefly, if you enable ADE, a record of all changes you make to the directory will be stored in the ##Directory Updates bulletin board, for later propagation to other post offices via cc:Mail Router. Where and how the updates propagate depends on your propagation topology. When you run the administration program with the /DIRPROP/Y parameter two new options "Manage ADE Profile" and "Change ADE Propagation" will also be added to the administration program Main Menu

.The /CALLLIST/Y parameter will cause the "Manage Call List" option to appear on the administration program Main Menu. This is where you schedule and control communications between post offices. Like the /DIRPROP parameter, you only have to use the /CALLLIST/Y parameter once to enable the functionality. The Manage Call List menu option remains available until you run the administration program with /CALLLIST/N to disable it.

After you run the administration program with /DIRPROP/Y and /CALLLIST/Y, the administration program menu will display additional administrative options for "Change ADE Propagation", "Manage ADE Profile" and "Manage Call List" as shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: The Administration Program Main Menu after running Admin with /DIRPROP/Y and /CALLLIST/Y

There are also some additional parameters which are specific to versions of the administration program prior to Release 6 as shown below:

Setting the /ADE parameter will slightly change the format of the Directory Update message stored in the ##Directory Updates bulletin board. This parameter was made obsolete in Release 6 because the format no longer makes a difference in how the updates are processed by the cc:Mail Router. Release 6 ADE defaults to the format that was equivalent to /ADE/1 in earlier versions.

The /DIRECTORY/n parameter is only valid when using the administration program to create a new post office. This parameter specifies how many entries (in thousands) you expect to add to the directory. This parameter became obsolete in Release 6 because the new database architecture does not require that space be reserved in advance for directory entries.

Setting up Default Parameters

There is a way to set up default command line parameters for the administration program (and all other DOS or OS/2 based cc:Mail programs) by using a cc:Mail configuration file called CCMAIL.INI which contains default settings you specify for all cc:Mail DOS and OS/2 based programs. The CCMAIL.INI file contains a for command line parameters and settings for each application. The product comes with a CCMAIL.INI file as shown below.

[Common Parameters]
; Place any command configuration commands here
Color Palette = VGAnew.pal

[Application Integration]
; Place any application integration definitions here

[Mail]
; Place any Mail specific commands here
; Define a personal dictionary
Personal Dictionary = C:\USER.LEX

[Admin]
; Place any Admin specific commands here

[TSRMail]
; Place any TSRMail specific commands here

[Notify]
; Place any Notify specific commands here

The CCMAIL.INI is an ASCII file that you can edit using any standard text editor. Go into the [Admin] section and insert any command line parameters you want to always use with the administration program. For example, if you wanted to set it up to automatically enter the post office name of ENCORE-PO, post office password of TOP!SECRET1 and post office directory of O:\CCDATA, you could modify the [Admin] section as follows:

[Admin]
; Place any Admin specific commands here
/N ENCORE-PO /P TOP!SECRET /D O:\CCDATA

When ADMIN runs, it looks for the file CCMAIL.INI. If the file is not found in the current directory, the administration program looks to see if you have an environment variable called CCCONFIG set to point to the filename and location of the cc:Mail configuration file you want to use. For example, if you had a CCMAIL.INI file in the \CCMAIL directory on your local hard disk, you would set the CCCONFIG variable to point to that location as shown below:

SET CCCONFIG = C:\CCMAIL\CCMAIL.INI

You may want to set the CCCONFIG environment variable in the AUTOEXEC.BAT or STARTUP.CMD files of the machines you use to do post office administration.

If you are setting the location with the CCCONFIG variable, the INI file does not have to be named CCMAIL.INI and can be given any valid DOS or OS/2 name.

Once you have edited your CCMAIL.INI file and set the CCCONFIG variable, you can run the administration program by just typing "admin". It will automatically pick up the other parameters from the CCMAIL.INI file, or whatever file you specified in the CCCONFIG environment variable.

Configuring your color palette

The administration program has had two color palettes, and many people prefer one over the other. The [Common Parameters] section of the CCMAIL.INI allows you to specify which color palette you prefer. You can set the Color Palette to VGAnew.pal to use the standard colors, or VGAold.pal to use the old color palette. The new color palette (which is not really that new any more) displays the menus as grey letters on light blue background. The old color palette displays the menus as blue letters on a black background, which many people find easier to read. If you want to try out the old color palette change the [Common Parameters] section of your CCMAIL.INI file to look like the example below.

[Common Parameters]
; Place any command configuration commands here
Color Palette = VGAnew.pal

The administration Main Menu

Depending on whether or not you have enabled the directory exchange and call list management features of administration for a post office, the administration program will have different options on the main menu. Figure 4.2 shows the Main Menu with all options enabled.

Figure 4.2: The administration Main Menu

The Manage Mail Directory, Manage Mailing Lists and Manage Bulletin Boards menu options and other options are summarized below.

Manage Call List

This menu option will only appear if you have run the administration program with the /CALLLIST/Y command line parameter. The cc:Mail Router makes connections, or calls, from one post office to one or more other post offices. The Call List contains the schedule of connections the Router will make to other post offices, and the characteristics of each scheduled call. The Call List can also be used to schedule Router to run automated tasks via DOS batch files or OS/2 command files.

