When a rule's conditions are or are not met, IMail responds with an Action. For example, if a rule traps a message, the Action Type could be to move the message to a mailbox set up to receive spam. Another Action Type would be to bounce the message or insert an X-Header to indicate that a message was forged.
A program that performs some information gathering or processing task in the background. Typically, an agent is given a very small and well-defined task.
An alias is another name assigned to a host name that can be used in place of the host name plus domain name. Aliases are often used to shorten long host names for convenience.
A utility that scans a network, disk, or in IMail Server's case mail messages, andlooks for viruses and worms. It does this by comparing file extensions against astored virus list. This stored list should be updated periodically to assure thatit catches the most recent known viruses.
A utility that scans a network, disk, or in IMail Server's case, mail messages, and looks for viruses and worms. It does this by comparing file extensions against a stored virus list. This stored list should be updated periodically to assure that it catches the most recent known viruses.
The rate, measured in bits per second (bps), at which the serial number port for the monitor server will communicate with the modem.
Short for blind carbon copy, a bcc is a copy of an e-mail message sent to a recipient without the his/her address appearing in the message. When you enter addresses in the bcc field, the addresses do not appear in the message. This is useful if you want to copy a message to many people without each of them seeing who the other recipients are.
A bounce message is sent back to the sender of a mail message when the message is not delivered. In IMail Server, a bounce message is caused by the following: the message address does not exist or is misconfigured, a connection failure, the message contained a virus, the message was determined to be spam, or a host/list/user inbound rule bounced the message
When you enter addresses in the cc field, the message is copied to those addresses and the cc addresses appear at the top of the e-mail message when it is opened by the recipient.
A client is a program running on a networked computer that requests services from a server program, which is usually running on another networked computer. The client communicates with the server using a protocol. For example, an FTP client communicates with an FTP server using the FTP protocol.
A method used to break security systems, specifically password-based security systems, in which the attacker systematically tests all possible passwords beginning with words that have a higher possibility of being used, such as names and places. The word "dictionary" refers to the attacker exhausting all of the words in a dictionary in an attempt to discover the password. Dictionary attacks are typically done with software instead of an individual manually entering each password. Also, an e-mail spamming technique in which the spammer sends out thousands or millions of e-mails with randomly generated addresses using combinations of letters added to known domain names in the hopes of reaching a percentage of actual e-mail addresses. For example, a dictionary attack list might begin with john@yahoo.com, john1@yahoo.com, john2@yahoo.com, and so on until all possible combinations of letters and numbers has been exhausted.
Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. Since the Internet is really based on IP addresses, every time you use a domain name, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4. The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.
DNS black lists are spam databases that store information about IP addresses that are known to send spam. IP addresses that have open mail relays (relays mail for anyone) are also commonly listed in black lists, because those servers have the potential to be easily hijacked by spammers. Each black list compares the IP addresses from which an e-mail is sent against the spam database to look for a match. If a domain's IP address is listed in one of the black lists, mail from that domain should be suspected of being spam.
False Positive - A false positive occurs when a legitimate email is incorrectly identified as spam
Gate Host - Gate Host is the name of another host to send mail to when the mail cannot be delivered directly to the destination host.
Host Administrator - See Domain Administrator.
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages (text, images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page. Relative to the TCP/IP suite of protocols, which is the basis for information exchange on the Internet, HTTP is an application protocol.
IIM - Ipswitch Instant Messaging is one component of the Ipswitch Collaboration Suite. IIM enables teams to communicate instantly with groups around the world or around the corner, and can be installed behind a firewall so intra-office communications never leave the office.
IIS - Short for Internet Information Server, Microsoft's Web server that runs on Windows NT platforms. In fact, IIS comes bundled with Windows NT 4.0. Because IIS is tightly integrated with the operating system, it is relatively easy to administer. Currently, IIS is available only for the Windows NT platform, whereas Netscape's Web servers run on all major platforms, including Windows NT, OS/2 and UNIX.
IMAP4 - Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 is a method of accessing electronic mail messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. It permits a client e-mail application to access remote message stores as if they were local.
in-addr.arpa domain - A special domain on the Internet that maps IP addresses to domain names. This domain is used to do reverse lookups, where the IP address is known and the application is querying for the host name.
IP Address - All hosts on the Internet are identified by a unique numeric code, called the IP address. 156.21.50.1 is an IP address. The Domain Name System is used to map the IP address to a name.
kill file - A feature supported by many e-mail clients and news readers that enables you to block out messages from specific individuals. The list of addresses that you want to block is called a bozo list or kill file. Kill files are one way to reduce flames and spam.
