INSTALLATION PREPARATION

NOTE! The software component and information structuring descriptions presented in the following sections are accurate insofar as their primary function, content and interactions are concerned. The low-level details provided herein are derived from ongoing operations with EPA subsets in a UNIX®/'sendmail' host environment. Of necessity, EPA Licensees' integration of the process will differ in product-dependent implementation details.

Activation preparation requires a varying amount of time and effort depending on the amount of domain-owner administration required and the number of EPA Preference Sets which must be created for existing domain mailboxes which will be managed by EPA. Tasks include:

1. Domain Mailbox Data Collection
2. EPA Server Home Directory Assignment
3. EPA Server Home Initialization
4. EPA Mailroom Initialization
5. EPA Mailbox Initialization
6. EPA Start-Up Script Preparation

Following preparation, activation of the EPA installation is a mechanical procedure typically requiring 5 minutes or less.

MOD owners that supply e-mail services to independent clients are precluded from exercising any EPA-based control over a Client-Adminstered Mailbox ('CAM') by the terms of their EPA Licensing Agreement. In such a domain, all mailboxes can - at the option of the mailbox owner - be CAMs subject to the EPA process.

OOD owners who supply e-mail services to owner-dependent parties can legally exercise total control of domain traffic. EPA Owner-Administered Mailboxes ('OAM's) provide he owner with the ability to completely control traffic while, as desired, providing the OAM users with varying degrees of autonomous preference control.

Domain Mailbox Data Collection

EPA management is an option available to all mailbox owners in a domain in which the EPA mail Clerk is installed. The mailboxes must have system-defined UserNames and mailboxes prior to exercising the EPA management option. If the mail server host system requires all Usernames to be unique across all resident domains, EPA Mailbox IDs and Usernames are identical.

In a MOD, EPA management is an option available to CAM owners after Window Clerk installation. The MOD owner's System Administrator doesn't initially need to identify specific CAM's.

OOD owners need to identify ONLY those UserNames which will require an OAM after EPA installation. Regardless of the number of existing OAMs, only System/Email Administrators OAMs are required. The system-defined UserName of every existing and planned, actual and virtual mailbox that will intially be able to apply some degree of autonomous control over an associated EPA Preference Set must be identified.

The URLs of current known, trusted correspondents need to be collected. Likewise, the EPA IDs of OAMs used to correspond with the general public will be needed.

Information can be collected in file(s) and imported during EPA Preference Set creation.

The requisite information must be collected for each EPA domain resident in the mail server

EPA Server Home Directory Assignment

NOTE: All EPA-defined information structures in a mail-server system can be located where you want and need NOT be closely correlated with existing system-defined structures. All EPA operations and records are associated with mailboxes using the EPA Mailbox ID.

Installation begins with the assignment of a directory that EPA will use as its permanent base of operations within the mail server host system. To preserve and utilize existing mail server information structure and content, EPA maintains and accesses its' information via component directories. When all initialization is completed, the resultant information structure will look like this:

EPA Server Home Initialization

The EPA Server Home Directory provides software library storage and working data storage for all EPA operations which are not domain-specific or mailbox-specific.

After the Server Home is assigned, the installation download creates subsidiary directories and installs download content appropriately. In addition to executables for EPA Mail Clerks' and EPA Window Clerks' processes, utilities are provided to assist with the EPA mailbox initialization and maintenance processes.

Using the appropriate supplied utility, the Mailroom Directory is initialized to contain an entry for each EPA-filtered domain resident in the mail server. An entry contains the Domain Name and the (full path) location of the directory which has been selected to contain the domain's associated mailroom. This directory will be accessed by the Mail Clerk during initial receipt of an e-mail as well as during system boot for mail server operations startup purposes.

EPA Mailroom Initialization

The EPA Mailroom provides software library storage and working data storage for all EPA operations which are not server-specific or mailbox-specific.

Using the appropriate supplied utility, the domain's Mailbox Directory is initialized to contain an entry for each EPA mailbox which will have an explicitly-associated Preference Set in the domain and one entry for the Domain Default Preferences Set if defined. An entry contains the EPA Mailbox ID and the (full path) location of the directory which has been selected to contain the mailbox's EPA records.

Additionally, each mailbox entry contains definition of the scope of autonomous Preference Set modification permitted to the mailbox user.

This directory will be accessed by the Mail Clerk during initial receipt of an e-mail and by the Window Clerk during Preference Set modification.

Because some EPA process software - such as the Window Clerk - may be domain-specific, the applicable software is stored in the Mailroom for subsequent use.

In the Mailroom Directory, the Mail Clerk maintains a Mail Traffic Log - 'MTL' - that records the processing of all domain e-mails received and transmitted. At a domain-specified interval, the current MTL is copied to the MTL Archive of the Mailroom and cleared for re-use. This process is continuously active to provide necessary traffic historical records.

Information stored as Mailroom Environmental Variables may include:

• Domain mailbox type - CAM-only or OAM-only
• Traffic Log archiving interval
• Path location of the Domain Default Preference Set (if any - OODs only)

EPA Mailbox Initialization

In a CAM-only domain, it is necessary only to execute the appropriate supplied utility to copy a set of EPA record skeletons into each mailbox listed in the Mailroom Mailbox Directory. Following this action, mailbox owners can utilize the EPA Window Clerk software to initialize their own mailboxes.

In a OAM-only domain, requisite initialization begins with the creation of the initial version of the Domain Default Preference Set (the 'DPPS') by a System/E-mail Administrator.

Depending on the domain's e-mail usage and volume, adequate control may a obtained with only the DDPS. In other cases, one or more additional OAMs may be required. As instances, within the domain:

• The e-mail address 'sales' could be either a Public preference entry or the Username of an OAM with delegated authority to administer all or a subset of the OAM's Preference Set.
• Individual users may have an OAM due to organizational-function-related issues with a limited range of Preference Set administration capabilities.

After the DDPS is named and assigned a domain mailbox, the EPA record skeletons are copied to the mailbox in preparation for defining the associated Preference Set. Using the Window Clerk software, the Administrator then:

1. Assigns an access permission password to the DDPS mailbox.
2. Enters the UserName(s) of all Administrator(s) as 'SANames' preferences.
3. Enters applicable UserName(s) 'New' preferences.
4. Enters applicable UserName(s) 'Public' preferences.
5. Enters the URL(s) and/or Domain Name(s)of 'Private' preferences.
6. Saves the DDPS.

Following DDPS creation, the Adminstrator must use the supplied utility to initialize any other OAMs in the domain. Thereafter, mailbox users can employ the EPA Window Clerk software to initialize their own mailboxes (to the extent they are authorized to do so).

EPA Start-Up Script Preparation

Whenever the host system is started, several actions must be performed to include the EPA process in the system for execution - including:

1. System resource reservation for exclusive or shared use
2. Maintence task scheduling.
3. Mail server software registration and linkage.
4. EPA Mail Clerk execution initiation.
5. Mail server software execution initiation.

Each of these actions will employ one or more host-system-defined processes. The host system typically provides a scripting facility to permit definition and execution of sequences of the requisite system functionality invocation.

The Adminstrator must use supplied utilities to create the requisite scripts and to insert them at appropriate points in the system startup sequence. (Consult the documentation supplied by the EPA Licensee for environment-specific recommendations and details.)