PMDF System Manager's Guide

FAX addresses are straightforward but do take a few minutes to learn. Users on systems actually running PMDF will probably prefer to use the "pop-up" FAX form described in Section 21.2.²

Two addressing formats are supported. In the simpler of the two formats, only a single FAX telephone number is specified

number@fax-domain

where number is the telephone number of the FAX device to which to transmit the message. There are usually two possible fax-domain domains that can appear on the right hand side of an address. The first one is used for plain ASCII text messages and the second one is used for PostScript messages.³ The specific names for a particular PMDF-FAX configuration are prompted for when PMDF-FAX is configured with the PMDF-FAX configuration utility. An example address expressed in this format is

1-909-621-5319@text-fax.example.com

When this format is used, no special processing or cover page information may be specified. Information beyond just the telephone number can only be specified when using the second format, the attribute-value pair list format, described next.

A second, and more versatile format, for addressing FAXes is also provided. This format, which takes the form

AVPL@fax-domain

is described in the next section.

37.2.3.1 The Contents of the Attribute-value Pair List, AVPL

/attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../

The trailing / at the end of the AVPL is here superfluous but nonetheless called for by the RFCs. PMDF does not require that it be supplied; however, future releases of PMDF-FAX may allow FAXes to cross over to the world of X.400 based messaging systems. Those systems may insist that the closing / be present; PMDF will not append it onto the AVPL for you.

The attribute codes, for the most part, describe the intended recipient of the FAX. The available codes are similar to X.400 attribute codes, but they are not identical. They must be chosen from those shown in Table 37-1.

Table 37-1 PMDF-FAX Addressing Attributes

Attribute name	Usage
AFTER	Deliver after specified OpenVMS date-time
AT	Attention (usually a person's name)
AUTH	Authorization or access code
COVER	Cover page file to use; see Section 37.2.16.1.1
O	Organization or company
OU	Organizational unit or department
FN	Telephone number of the destination FAX device
SETUP	Setup file or module from text library
SFN	Sender's FAX telephone number
STN	Sender's telephone number
TN	Recipient's telephone number
FSI	Sender's FAX Station Identification
TTI	Sender's Transmitting Terminal Identification

The only mandatory attribute is the telephone number for the destination FAX device, FN. All other information about the recipient is optional. More than one FN item may appear in a single address; each FAX telephone number so specified will be tried until the FAX is successfully transmitted. Also, up to four organizational unit, OU, specifications can appear in a single address.

Characters other than the digits 0--9, #, *, and the dial string modifiers P, T, W, @, !, and , (comma) will be removed from the telephone number for the destination FAX device. FAX telephone numbers may, therefore, contain spaces, dashes, parentheses, and slashes so as to make them more readable.

The time specified with an AFTER attribute must conform to the OpenVMS date-time specification standards. For instance, "/AFTER=1-JAN-1992 22:00:00" specifies that the FAX is to be delivered to the specified recipient after 10:00 PM on January 1, 1992.

Authorization or access codes may be specified with the AUTH attribute. Sites using authorization or access codes should use the FAX_VALIDATE mapping or shareable image hook (see Sections 37.2.17.2 and 37.2.17.3) to check user specified authorization codes. If used for a telephone access code, the FAX_NUMBER mapping or FAX_VALIDATE routine can use the access code to modify the FAX telephone number to dial. The modified telephone number will not appear on the FAX cover page or elsewhere.

One or more PostScript setup files (e.g., letter head) may be processed prior to processing the message body. Use the SETUP attribute to specify the name of a PostScript setup file. A full path to the file must be given and the file must either be world readable or readable by any process holding the PMDF_USER_READ rightslist identifier. On OpenVMS systems, modules from text libraries may be specified using the format library-spec(module-name); for instance, the module LETTERHEAD in the text library d1:[ps]pslib.tlb may be selected using "/SETUP=D1:[ps]pslib(letterhead)". Multiple SETUP attribute-value pairs may be specified, one per file or library module. The setup files will be processed from left to right as specified in the FAX address.

The FAX Station Identification (FSI) is typically the telephone number for the FAX modem that is sending the FAX. Some, but not all, FAX devices may print this string across the top of each received FAX page. The FAX modem does not itself print this string across the top of pages it transmits; it merely transmits this string as part of the CCITT T.30 handshake. It may be preferable to use the number of a different FAX device that responses should be FAXed back to for this number. If no FAX Station Identifier is specified, a system default is used (specified by the FSI option in the G3_TO_FAX option file). The SET_FSI option in the G3_TO_FAX option file controls whether or not users are allowed to override the system default FSI value; the default is to not allow such overriding.

The Transmitting Terminal Identification (TTI) is typically the name of the organization sending the FAX. This is printed across the top of each page of the transmitted message by the FAX modem. Users may wish to set this string to something appropriate for the FAX they are sending. If no Transmitting Terminal Identification is specified a system default is used (specified by the TTI option in the G3_TO_FAX option file). The PMDF-FAX configuration utility will prompt for the setting of this option. The SET_TTI option in the G3_TO_FAX option file controls whether or not users are allowed to override the system default value; the default is to not allow such overriding.