LDAP - Short for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, a set of protocols for accessing information directories. LDAP is based on the standards contained within the X.500 standard, but is significantly simpler. And unlike X.500, LDAP supports TCP/IP, which is necessary for any type of Internet access. Because it's a simpler version of X.500, LDAP is sometimes called X.500-lite. Because LDAP is an open protocol, applications need not worry about the type of server hosting the directory.
LDAP Server - For more information about LDAP, see the Internet Requests for Comments (RFCs) that describe the protocol. The IMail Server implementation of LDAP is based on RFC-2251.
localhost - This term is used to describe the computer system the user is working on. The remote system is any other system in the network with which this local computer can communicate.
MAC Address - On a local area network (LAN) or other network, the MAC (Media Access Control) address is your computer's unique hardware number. On an Ethernet LAN, it's the same as your Ethernet address. When you're connected to the Internet from your computer (or host, as the Internet protocol thinks of it), a correspondence table relates your IP address to your computer's physical (MAC) address on the LAN.
mail relay - Often referred to as an email server, a device and/or program that routes an email to its correct destination. Mail relays are typically used within local networks to transmit emails among local users. (For example, all a college campus's student and faculty email.) Mail relays are particularly useful in email aliasing where multiple email addresses are used but the mail relay forwards all messages to the specified email addresses to one single address. A mail relay is different than an open relay, in which an email server processes a mail message that neither originates or ends with a user that is within the server's local domain, or local IP range.
MAPI - Short for Messaging Application Programming Interface, a system built into Microsoft Windows that enables different email applications to work together to distribute mail. As long as both applications are MAPI-enabled, they can share mail messages with each other.
message header - A set of instructions that provide routing and transport information, such as sender and receiver information.
MIME - Short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, a specification for formatting non-ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Exchange) messages so that they can be sent over the Internet. IMail supports MIME, which enables you to send and receive graphics, audio, and video files. In addition, MIME supports messages in character sets other than ASCII (such as European ISO character sets). Some examples include GIF graphics files, PostScript files, and .doc (Microsoft Word) files.
MX record - Short for mail exchange record, an entry in a domain name database that identifies the mail server responsible for handling e-mails for that domain name. When more than one MX record is entered for any single domain name that is using more than one mail server, the MX record can be prioritized with a preference number that indicates the order in which the mail servers should be used. This enables the use of primary and backup mail servers.
Net Mask - See Subnet Mask.
ODBC - (Pronounced as separate letters.) Short for Open Database Connectivity, a standard database access method developed by the SQL Access group in 1992. The goal of ODBC is to make it possible to access any data from any application, regardless of which database management system (DBMS) is handling the data. ODBC manages this by inserting a middle layer, called a database driver, between an application and the DBMS. The purpose of this layer is to translate the application's data queries into commands that the DBMS understands. For this to work, both the application and the DBMS must be ODBC-compliant -- that is, the application must be capable of issuing ODBC commands and the DBMS must be capable of responding to them. Since version 2.0, the standard supports SAG (SQL Access Group) SQL.
OHN - Official Host Name
peering - A relationship between two or more small- or medium-sized ISPs in which the ISPs create a direct link between each other and agree to forward each other's packets directly across this link. For example, suppose a client of ISP X wants to access a web site hosted by ISP Y. If X and Y have a peering relationship, the HTTP packets will travel directly between the two ISPs instead of using the standard Internet backbone. Generally, this results in faster access since there are fewer hops. And, it's more economical for the ISPs because they don't need to pay fees to a third-party Network Service Provider.
persistent TCP connection - Normally, the connection between a browser and a web server is valid only for a single request/response pair. Maintaining a persistent TCP connection can improve performance by reducing overhead per request, but it also means that fewer resources are available for other processes.
Phrase List - The phrase list contains a list of spam phrases. For example, if you frequently receive spam that uses the phrase "wholesale products" then can enter it into the phrase list. Phrases are stored in the phrase-list.txt file, which is located in the mail domain's directory.
pipe - A pipe is a connection between two programs or services through which information is passed from one process to another. Example: The output of the first process istransferred to the second process, which accepts it as input. The information inthe pipe is then stored by the system until the second process receives it.
POP3 - Post Office Protocol, version 3, is the most common protocol for communicating with a mail server, otherwise known as a post office, to retrieve messages for a user. Since POP3 servers are always available to receive incoming mail, individual users do not have to have their PCs turned on at all times. POP3 servers hold mail for users until they connect to download their messages.
Port - In TCP/IP and UDP networks, a port is an endpoint to a logical connection and the way a client program specifies a specific server program on a computer in a network. Some ports have numbers that are preassigned to them by the IANA, and these are known as well-known ports (specified in RFC 1700). Port numbers range from 0 to 65536, but only ports numbers 0 to 1024 are reserved for privileged services and designated as well-known ports. This list of well-known port numbers specifies the port used by the server process as its contact port.