Change ADE Propagation

This menu option will only appear if you have run the administration program with the /DIRPROP/Y command line parameter. Selecting Change ADE Propagation enables and disables the posting of changes made to the directory to the ##Directory Updates bulletin board. If you wanted to make a change to the post office directory, but did not want this change to propagate to other post offices with which you usually exchange directory updates, you could select Change ADE Propagation to temporarily disable posting of updates to the ##Directory Updates bulletin board. Once you had completed making the changes you didn’t want to propagate, you could then select Change ADE Propagation again to re-enable posting of all future directory updates to the ##Directory Updates bulletin board.

The current setting of ADE propagation (Yes or No) is shown in the upper right of the administration screen directly above the post office name.

Change Post Office Name

The Change Post Office Name menu allows you to specify a different name for the post office. Use this with caution if you are administering a post office in an established cc:Mail system. If you rename the post office, can will have repercussions on any other post office or cc:Mail Mobile users that connect it. It is generally not desirable to change the name of a post office which has been in production and which already communicates with other post offices. If you were to do so, you would have to notify the administrators of all other post offices with which you communicate (including all customers, vendors or other cc:Mail post offices outside your organization with which you communicate), and you would have to coordinate with all of the administrators to change your post office name in their directory at the same time you change it. You would also have to contact all your cc:Mail Mobile users to have them change the home post office specified in their Mobile configuration. Because of the complications associated with renaming a post office which is already part of a cc:Mail system, I strongly suggest you give careful consideration to a standard post office naming convention before rolling out your cc:Mail system.

Many administrators keep a "template" post office which is not used, but contains an up-to-date user Directory consistent with other post offices already in use in the cc:Mail system. When the administrator wants to add a new post office to the system, he or she can simply make a copy of the template post office, and then change the post office name of the copy to whatever the new post office is to be called. This is a much quicker way to create a new post office, than creating and populating one from scratch, and is the most common practical use for the Change Post Office Name function.

Changing Post Office and Call Passwords

The Change Post Office password allows the administrator to change the administrative password for the post office. This may be advisable when a cc:Mail administrator leaves your organization, or as a periodic change for better security of your cc:Mail system. The cc:Mail password is the key to administrative security of your cc:Mail system, and it allows someone to run the administration program, or any of the other administrative tools and utilities. If you feel the secrecy of your password has been compromized, it is wise to change it. Generally, only the cc:Mail administrator and any backup personnel know the password.

You should be aware that the post office password which was initially set is also the default Router Call password that your post office uses to identify itself to other post offices with which it connects. The first time your cc:Mail Router connects to another post office, it writes your call password into its directory entry at the other post office. This is to allow the other post office to authenticate your post office during future cc:Mail Router connections and to prevent someone from stealing your mail by initiating a cc:Mail Router connection from a post office with the same name as your post office.

Initially, both the post office password and the call password are not displayed in the upper right of the administration main menu.

The post office and call passwords are not displayed because they are the same, and presumably, if you are running the administration program, you already know the password. If you change the post office password, the call password does not change. Since the two passwords are now different, there is no guarantee that the administrator running the administration program knows both passwords and so the Call Password will now appear visible in the administration Main Menu as shown in Figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3: Visible Call Password in the administration Main Menu

Any time the two passwords are different, whether you have changed the call password or the post office password, the call password will be visible in the upper right of the administration Main Menu. If the passwords are not visible, you can assume they are the same.

The post office password is generally changed more often than the call password because of security requirements of limited access to running the administrative programs. The call password is changed very infrequently, because doing so would involve calling the administrators at all the other post offices which your cc:Mail Router calls and asking the administrator to clear your call password so it can be reset the next time your cc:Mail Router calls. Like changing your post office name, changing your call password involves the logistical overhead of coordinating with other cc:Mail post office administrators. If your Router initiates calls to many post offices outside your organization (or even within your organization if it is large) you will want to think carefully before changing the call password. If the call password does not match, the Router’s call will be refused by all other post offices it tries to connect to.

Change Mail Administrator

The Change Mail Administrator option is very straightforward and simply allows you to select another mailbox to be designated as the cc:Mail Administrator. The cc:Mail Administrator mailbox may be the name of the actual person who performs the administration, or it may be simply called "administrator". The cc:Mail Administrator mailbox is the only mailbox which can view the ##Directory Updates bulletin board and the propagation messages which are posted there. It also receives certain error or warning messages generated by cc:Mail Router if there is a problem connecting to another post office. Many automated processes may also be set up to automatically notify the Administrator if a problem is encountered.

In general, I recommended that you keep the administrator mailbox separate from the mailbox of the person(s) who do the actual administration. This provides consistency over the long term as the people responsible for cc:Mail administration may change, and avoids the inconvenience of mixing the personal mail of the administrator with other system messages mailed to the designated administrator mailbox.

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

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©1995-2005 by Global System Services Corporation (GSS). Portions of this material are copyright ©1995-1999 by Ron Herardian