Internet Exchange Messaging Server Version 5.1
Release Notes: October 1, 2001

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INTRODUCTION

In keeping with its mission of providing a complete email solution to its client's messaging needs, International Messaging Associates (IMA) has developed Internet Exchange Messaging Server (IEMS) 5, a messaging system designed to run on Linux and Windows platforms.

IEMS 5 is a complete, stand-alone, open architecture messaging system that complies with Internet standards. It provides security, scalability, mailing list management, web-based subscription and unsubscription, mail storage, filtering and vacation utility, disk quota management, excellent file attachment handling and support, optimized messaging handling and queue management, migration support, messaging connectivity for cc:Mail and Lotus Notes, web-based administration, centralized monitoring and control module, and web mail client.

This document discusses the product features of IEMS 5; and known problems and limitations that have been identified in this release. Hardware and software requirements for IEMS 5 installation are also included.



WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 5.1

Apart from fixing some issues outstanding in the version 5.0, this release introduces some new features:

Multilingual support at user level for both European and Asian (double-byte) languages, including support for non-ASCII mailbox names. Please note that this has required a change in the mapping between folder names and directory names in the Message Store. A conversion tool is automatically invoked during the upgrade procedure.

Separate TCP ports for System Administration and Webmail interfaces

SSL Support for Administrative and Web Mail interfaces, as well as for POP3 and IMAP4 access to the mailbox.

Message Queue Open API, allowing third-party development of applications interoperating with IEMS 5.

Attachment Removal Filter Module: and Open Source Message Queue Open API application able to remove file attachments with extensions or MIME media types deemed as dangerous by the System Administrator.



PRODUCT FEATURES

Internet Standards Support
IEMS 5 is specifically designed to conform to Internet standards to ensure system stability and flexibility. These standards include:

  • SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
    IEMS 5 communicates with mail hosts on the Internet using the SMTP. This protocol is used for the submission as well as the reception of messages. To communicate well with the Internet, IEMS 5 implements SMTP as two separate modules. A client program, SMTPC (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Client), delivers messages to the Internet. The server program, SMTPD (Simple MailTransfer Protocol Daemon), listens for incoming messages on the Internet.
  • BSMTP (Batch Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
    IEMS 5 includes a batch-mode implementation of SMTP supporting the BSMTP Media Type (RFC-2442). This is a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)-content type that is used to tunnel ESMTP (Extended SMTP) transactions through any MIME-capable transport. This feature allows the tunneling of a group of messages to a predefined Internet address while preserving the original envelope or delivery information of each message.
  • IMAP4 (Internet Mail Access Protocol version 4)
    IEMS 5 supports for IMAP4 allows users to access their mailboxes via IMAP4-capable clients, such as Microsoft Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, among others. By utilizing IMAP4, users can manipulate their mailboxes/folders on the server without having to download them to a local hard disk.
  • POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3)
    IEMS 5 supports for POP3 provides POP3-capable clients with another means of accessing their mailbox. Using POP3, users can retrieve messages from the local Message Store Inbox and store them in a local hard disk so they can be read in an off-line or disconnected state. The POP3 server supports multithreading for fast message retrieval.
  • LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
    IEMS 5 has a Directory Services that incorporates LDAP, an open directory access protocol especially designed to effectively manage information about users, groups, mailing lists, alias processing and mail routing. LDAP also has a rich set of searching capabilities that makes directory look up fast and efficient.

Security
To ensure the security of the messaging system, IEMS 5 has several layers of built-in security features, such as:

  • Anti-Virus Capability
    IEMS 5 performs simultaneous virus scanning on MIME and non-MIME message attachments. Once a virus is detected, the message can either be deleted, bounced back to the sender, or archived to a predefined location/directory for later manual processing.
  • Anti-Spam Capability
    The anti-spam module of IEMS 5 provides the administrator with options to control the reception of unsolicited and unwanted spam messages. Once identified, the offending spam mail can then be processed in a manner defined by the administrator.
  • Auto Text Insertion Engine
    The auto text insertion engine provides the capability to insert disclaimer messages into messages passing through the IEMS 5. The administrator can add different disclaimer messages based on the message source channel. The engine, which supports non-MIME and MIME message structure types, allows the system administrator to use plain and/or HTML text file format in the insertion process.
  • Attachment Removal Filter
    An Open Source Message Queue Open API application able to remove file attachments with extensions or MIME media types.

