PMDF System Manager's Guide

In this section, a cook book approach is used to demonstrate how to set up a Lotus Notes configuration.

1. Collect information. In this example, we have a PMDF system and a Lotus Notes system with the following attributes:
   • PMDF system:
     • TCP/IP name: mailhub.example.com
     • System type: UNIX
     • To be reached from Notes users as domain: PMDF
     • Port to which PNGATECOUT Notes Server Add-in will connect: 9971
     • Port to which PNGATECIN Notes Server Add-in will connect: 9972
   • Notes system:
     • TCP/IP address: 192.160.253.18
     • Notes domain name: EXAMPLE
     • To be know to SMTP users as: notesmail.example.com
     • System type: NT Intel.
     • Temporary files to be put in: c:/tmp/
2. Create the directory. On the PC server system running Lotus Notes we create the directory for use by the PMDF Notes Gateway Server Add-ins. Note that the PMDF Notes Server Add-ins do not create the path for the temporaries they create: if the necessary directory or directories do not exist, the Gateway will not be able to process messages.
3. Install the PNGATECIN and PNGATECOUT programs on the PC server system. For this example, we suppose that the PC server system is an NT Intel system. So we copy the NT Intel version of the PMDF Notes Gateway Server Add-in images, pngatecout.exe and pngatecin.exe, from the /pmdf/other/nt-intel/notes (UNIX) directory on the PMDF system, or directly from the /other/nt-intel/notes (UNIX), or \other\nt-intel\notes (NT) directory on the PMDF distribution CD-ROM (an ISO standard CD-ROM directly readable from many platforms including most PC operating systems) to the Lotus Notes program directory on the NT Intel system.
4. Configure options for the PMDF Notes Gateway Server Add-ins. Edit the Lotus Notes initialization file, notes.ini, which on NT based servers can be usually be found in the \winnt directory. Add the following lines to this file:

   PNGateDomain=PMDF PNGateInTemp=c:\tmp\ PNGateHost=mailhub.example.com PNGateInPort=9972 PNGateOutPort=9971 PNGateInterval=2 MailTimeout=72 PNGateCharSet=l_cp850.cls

   Here we have selected the Lotus Notes domain name PMDF as the domain name to which Lotus Notes users will address messages they want to have go through PMDF. The Lotus Notes server will run the PMDF Notes Gateway Server Add-ins (the PNGATECOUT and PNGATECIN programs) every two minutes. When PNGATECOUT runs, it will find any messages addressed to the Lotus Notes domain PMDF and send them to the PMDF system; when PNGATECIN runs, it will find any messages in the PMDF system's Lotus Notes channel directory and send them to Lotus Notes.

5. Have the Lotus Notes server start up PNGATECOUT and PNGATECIN. Add PNGATECOUT and PNGATECIN to the notes.ini, file ServerTasks line, i.e.,

   ServerTasks=...,PNGATECOUT,PNGATECIN

   so that the Lotus Notes server will start up PNGATECOUT and PNGATECIN automatically next time the Lotus Notes server software is restarted. If it is convenient for you to restart the Lotus Notes server software now, then restart it so that it starts up the PNGATECOUT and PNGATECIN tasks; otherwise, you can manually start PNGATEC up at this time without having to restart the Lotus Notes server by issuing the commands

   LOAD PNGATECOUT LOAD PNGATECIN

   from the Lotus Notes server console.

6. Add the Lotus Notes domain corresponding to PMDF to the Lotus Notes server. With a Lotus Notes client, use the Domain/Foreign form to add a foreign domain record to the Lotus Notes server's Public Name & Address Book. Set the fields as follows:

   Foreign domain name: PMDF Gateway server name: EXAMPLE Gateway mail file name: pngate.nsf

   where here EXAMPLE is assumed to be the Lotus Notes server's name for itself.

7. Add rewrite rules to your PMDF configuration. Now, suppose that the local Lotus Notes domain is named EXAMPLE and the official local host name for the system running PMDF is EXAMPLE.COM. Then, a suitable domain name to associate with the EXAMPLE Lotus Notes domain might be notesmail.example.com. You need rewrite rules in your PMDF configuration file corresponding to these values. The PMDF-LAN configuration utility would create a file lan.rules of such rules, suitable for inclusion into the PMDF configuration file;if you have run it, you need merely uncomment the reference to lan.rules Otherwise, edit the PMDF configuration file, /pmdf/table/pmdf.cnf on UNIX, to include the rewrite rules:

   notesmail $u%notesmail.example.com notesmail.example $u%notesmail.example.com notesmail.example.com $u@notesmail.example.com

   Add these rules towards the top of the file. They must appear before the first blank line in the file. Also, be sure to not introduce any blank lines to the file at this stage.