The PMDF DB utility has a special mode, fax-mode, which understands FAX addressing. Users may use this utility to manage a personal alias database (phone book) of addresses. This utility is described in the OpenVMS Edition of the PMDF User's Guide.

37.2.3.2 Quoting the AVPL

The characters "/", "=", and "$" are treated as list punctuation characters. If any of these characters appear in either attribute names or values, they must be prefixed with a dollar sign, "$", to remove their special meaning. For instance, the "a/s" in the name "erik mainz a/s" requires special quoting:

IN%"'/FN=45-45-31-19-16-25/O=erik mainz a$/s/'@text-fax"

From PMDF MAIL or PMDF Pine, this address would be written

"/FN=45-45-31-19-16-25/O=erik mainz a$/s/"@text-fax

37.2.3.3 Alternate FAX Telephone Numbers

For example, the address

IN%"'/FN=1-800-555-1212/FN=1-900-555-1212/'@text-fax.rutgers.edu"

specifies two FAX telephone numbers: 1-800-555-1212 and 1-900-555-1212. First, the number 1-800-555-1212 will be tried and if that fails then the number 1-900-555-1212 will be attempted.

37.2.3.4 Examples of FAX Addresses

IN%"1-508-555-1212@text-fax.example.com" IN%"'/FN=1-508-555-1212-/AT=Stormy/TN=(714)624-7907/'@ps-fax.example.com" IN%"'/FN=(508) 555-1212/AT=Bob Smith/O=Example/'@text-fax.example.com" IN%"'/O=Party Line/OU=Wild Parties/FN=9005551212/'@text-fax.example.com"

From PMDF MAIL, PMDF Pine, and other user agents which can accept ordinary RFC 822 style addresses, these addresses would be specified as follows:

1-508-555-1212@text-fax.example.com "/FN=1-508-555-1212/AT=Stormy/TN=(508)555-1212/"@ps-fax.example.com "/FN=(508) 555-1212/AT=Bob Smith/O=Example/"@text-fax.example.com "/O=Party Line/OU=Wild Parties/FN=9005551212/"@text-fax.example.com

the only difference being that the IN%" " wrapper has been removed and interior single quotes, ', changed to double quotes, ".

Note that the order in which the attribute-value pairs appear is not important. Characters other than the digits 0--9, #, *, and the dial string modifiers P, T, W, @, !, and , (comma) will be removed from the FAX telephone number specified with the FN attribute.

37.2.3.5 Address Defaults

Such static information may be specified in a X-FAX-defaults: header line using the format

X-FAX-defaults: /attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../

When this header line is detected in a message, any attribute-value pairs specified in it will be used as defaults for any FAX addresses specified in the message header. Each default attribute-value pair will only be used in a given address if that address does not contain any attributes of same type. For instance, suppose the two header lines,

To: 1234@text-fax, /FN=5678/TN=Dan/AUTH=xxyzzy/@text-fax X-FAX-defaults: /STN=555-1212/AUTH=arbegla/

are present in a message. Then, the To: line will be changed to

To: /FN=1234/STN=555-1212/AUTH=arbegla/@text-fax, /FN=5678/TN=Dan/AUTH=xxyzzy/STN=555-1212/@text-fax

Both of the defaults were added to the first address, but only the STN default was added to the second address since it already had an AUTH attribute-value pair.
If the PMDF_X_FAX_DEFAULTS logical is defined, then PMDF MAIL, PMDF SEND, VMS MAIL, and DECwindows MAIL will place its translation value into a X-FAX-defaults: header line in messages sent. For example, the definition

$ DEFINE PMDF_X_FAX_DEFAULTS "/STN=555-1212/AUTH=arbegla/"

would result in the example X-FAX-defaults: header line shown above.

37.2.3.6 Dial String Modifiers

37.2.3.7 Sending FAX Messages from Remote Systems

If you run PMDF on other systems, then you only need to give those systems the necessary rewrite rules to properly route FAX traffic to the machine running PMDF-FAX. Machines connected via DECnet to the PMDF-FAX machine can simply route, without the aid of PMDF, FAX messages using addresses of the form

fax-node::IN%"fax-address"

where fax-node is the DECnet node name of the machine running PMDF-FAX and fax-address is the FAX address for the message being sent. For example,

VAXC::IN%"'/FN=714-621-5319/AT=Ace/'@text-fax.ace.com"

Indeed, a system-wide logical can be defined to simplify this form of addressing:

$ DEFINE/SYSTEM IN VAXC::IN%

When such a logical is defined, the previous example address becomes

IN::"'/FN=714-621-5319/AT=Process/'@text-fax.process.com"

Now, when properly configured, other computers with RFC 822 compatible mailers (e.g., UNIX systems) can also route FAX messages to the computer running PMDF-FAX. For instance, from most UNIX systems the above sample address would be written

"/FN=714-621-5319/AT=Process/"@text-fax.process.com

The essential ingredients are that (a) the computer recognize and know how to route mail to the domain text-fax.process.com, and (b) recognize the /FN=714.../ part of the address as a quoted local-part and merely accept it as such. On some mail systems such as PC mail systems it may be not be possible to enter addresses such as these. In such cases it may be possible to use a directory of some form; e.g., enter into the directory an entry "Process-FAX" which translates to the desired real address, or use the addressing channel described in Section 27.1.