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Prior to running the automatic configuration generator, you should have a good idea of your network configuration and of what input needs to be supplied to the PMDF configuration generator. Note that the PMDF configuration generator will attempt to provide default values to its prompts. These defaults are picked up, whenever possible, from your system environment.
3.1.1 Selecting a System Name
You should give some thought as to what your official local host name
should be prior to configuring PMDF. This is not just a matter of
picking a name for your system; if you want to communicate with systems
on the Internet your system will have to be registered as a member of
some network domain. In order to be eligible for registration you must
have a connection to a system on the Internet which is able to perform
name server functions for you.
If you are using PMDF in an isolated (non-Internet) application you may pick any system name that you want. However, you should remember that networks have a way of growing and at some point in the future you may regret a careless decision about naming conventions you made earlier. Try to pick a sane, sensible name which is appropriate to your users, system, and site.
If you've already chosen a TCP/IP hostname, you might use that as your official local host name. Alternately, you could use a more generic e-mail hub name for your official local host name. Should you choose to do that, the PMDF configuration generator will also need to know your TCP/IP hostname. It will prompt for that, with a default answer, when asking about your TCP/IP network.
3.1.2 Authentication and Security
There are various contexts in which users may need to authenticate
themselves (i.e., supply a password): connecting to read their
e-mail via a POP or IMAP client, setting up a personal mailbox filter,
sending e-mail using SASL. PMDF supports performing such authentication
against various authentication sources, such as
/etc/passwd, the PMDF password database, PMDF user
profiles (PMDF MessageStore or PMDF popstore account profiles), or even
an LDAP directory. The PMDF default, allowing authentication against
any of a PMDF user profile, the PMDF password database, or system login
passwords, is usually a good starting point for most sites. See the
PMDF System Manager's Guide for further information on PMDF authentication and
security configuration.
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