About Mail Nodes

An introduction to mail nodes

Mail nodes, a unique Scalix feature, can be used to organize your mail user community into manageable groups; for example, by work group, employment status or net worth.

Each Scalix server is associated with a single mail node, which is created during installation. This node is represented in the user interface by a blue postal mailbox icon.

You can use the Management Console to create additional mail nodes on a server, including customizing any new mail nodes with a specific internet address and domain name.

Once you create the needed nodes (a preliminary task), you can do the following, depending on your e-mail user base:

• If starting out with a new system and adding all your users at this time, you can sort your new users into any nodes as you work.
• If you’ve already got an established user base, you can’t sort the existing user records into new nodes (in the Management Console), but you can sort all newly added users into nodes.

Note that once a user is associated with a specific node, you cannot move or reassign them in the Management Console. This is a task for Scalix CLI, as it requires migration of the user and their mail contents/data from one node to another. See the Scalix CLI Reference Guide for details.

Creating additional mail nodes

To create additional mail nodes:

1. In the toolbar, click the Server Info button.
2. In the contents pane, a server information explorer-view appears with the Scalix server and mail nodes at the top.
   • The server is represented by a blue mailbox mini-icon.
   • The nodes are represented by a “post office bin” mini-icon.
3. In the contents pane, select the icon for the server for which you want to create new nodes (represented by the blue mailbox).
4. When the server's options appear in the display pane, click the Mail Nodes tab.
5. When the Mail Nodes tab appears, review the listed nodes (which correspond to the mail node “bins” listed in the contents pane.) Initially, only one is listed.
6. To add another node, click Add Mail Node (in the lower right corner of this tab).
7. When a dialog box appears, fill in the following information:
   • Mail Node Name: Enter a single-word nameor title for this new node.
   • Mail Address Rule: Pick your preference for mail address formatting from this menu.
   • Mail Address Domain: Fill in the preferred domain information.
8. Click Finish to save the node information and close the dialog box.
9. The new node appears in the contents pane.
10. You can now assign future Scalix users or groups to this node.
11. To delete a node, click the X to the right of its name.

Reviewing the status of a mail node

To review the status of a mail node:

1. In the toolbar, click the Server Info button.
2. In the contents pane, a server information explorer-view appears with the Scalix server and mail nodes at the top.
   • The server is represented by a blue mailbox mini-icon.
   • The nodes are represented by a “post office bin” mini-icon.
3. In the contents pane, select a node (there should be at least one.)
4. The node's options appear in the display pane to the right.
5. The options are organized into three tabs, General, Users and Groups.
6. You can do the following:
   • Change a node’s Mail Address configurations.
   • Review the list of users associated with this node.
   • Review the groups associated with this node.

Changing a node configuration

To change a node's configuation:

1. In the toolbar, click the Server Info button.
2. In the contents pane, a server information explorer-view appears with the Scalix server and mail nodes at the top.
   • The server is represented by a blue mailbox mini-icon.
   • The nodes are represented by a “post office bin” mini-icon.
3. In the contents pane, select the node for which you want to change a configuration.
4. With the mail node's General tab in view, review the information in these fields:
• Mail Address Rule
• Mail Address Domain
5. To change the rule, open the Rule pull-down menu and choose your preference.
6. To change the existing domain (or assign one to this node), type the new domain in the Domain field.
7. Click the now-active Save Changes button at the bottom of the display pane.

file: 01_topicE.htm | ED: 02.17.2006