Your Novell Filr site can be configured to send outbound email through an existing email system or through the included Postfix SMTP outbound mail server. Email from the Filr site is useful for the following activities:
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 File
in Getting Informed
in the Novell Filr 1.0.1 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 Novell Filr 1.0.1 Web Application User Guide.
Filr users can send email messages to folder contributors, as described in Sending an Email to Folder Contributors
in the Novell Filr 1.0.1 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 Novell Filr 1.0.1 Web Application User Guide.
After installation, outbound email can be disabled and enabled again on the Filr site, as described in Configuring Email Integration
in Site Setup
in the Novell Filr 1.0.1 Administration Guide. However, you must configure outbound email in the Filr appliance.
Follow the steps in Section 4.1, 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 4.8.3, Outbound Email Protocol.
Host: Specify the hostname of your SMTP mail server. For more information, see Section 4.8.4, 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 4.8.4, Outbound Email Host.
Username: 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. For more information, see Section 4.8.5, Outbound Email Authentication.
Password: Specify a password for the username. 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 4.8.5, Outbound Email Authentication.
Authentication required: Select this option to require authentication.
Allow sending email to all users: Deselect this option to prevent users from sending email to the All Users group.
By default, the Filr site allows Filr users to send messages to all Filr users by using the All Users group on the Filr site. On a very large Filr site, this generates a very large number of email messages. If desired, you can prevent messages from being sent to the All Users group.
Connection Timeout (in seconds): Specify the amount of time before the connection times out.
Click 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 .
Click .
In the field, if the column displays , GroupWise is using SMTP. If the column displays , GroupWise is using SMTPS.
Click to close the Network Address page.
If the email system requires SMTPS, see Securing Email Transfer
in Site Security
in the Novell Filr 1.0.1 Administration Guide.
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. Some common selections for United States time zones are:
|
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 username; other email systems require that you specify the full email address for successful authentication. You should provide a username (email address) to ensure a successful connection. Email notifications from the Filr system are sent using this email address in the 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 username and password are not provided. The Internet Agent can accept just the username 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 ), 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.