Managing POP3 and IMAP4 Accounts With Novell GroupWise 6

POP (Post Office Protocol) accounts are the basis for a significant number of small business and individual e-mail accounts. Many people have multiple accounts used for different purposes (work, second jobs, friends, family) or from different locations (on the road, the office or at home). Having multiple accounts may be nice, or even necessary, but they can be difficult to manage. Making sure that mail has been downloaded, keeping track of important correspondence, and easily organizing and storing e-mail from multiple POP accounts can be overwhelming.

GroupWise® 6 provides the ability to aggregate POP and IMAP accounts for easy mail collection, organization and storage. With a common interface, mail can be received from multiple accounts and collected to a common inbox. The full set of GroupWise inbox management features are then available to POP and IMAP messages, just as with other GroupWise items. Users can take advantage of indexing, document management, collaboration and client caching mode to holistically manage all e-mail more efficiently and effectively. GroupWise POP and IMAP support enable users manage their own accounts without the need for technical support or administrator intervention. Users can flexibly access their POP/IMAP accounts from the office, home or on the road.

As small businesses move to implement a local area network with full featured communication and collaboration, POP and IMAP accounts can be seamlessly aggregated and integrated to provide one simple tool for managing all electronic communication. POP accounts can remain active for as long as needed with e-mail managed through the GroupWise client.

POP (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Messaging Access Protocol) are both access protocols with POP3 and IMAP4 being the most common versions. POP3 and IMAP4 define how a mail "client" (GroupWise, Netscape*, Outlook* etc.) accesses and retrieves mail from any POP3 or IMAP4 compliant mail server. POP3 and IMAP4 are used widely when users wish to be able to download e-mail and disconnect in a temporary session. Mail is downloaded to a local workstation where the POP3 or IMAP4 client is running. Users read or compose mail offline, then connect to the mail server to send or synchronize messages.

The GroupWise 6 client includes the ability to interact with POP and IMAP servers but requires simple configuration in order to do so. Before getting started, users need to know what type of account (POP3 or IMAP4) will be configured.

POP3-The POP3 protocol is simply a standard way of accessing and downloading e-mail from a POP server. POP3 supports getting mail from one folder, the Mailbox. It does not support organizing mail between multiple folders on the server. By default, a POP3 client removes mail from the server once it has been successfully downloaded. After download, mail exists exclusively on the POP3 client machine. Also by default, the POP3 protocol downloads the entire message, regardless of size, whenever a connection is made.

IMAP4-The IMAP4 protocol standard provides a flexible method of accessing a mail server and downloading e-mail. IMAP is a more robust and feature rich protocol which supports multiple folders on the server side and by default does not remove the mail from the server when a connection is made and mail is downloaded.
IMAP also only downloads the message header by default. Users can preview the subject, message sender, and message size before downloading the entire message.

POP3 Features

1. Downloads entire message during synchronization; makes offline reading simpler, but initial synchronization times take longer than IMAP4
2. Changes made on the local client (deleting mail) are not replicated back up to the server
3. Can configure client to leave messages on server (This may be useful if accessing a mailbox from other clients such as a Web browser that communicates directly with the server.)
4. Does not support server side folders

IMAP4 Features

1. Messages stay on the server, and are not removed from the server simply by synchronizing the client
2. Only the headers of the mail messages are downloaded with information on sender, recipients, subject and message size; when a message header is opened, the entire message body content is downloaded and users can potentially delete mail without having to download the entire message (useful with junk mail and large messages)
3. IMAP is designed to keep the client message store synchronized with the server message store-an e-mail item moved to a different folder on the client will be reflected on the server
4. Performance on a modem is faster
5. Users can access and store mail in folders on the server
6. Losing a server connection can cause problems as only the headers, not the entire message, will be accessible

The GroupWise 6 client can operate in three different modes-online, cache and remote. The client supports POP3 and IMAP4 "accounts" from cache and remote modes by default. Support for the POP3 and IMAP4 protocols in online mode can be enabled or disabled by the GroupWise administrator allowing them to prevent end users from storing POP3 and IMAP4 mail in the main GroupWise Post Office message store.

A user will not see the "Accounts" option or be able to create POP3 or IMAP4 accounts in online mode if it has not been specifically enabled by the GroupWise administrator. The administrator can enable storage of POP/IMAP messages in the main message store at the domain, post office or user level.

POP/IMAP access through a GroupWise client can be configured in a matter of minutes (even seconds). With the GroupWise client active, it only requires selecting the Accounts option and entering a few parameters. Collect in advance the actual addresses of the incoming and outgoing SMTP servers from the Internet Service Provider or the GroupWise administrator.

Configuration Step	Description (Click images to enlarge)
At the GroupWise client, select the "Accounts" option	From within the GroupWise 6 client, go to Accounts | Account Options where all POP3, IMAP4 and GroupWise "Accounts" are setup and managed. All three types of accounts can be managed with the same client. NOTE: If the "Accounts" option is not visible from GroupWise client then the user is running in Online mode while the GroupWise server has not been configured to allow POP and IMAP accounts to be created in Online mode. POP or IMAP accounts can be created by switching to Cache or Remote mode at the client-or by having the administrator allow Online mode.
Add an account	Select Add to create a new account and initiate the new account creation wizard.
Select an account name and account type (POP3 or IMAP4)	NOTE: If the option "Upload this account to the GroupWise online mailbox" is not visible when the client is in Cache or Remote mode, then the GroupWise administrator has NOT enabled uploading POP and IMAP accounts to the master mailbox. In Online mode, the option does not appear at all.
Enter the POP/IMAP server location information required to access the server	Incoming mail server-IP address or DNS name of the mail server where the GroupWise client will connect in order to retrieve mail for this account (normally provided by the Internet Service Provider or GroupWise administrator) Login name-Login name for the account on the incoming mail server Outgoing mail server (SMTP)-Indicate the server that the GroupWise client will connect through when sending mail through this particular account E-mail address-Internet style e-mail address used with this account for the "from" and "reply to" variables of an e-mail header-this is usually userid@domain.com where domain.com is the Internet domain name of the system that is hosting your POP3 or IMAP4 account From Name-Full name of account (for example, Henry H. Smith)
Specify the GroupWise folder or directory for downloaded POP3 e-mail (if required)	POP3 mail can be stored in MailBox or in a newly created folder for e-mail specifically from this account
Specify location for IMAP4 e-mail (if required)	IMAP4 accounts must be placed in unique locations as IMAP4 supports multiple folders. IMAP4 account mail cannot be placed in an existing folder or the GroupWise Mailbox. IMAP4 locations appear as new mailboxes.
Manage accounts as needed	From the GroupWise client Accounts | Accounts Options, different account properties can be modified and managed. To disable an account simply clear the check box next to the account name and this account will not be included in any subsequent Sent/Receive operations. The Properties option provides for leaving files on the server (POP3), using SSL for secure transmissions, etc. Retrieving e-mail is done using the Accounts | Send/Retrieve menu option.

© 2002 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. Novell and GroupWise are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

*Netscape is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation. Outlook is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Download the pdf version of this implementation guide here.