PMDF System Manager's Guide

Every PMDF channel has a unique name containing up to 32 characters. Only lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, and dollar signs should be used in channel names.

Certain channel names are reserved for particular uses. These reserved names are shown in Table 2-7.

Table 2-7 Reserved Channel Names

Name	Reserved For
address	Extract addressing information from the body of a message
bitbucket	Bit bucket channel (deletes all messages queued to it)
circuitcheck	Message circuit checking channel
conversion	Message body part conversion channel
d	The DECnet MAIL channel; used to deliver messages across DECnet via VMS MAIL
data_to_bitmap	Raw FAX data to bitmap channel
defragment	Message defragmentation channel
directory	Directory alias expansion channel
fax_to_data	Inbound FAX to raw data channel
filter_discard	Channel for discarding filter-discarded messages
g3_to_fax	Group 3 to FAX modem spooler
l	The local channel on OpenVMS and UNIX; used to deliver mail to users of the local system (and on OpenVMS, systems accessible via DECnet MAIL or PSIMail)
mailserv	Mail and list server channel
mime_to_x400	MIME to X.400 conversion channel
mint	MINT user agent from Wesleyan University
msgstore	PMDF Message Store delivery channel
p	Generic PhoneNet channel; used to communicate with a central PhoneNet host
pager	E-mail to pager channel
pipe	Pipe channel
popstore	PMDF popstore delivery channel; a msgstore channel can be---and typically is -- used instead
ps_to_g3	PostScript to Group 3 FAX interpreter
printer	e-mail to spooled printer
process	Processing channel
text_to_ps	Text to PostScript converter
reprocess	Reprocessing channel
subject	Channel to extract addresses from Subject: lines
x400_to_mime	X.400 to MIME conversion channel
x400_local	X.400 transport channel

Moreover, certain families of channel names are assumed to be of particular types. Special channel programs will be invoked to service channels whose names begin with the prefixes listed in Table 2-8. (Note that some of these reserved names correspond to third party channels or obsolete channels, rather than to channels currently or by default available with PMDF.)

Table 2-8 Reserved Channel Name Prefixes

Prefix	Type of Channel
aoce_	Apple AOCE channels
address_	Addressing channels
anje_	ANJE (BITNET)
bit_	Jnet (BITNET)
bsin_	BSMTP inbound channels
bsout_	BSMTP outbound channels
bull_	BULLETIN channels
cn_	Internal usage by the national Australian network
ctcp_	Carnegie Mellon University TCP/IP channels; obsolete
data_to_bitmap_	Data to bitmap channels
d_	MAIL-11 over DECnet
directory_	Directory alias expansion channels
dn_	PhoneNet over DECnet
dsmtp_	SMTP over DECnet
era_	ERA channels
etcp_	Excelan TCP/IP channels; obsolete
ftcp_	Network Research Corporation FUSION TCP/IP channels; obsolete
ker_	Kermit protocol
mail_	General VMS MAIL delivery
msgstore_	PMDF MessageStore channel
mtcp_	Process Software MultiNet (formerly Cisco MultiNet, formerly TGV MultiNet) TCP/IP channels; obsolete
notes_	DEC NOTES channels
osfl_	UNIX local channels
p_	PhoneNet channels
pager_	Pager channels
pipe_	Pipe channels
printer_	e-mail to spooled printer channels
process_	Processing channels
ptcp_	Process Software TCPware
px25_	PhoneNet over X.25; obsolete
qm_	QuickMail channels
reprocess_	Reprocessing channels
snads_	SNADS channels
sync_db_	Database synchronization channels
sync_dirbot_	Directory synchronization robot (DIRBOT) channels
sync_ldap_	LDAP directory synchronization channels
sync_ldif_	LDIF directory agent channels
sync_ln_	Lotus Notes directory agent channels
tcp_	Multithreaded TCP/IP SMTP channels
test_	Test channels
text_to_ps_	Text to PostScript channels
tcp_	Multithreaded TCP/IP channels
utcp_	ULTRIX (UCX) Connection TCP/IP channels; obsolete
uucp_	UUCP channel (UNIX, or DEC/Shell UUCP)
vn_	UUCP channel (DECUS UUCP)
wtcp_	Wollongong TCP/IP (WIN/TCP) channels; obsolete

Note that no channel programs for cn or ker channels are included in the standard PMDF distribution; these two channels are, respectively, provided by the administrators of the Australian national network and Fel Computing.

These reserved channel names and prefixes are used internally by PMDF, especially by the central master program dispatcher, (as for instance PMDF_COM:master.com on OpenVMS or the PMDF Job Controller on UNIX and NT). Using names in a conflicting manner can lead to serious problems. System managers are encouraged to use these channels for the stated purposes and in general to pick channel names of their own that do not conflict with these usage conventions.