Options Manager -- Technical Configuration of Mail Program

These options are set from the E-mail tab of the Options Manager interface.

IMPORTANT: The "Technical Configuration of Mail Program" screen pops up in a new window. In order to use this dialog box, your browser must support JavaScript and pop-up windows. If the screen described in these instructions does not appear, turn off your personal firewall or enable JavaScript in your browser as needed.

Technical Configuration of Mail Program for Beginners

For beginning board administrators, it is recommended that you follow through one of our tutorials for setting up e-mail notification. Which tutorial you select will depend on the operating system and the configuration of your web server.

1. Determine your server's operating system: Perhaps you already know your server's operating system. If so, jump to the next step. If not, right-click the "Diagnostics" link from your administration main menu and choose to open the link in a new window. In the second block of information, you will see "Your Server's Operating System" followed by the operating system as reported by Perl. If you see MSWin32 then your server's operating system is Windows. If you see anything else (like linux or freebsd or solaris) then your operating system is unix. When you've determined your operating system, close the browser window with the diagnostics.

2. Select the desired mailing method: This is based on your operating system. Read each of these descriptions carefully to choose the appropriate setup tutorial for your needs.

   • Unix Server, Command Line: Recommended for all unix servers. You will configure Discus to use a command line mailer such as "sendmail" to inject messages into the internet mail stream.

   • Windows Server, SMTP Module: Recommended for all Windows servers and rare unix servers without a command line mailer. You will configure Discus to contact an available mail (SMTP) server and send your messages through that server. This contact requires that there is a mail server on your network that will relay messages from your board.

Advanced Technical Configuration of Mail Program

The remainder of this page is a technical reference about all of the available boxes and settings in this interface. It is designed for advanced board administrators to tweak settings as needed.

• Choose Mailing Method: Select from any of the following options. These options may or may not be available depending on the setup of your server.

  • Command Line Mailer (configure below): You will use a mail program that is present on the server's file system. Typical mail programs are 'sendmail' on a unix system and 'blat' on a Windows system. To use this mailing method, you will need to complete the "Command Line Mailer" configuration section as well.

  • Net::SMTP Module or Mail::Sendmail Module: You will use one of these Perl modules along with an available SMTP server. These modules will contact the mail server, which must be configured to relay mail from your server to the recipients. You need to know either the server name or the IP address of the mail server. When you've found out this information, enter the server name or IP address into the box and skip to the bottom to test your settings.

  • Socket Module: You will use the standard Perl Socket module along with an available SMTP server. This module will contact the mail server, which must be configured to relay mail from your server to the recipients. You need to know the numeric IP address of the mail server to use this option. When you've found out this information, enter the IP address of your mail server into the box and skip to the bottom to test your settings.

• Command Line Mailer: If you are using a command line mailer, you must specify several settings to control how Discus will interact with the mailer. The available settings are as follows:

  • Mail Program: The full path to the mail program on the server. Examples include /usr/sbin/sendmail for unix or c:/windows/system/blat.exe for Windows. Note that you must use forward slashes (/) and not backslashes (\) when addressing the mail program, even if you are on a Windows server.

  • Beginning of line options: Any switches or parameters needed on the command line that come before any other parameters. Typical flags are -t for sendmail or -q for blat.

  • End of line options: Any switches or parameters needed on the command line that come after all other parameters. Generally this is left blank.

  • Command line format: The options are "values in quotes" and "arguments in quotes." Values in quotes would use a format like -f "board@domain.com" whereas arguments in quotes would put the entire argument in quotes, like "-f board@domain.com". Values in quotes is needed for most mail programs.

  • Temporary File: This controls whether Discus will "pipe" input directly into the mail program, or whether a temporary file will be created and then the mail program will be run on this temporary file. In general, on unix you will use "Pipe into program (no temp file)" and on Windows you will use "Use temporary file."

  • Sending Method: This allows you to select between the standard "Separate message to each recipient" and other settings. DiscusWare recommends that you do NOT use the "Use BCC to create one message" setting. This is also where you would set up cron-based e-mail sending (a tutorial for setting up cron-based e-mail sending appears in the Knowledge Center).

  • To: Controls how the "To" address will be formatted. The available settings include "Command line prefix" which puts the To address on the command line after the prefix that you give, if any. The other option, "Input stream prefix" puts the To address in the input stream after the prefix that you give. For detailed instructions, see the tutorials for configuring unix servers, where the "sendmail" program is documented in detail.

  • From: Controls how the "From" address will be formatted. The same options are available for the "From" address as for the "To" address. A third option, "Do not use" indicates that the From address will not be used anywhere in the configuration.

  • BCC: This should be set to "Do not use" unless you have enabled the BCC method of mail sending, against our advice, in the section above.

  • Subject: Control how the subject will be formatted, with the same options as are available for the From address.

  • Reply-to: Control how the reply to address will be formatted, with the same options as are available for the From address. The correct definition of this address is especially important if you are going to use the reply by e-mail features.

  • BLAT "user" setting: This should be set to "Do not use" unless you are using the blat Windows mailer to send messages.

• Test and Save Settings: When you have properly configured your mail program, it is important to test the settings. Enter your own e-mail address in the box and click the "Test" button. Wait a moment and then check your e-mail box. If you received the message successfully, click the "Save Settings Now" button to finalize your configuration. If the message did not go through, you will need to figure out what's wrong and adjust your settings accordingly.

  If you experience problems, read the following document in the Discus Knowledge Center:

  • Tips to get e-mail notification working