Scalability
IEMS 5's architecture is designed to support a distributed messaging environment to ensure that each IEMS 5 components will have sufficient computing resources to perform its tasks and to provide for future expansions. Thus, with IEMS 5, the various components can be run on different machines and operating systems concurrently.

Mailing List Management
The Distribution List Manager of IEMS 5 allows messages to be sent to all list's subscribers by simply submitting the said messages to a single address. The module also enables the system administrator or list owner to create electronic mailing lists that support the following features: mail blocking, adding and removing subscribers, and setting the preferred delivery options.

IEMS 5's Distribution List Archives allows members and non-members of the mailing list to view the archived messages of a mailing list.

Mailing List Subscription and Unsubscription
IEMS 5 also allows both members and non-members of a mailing list to subscribe to or unsubscribe from the mailing list available in the server.

Mail Storage
IEMS 5 features a Message Store that acts as a dedicated mail repository for storing, retrieving and manipulating messages, while also enabling users to access their mailboxes via POP3- and/or IMAP4-capable clients.

Filtering and Vacation Utility
IEMS 5 includes Mailsort that allows both the system administrator and end user to define rules so that the LMDA can copy, forward or move messages to preselected mailboxes/folders other than the Inbox. It can also generate automatic replies to incoming messages based on a predefined criteria. The Mailsort filtering utility implements rules based on certain attributes (i.e., message sender, recipient or subject) to process incoming mail at message delivery time. Another function is its ability to reject messages coming from the defined email addresses.

Disk Quota Management
IEMS 5 includes a Quota Agent that allows the system administrator to set and enforce disk quotas on all Message Store user accounts. This feature limits the amount of resources that is allocated to the individual users to prevent them from consuming all of the available disk space in the server. The Quota Agent generates reports in HTML and text file format that can be used by the system administrator in checking and verifing Message Store performance and space usage.

Excellent File Attachment Handling and Support
Transferring file attachments among disparate electronic messaging systemshave long been a problem for many messaging systems. In IEMS 5, attachment filenames and attributes are transferred among disparate mail systems fully preserved, preventing the loss and corruption of data regardless of the source and destination systems.

Optimized Message Handling and Queue Management
To speed up mail delivery and save on storage resources, IEMS 5 uses a Shared Message Queue structure. By using this structure, duplication of messages is avoided and processing overhead is minimized. IEMS 5 also features an SMTPC Queue Management that provides a mechanism for efficient message priority handling, the efficient processing of server-side ETRN (Extended Turn) requests, and improved message queuing strategies.

Migration Support
IEMS 5 provides comprehensive migration tools to help users move to an Internet standards-based environment smoothly and reliably. All address and mailbox information is transferred to the new system transparently, causing end users very minimal disruption. In addition, it supports the most common client software available in the market, allowing end users to immediately make use of system after the messaging system (backend) migration is complete.

Messaging Connectivity for cc:Mail and Lotus
IEMS 5 consists of migration tools to tunnel cc:Mail and Notes mail into the IEMS 5 system.

Centralized Monitoring and Control Module
IEMS 5 includes an MC (Monitoring Control) Responder that is used to automatically start or stop the IEMS 5 components. The MC Responder serves as a centralized monitoring and control module that manages the different modules running across multiple machines and operating systems.

Web-Based Administration
The web-based interfaces of IEMS 5 allows its users to manage the system via the Internet using any web browser.

Web-Based User Administration
This web-based interface allows each user to manage a number of properties of his/her own account. Starting with the release 5.1, this interface is multilingual: besides English, it supports Simplified Chinese (GB3212). In future releases, support will be added for Traditional (BIG5) Chinese, French, German and Spanish; a white paper will then be release to document how the Administrator may add support for custom languages.

Web Mail Client
Users of IEMS 5.1 are given a web-based mail client that allows them to compose, reply and forward messages using any web browser. This interface is also multilingual, with the same characteristics as the Web-Based User Administration. In addition, it is also possible to display (and reply to) mail messages wirtten in still unsupported languages (e.g., Japanese) as long as the browser used supports the relative encoding. Please note that the multilingual support in older browsers is often limited and buggy; for best results, we recommend to avoid versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer prior to 5.5, and versions of Netscape Navigator prior to 6.

