PMDF System Manager's Guide

It is possible to hide extended address formats, such as Internet style addresses, from local cc:Mail users. This allows any remote addresses to be hidden behind a simpler local mailbox name. However, each correspondence between a foreign address and local name must be set up by the cc:Mail administrator.

This is accomplished with the cc:Mail foreign alias name (FAN) mechanism. A specific feature of FANs is that "Users won't see the FAN when they look at the directory. It is only visible from within ADMIN".³

Besides the ADMIN utility, the cc:Mail administrator can see the full address, including any foreign alias name, in the lists created using the CHKSTAT utility.

When you want to add an entry for a PMDF user with a FAN, use the ADMIN utility. Enter their public name. When you are asked for their location, enter "r" or "R". It will initially go in as uppercase R. When you get to the cc:Mail address field, if the first word⁴ is a recognized post office, the location will be changed to a lowercase r. Any subsequent words in this field constitute the foreign alias name.

An example should serve to clarify this process. Assume that the following is a portion of a cc:Mail directory listing:

Mailbox Name Locn cc:Mail Address Doe, Jane r PMDF jdoe@foo.bar.com mrochek@example.com r PMDF PMDF P Smith, Fred r PMDF Telco, Joe R Wayne, Bruce L Unexpected, Sally R sallyu@fubar.edu at PMDF

The case of the location code letters is significant. Uppercase seems to indicate that the actual messages for that mailbox are stored in the local post office's database. This includes remote post offices (e.g., the messages for PMDF are held locally until exported).

The entry for PMDF is the standard definition for a remote post office. In this situation, it is acting as a gateway to PMDF cc:Mail gateway channel. The Bruce Wayne entry (uppercase L) is a local cc:Mail user.

Lowercase r entries, such as Jane Doe, mrochek@example.com, and Fred Smith, are all users at the remote PMDF post office. One of them, Jane Doe, has a foreign alias name.

Uppercase R entries, such as Joe Telco, are users who access this post office from stand-alone PCs running cc:Mail Remote (a separate product). They connect using a serial line, usually via an asynchronous modem. Their messages are stored in the local post office.

Note that Sally Unexpected is also a cc:Mail Remote user (uppercase R). That is probably not what was desired. Even though her address field contains a foreign address, messages sent to her will not be directed to the PMDF gateway. The remote post office name must be the first word of the foreign alias name.

FANs only apply to outgoing mail. cc:Mail does not attempt a reverse conversion on incoming mail. If a message is received from Jane Doe, the From: field will probably say "jdoe@foo.bar.com at PMDF" not "Jane Doe at PMDF".

To use any foreign alias names in the directory, you must add a FORMAT/FAN qualifier when running the Export program. It will then use any foreign alias name present after the post office name in the directory when building message addresses. It even behaves as expected if no FAN follows the post office name; i.e., it uses the mailbox name field as in the case of mrochek and Smith, Fred. This has been tested and found to work with Export versions 3.20 and 3.31.