Protocol - A set of rules that defines how computers will exchange information.
Public Contact List - The Public Contact List is a public directory of visible Ipswitch Instant Messanger contacts. This listing is displayed in the user's main window.
queue - The mail queue, also known as the spool, is a directory that stores mail messages that are waiting for delivery. Files in the queue include incoming messages, outgoing messages, attachments, and error messages. The queue releases messages one at a time in the order in which they were received.
relay - Often referred to as an email server, a device and/or program that routes an email to its correct destination. Mail relays are typically used within local networks to transmit emails among local users. (For example, all a college campus's student and faculty email.) Mail relays are particularly useful in email aliasing where multiple email addresses are used but the mail relay forwards all messages to the specified email addresses to one single address. A mail relay is different than an open relay where an email server processes a mail message that neither originates or ends with a user that is within the server's local domain, or local IP range.
RFC - Request for Comments. A set of documents that defines standards for the Internet. RFCs are also used to propose new standards or extensions to existing standards.
Secondary Name Server - See Domain Name Server
Server - A server is a program running on a networked computer that processes requests from a client program, which is usually running on another networked computer. The client and server communicate using a protocol. For example, an FTP client communicates with an FTP server using an FTP protocol.
Service - A service is a formal Windows NT/2000 term for an executable object installed in a registry database maintained by NT/2000's Service Control Manager. A service can be automatically started when the system is booted and continues to run until the system is shut down. It will continue to run even when no one is logged on the system. In IMail, you can also stop, start, and restart services separately from their respective administrative pages.
SMS - Short for Short Message Service. Similar to paging, SMS is a service for sending short text messages to mobile phones.
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is designed to efficiently and reliably transfer mail across TCP/IP networks, including the Internet. SMTP defines the interaction between mail systems to facilitate the transfer of electronic mail, even when the mail systems are on different types of computers or running different operating systems. SMTP is required to send or receive mail over the Internet.
spam - Electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some people define spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail. However, if a long-lost brother finds your e-mail address and sends you a message, this could hardly be called spam, even though it's unsolicited. Real spam is generally advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup, and not only wastes people's time with unwanted e-mail, but consumes a lot of bandwidth.
SPF - Sender Policy Framework is an extension to e-mail that prevents unauthorized users (spammers) from forging an email address in the "From" field of an email. It uses a sender authentication scheme that specifies which computers or email accounts are authorized to send email from a specified domain. In order for this authentication method to work, email domains must establish an SPF record that is published in DNS records. As email passes through the DNS server, the message is compared to the SPF record for the respective domain. Messages that do not match the SPF criteria when checked by the SPF authentication scheme are not accepted as legitimate email messages. Subsequently, unauthorized email is not forwarded to its intended email address destination.
spool - see Queue.
SSL - Secure Sockets Layer is used for communications between a browser and server. SSL encrypts mail communications so they can be read only by the intended recipients. SSL uses "certificates" to authenticate the client and server, and uses a private key "pair" to encrypt and decrypt communications. All of the major browsers are SSL-enabled.
Subnet Mask - A mask used to determine what subnet an IP address belongs to. An IP address has two components, the network address and the host address. For example, consider the IP address 150.215.017.009. Assuming this is part of a Class B network, the first two numbers (150.215) represent the Class B network address, and the second two numbers (017.009) identify a particular host on this network. Subnetting enables the network administrator to further divide the host part of the address into two or more subnets. In this case, a part of the host address is reserved to identify the particular subnet. The subnet mask is the network address plus the bits reserved for identifying the subnet.
Switch - A switch is another word for an option or parameter -- a symbol that you add to a command to modify the command's behavior.
SYSLOG - The Syslog (also known as the UNIX System Logger or GNU/Linux System Logger) is the system resource for all messages or errors generated by UNIX based systems. In addition to any UNIX computers, hardware components such as routers and firewalls, even on Windows-based networks, can generate Syslog messages.
TAP - The Syslog (also known as the UNIX System Logger or GNU/Linux System Logger) is the system resource for all messages or errors generated by UNIX based systems. In addition to any UNIX computers, hardware components such as routers and firewalls, even on Windows-based networks, can generate Syslog messages.
TCP - Abbreviation of Transmission Control Protocol, and pronounced as separate letters. TCP is one of the main protocols in TCP/IP networks. Whereas the IP protocol deals only with packets, TCP enables two hosts to establish a connection and exchange streams of data. TCP guarantees delivery of data and also guarantees that packets will be delivered in the same order in which they were sent.