8. Define the ln_local channel. The PMDF-LAN configuration utility would create a file lan.chans defining such a channel, suitable for inclusion into the PMDF configuration file;if you have run it, you need merely uncomment the reference to lan.chans. Otherwise, add the following channel definition to the pmdf.cnf file. To the very end of the file, add a blank line followed by these two lines:

   ln_local slave defragment charset8 ibm850 notesmail.example.com

   When you have finished adding these lines, save the configuration file. If you are using a compiled configuration, then be sure to recompile and reinstall your configuration.

9. Create the option file. The PMDF-LAN configuration utility would create a suitable file ln_local_option; if you have run it, you need do nothing at this step. Otherwise, create the world readable file ln_local_option in the PMDF table directory,⁷ containing lines such as:

   ACCESS_METHOD=3 LN_GATEWAY_NAME=PMDF LN_DEFAULT_DOMAIN=EXAMPLE

10. Configure the Dispatcher to handle the Lotus Notes channel. If you have not previously used the PMDF Service Dispatcher, you will need to start by generating a basic Dispatcher configuration to which the Lotus Notes channel will be added; see Chapter 11 for details on configuring the Dispatcher. As for adding the Lotus Notes channel to the Dispatcher configuration, the PMDF-LAN configuration utility will create a file dispatcher_lan.cnf suitable for inclusion into the Dispatcher configuration file. If you have run the PMDF-LAN configuration utility, you need merely to uncomment the reference to dispatcher_lan.cnf.
    Otherwise, add the following channel definition to the Dispatcher configuration file. To the very end of the file, add the following:

    ! [SERVICE=LN_LOCAL_SLAVE] PORT=9971 IMAGE=/pmdf/bin/lnplc_slave LOGFILE=/pmdf/log/ln_local_server_slave.log MIN_PROCS=1 MAX_PROCS=1 MIN_CONNS=1 MAX_CONNS=1 PARAMETER=channel=ln_local ! [SERVICE=LN_LOCAL_MASTER] PORT=9972 IMAGE=/pmdf/bin/lnplc_master LOGFILE=/pmdf/log/ln_local_server_master.log MIN_PROCS=1 MAX_PROCS=1 MIN_CONNS=1 MAX_CONNS=1 PARAMETER=channel=ln_local

11. Add a PORT_ACCESS mapping blocking outside access to the Lotus Notes channel ports. To prevent other systems connectiong to PMDF and pretending to be the Notes server, you will want to add PORT_ACCESS mapping entries disallowing such connections. In your PMDF mapping file (see Chapter 5 for details about the location and format of the PMDF mapping file), add PORT_ACCESS entries such as

    PORT_ACCESS TCP|*|9971|192.160.253.18|* $Y TCP|*|9972|192.160.253.18|* $Y TCP|*|9971|*|* $N TCP|*|9972|*|* $N

    That ensures that only the Notes server (address 192.160.253.18) can connect to PMDF on ports 9971 and 9972.

12. Restart the Dispatcher so that the changes take effect. You will need to restart the Dispatcher so that it starts up the new services and the new PORT_ACCESS controls.
13. Send a test message to Lotus Notes. At this point you should be able to send mail back and forth. From a UNIX mail client such as mail, you can send mail to the Lotus Notes user John Smith using the address

    '"John Smith"@NOTESMAIL.EXAMPLE.COM'

    or from Pine using the address

    "John Smith"@NOTESMAIL.EXAMPLE.COM

    Next time PNGATECIN runs, the message should appear in the user's inbox. If you want to stop and restart PNGATECIN manually to force the message through immediately rather than waiting for the Lotus Notes server to execute the PNGATECIN task, issue the commands

    TELL PNGATECIN QUIT LOAD PNGATECIN

    at the Lotus Notes server console.

14. Sending a test message from Lotus Notes. Address mail to the PMDF Lotus Notes domain with an address such as

    jsmith@example.com @ PMDF

    The next time PNGATECOUT runs, the message should get extracted from Lotus Notes and sent to PMDF. Or if you want to stop and restart PNGATECOUT manually to force the message through immediately rather than waiting for the Lotus Notes server to execute the PNGATECOUT task, issue the commands

    TELL PNGATECOUT QUIT LOAD PNGATECOUT

    at the Lotus Notes server console.