 

SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

For optimum performance, it is recommended that IEMS 5 and its components to be installed using the following minimum configurations:

For Windows 98

  • Pentium or higher
  • Minimum recommended RAM: 64MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for applications: 200MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for message store: 1GB or dependent on the number of users

For Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 with SP4

  • Pentium or higher
  • Minimum recommended RAM: 96MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for applications: 200MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for message store: 1GB or dependent on the number of users

For Linux

  • Pentium or higher
  • Minimum recommended RAM: 64MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for applications: 200MB
  • Minimum recommended hard disk space for message store: 1GB or dependent on the number of users

IEMS 5 supports the following Linux distribution systems:

  • RedHat 6.2, 7.0, and 7.1
  • Caldera 2.3.1
  • VALinux 6.2.3
  • TurboLinux Server 6
  • Suse 7.1
  • Mandrake 7.2 and 8.0
  • RedFlag 2.0
  • Cosix (CS&S)

 

KNOWN PROBLEMS

The following problems have been identified in release 5.1. Please report any problems not identified below to support@ima.com.

Attachment Removal Filter module not added in the list of Preprocessor modules after upgrading to IEMS 5.1 for Linux
Upgrading IEMS 5.0 for Linux installation to IEMS 5.1 doesn't add the new Attachment Removal Filter module in the list of Preprocessor modules. To solve this problem, edit the /etc/iems.conf file and make sure the entry below under the [PreProcessor] includes the following entries:

    Module7=libfilter.so,FilterCheck,FIlterAttachment
    NumberofModules=8

Renaming local user mail attribute in LDAP causes the Message Store account to disappear
Remaning the mail attribute of a Message Store user using the LDAP admin page hides the account in the Message Store page. To unhide, rename the mail attribute to its original name in the Directory Server. Any changes to local accounts must be accomplished using the Message Store admin page.

Retrieving messages using POP3 client returns "Unable to lock message database" error
Accessing messages in a busy server using the POP3 client may cause the connection to the IEMS 5 POP3 server to discontinue with an error message "Unable to lock message database". This error is being returned in the mail client software and also logged in the IEMS 5 system.

Web Mail Client does not decode UUENCODE body part
The WebMail Client is not currently capable of understanding UUENCODE body parts resulting in its inability to decode/display UUENCODE messages.

Incorrect message count displayed by Web Mail Client
WMC sometimes displays incorrect total number of messages.

 

KNOWN LIMITATIONS

cc:Mail migration tools do not migrate nested folders
The cc:Mail mailbox migration tools will not migrate nested folders as the cc:Mail VIM API does not include support for this.

cc:Mail/Notes mailbox converter does not migrate empty folders
When no message are found in a folder, the migration tool skips the conversion process for the empty folder. This is due to a lack of support within the cc:Mail / Notes API's that the IEMS migration tools utilize to communicate with these environments.

Notes migration authentication fails if server.id is used to connect to the Domino server 4.x
The Notes migration authentication to the Notes server will fail if the server.id is used to connect to the Domino 4.x server. The Notes VIM interface requires that a user ID is used to open the Notes address book.

Shared mailboxes not visible in WMC
When using the Web Mail Client (WMC), the shared mailbox available for the local user will not be visible in the list of folders in WMC. Shared folder access is only accessible using any IMAP compatible client, such as Outlook Express, Netscape, Eudora, etc.

Deleting 300+ Message Store users returns "Internal Server Error"
Deleting approximately 300 Message Store accounts or more at a time returns "Internal Server Error". The CGI library for deleting Message Store user limits the total characters to be posted per transaction. When the data posted exceeds this limit, the program will display "Internal Server Error". To solve this problem, limit the users to be deleted at a time to around 200 accounts or less.

Adding 200+ mailing list members returns "Internal Server Error"
Adding 200+ mailing list members at a time returns "Internal Server Error" The CGI library for adding mailing list members at a time limits the total characters to be posted per transaction. When the data posted exceeds this limit, the program will display "Internal Server Error". To solve this problem, limit the users to be added at a time to approximately 100 email addresses or less.

Defining 50+ lines of data for the LDAP address field returns "Internal Server Error"
The system returns an "Internal Server Error" message when more than 50 lines of data is entered in the address field/attribute of user in LDAP.

IEMS 5 modules lose connection to LDAP server under Windows 98
Windows 98 TCP stack can run out of memory under certain conditions. When this happens, IEMS 5 modules and all TCP base client software will not be able tomake new TCP connection. It is recommended that Windows 98 be replaced with a more robust operating system, like Windows NT or Linux.