TCP/IP - Short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP. Specifically, TCP/IP handles network communications between nodes (computers connected to the net) and establishes a connection between two hosts so they can send messages back and forth for a period of time. The suite is actually composed of several protocols, including IP, which handles the movement of data between host computers, TCP, which manages the movement of data between applications, UDP, which also manages the movement of data between applications but is less complex and reliable than TCP, and ICMP, which transmits error messages and network traffic statistics.
thread - Threads are one way for a program to split itself into two or more simultaneously running tasks. Many operating systems, programming languages, and other software development environments support what are called "threads" of execution. Threads are similar to processes, in that both represent a single sequence of instructions executed in parallel with other sequences. (The name "thread" is analogous to the way that a number of threads are interwoven to make a piece of fabric).
thread pooling - Thread pooling allows you to create a thread pool for handling HTTP requests from clients. Using thread pooling reduces the overhead involved in creating and closing threads. However, if all threads in the pool are in use (in other words, your server is seeing heavy use), then an additional HTTP request will be denied. Also, threads reserved for use by one process or application are not available to other processes running on your server.
URL - Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of document and other resources on the World Wide Web.The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. For example, the two URLs below point to two different files at the domain pcwebopedia.com. The first, . ftp://www.pcwebopedia.com/stuff.exe, specifies an executable file that should be fetched using the FTP protocol; the second, http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, specifies a Web page that should be fetched using the HTTP protocol
virtual host - Often abbreviated vhost, a virtual host is a provider of Web services that include server functions and Internet connection services, often used by companies or individuals who do not want to purchase and maintain their own Web servers and Internet connections. A virtual host will provide its customers with domain name registration, file storage and directory services for the files that Web pages are built from, e-mail services and even Web site design and creation services if the customers want someone else to build their Web sites.
Welcome Message - When logging on to SMTP, POP3, or IMAP4, each service returns a welcome message that identifies the mail server version, vendor, and operating system.
Whois - The Whois protocol is a common Internet language that allows remote users to search for mail addresses of users.
wildcard search - A wildcard is a character that may be used in a search to represent one or more other characters. The two wildcards used to search in IMail are: 1) The question mark ("?"), which is used to represent a single alphanumeric character in a search expression. For example, searching for the term "ho?se" would yield results which contain such words as "house" and "horse". Searching with just a "?" will return any single-character result. 2) An asterisk ("*") is used to specify zero or more alphanumeric characters. For example, searching for the term "h*s" would yield results which contain such words as "his", "homes", "hours", etc. Avoid using the asterisk as the first character in a search string; if you use a lone asterisk and no other alphanumeric characters, you will retrieve every record from the database.
WorkgroupShare (WGS) - WorkgroupShare, or Collaboration, is one component of the Ipswitch IMail Premium. WGS allows Microsoft Outlook users to share up-to-date contact lists, calendars, task lists, and Outlook notes securely within their organization. Also, see Collaboration.
X-Header - X-Headers are lines that are inserted into a message during processing to aid you in identifying what has occurred to the message. IMail Server has several X-Headers that tell you such things as which rule trapped a message and when an antispam component identifies a message as spam.
Zone - Sometimes a black list contains multiple areas on the same server to differentiate why IP addresses are black listed. Each of these areas is called a zone. For example, one zone may contain a list of open relays and another zone may contain a list of domains that are known to spam. These zones help you determine why an address is blacklisted. When you are configuring a black list, you may choose to use certain zones but not others. Contact the black list service to determine the Query Domain zones that are available.
A term that refers to the subdivisions of the Internet. Domain can mean the major subdivision of which your network is a part, (.com, .edu, .gov, .net, .us, .uk), or it can refer to your part of the network, as in Ipswitch.com. See also Domain Name System.
A Domain Administrator can add, modify, or delete users or aliases (except program aliases) on the mail domain (host) he or she has domain administrator permissions to. Domain Administrators cannot delete System Administrator accounts, permissions, or change other System Administrator settings.
A host that keeps a table of host names and IP addresses, and provides the lookup service for client programs. A domain name server is used by client programs to look up the IP addresses of a host. A domain name server provides host name to IP address mapping for the local network and provides access to the Domain Name System to look up hosts in other domains. A primary name server contains all the information for the domain in its database files. If you add a second name server for backup or to off-load the primary server, you can set it up as a secondary server. A secondary name server obtains its domain information by copying the database files from the name server that is primary for that domain. The advantage of using secondary servers is that you can maintain the domain information on one name server (the primary).
Short for Data Source Name. Data Source Name provides connectivity to a database through an ODBC driver. The DSN contains database name, directory, database driver, UserID, password, and other information. Once you create a DSN for a particular database, you can use the DSN in an application to call information from the database. There are three types of DSNs: (1) System DSN -- can be used by anyone who has access to the machine. DSN info is stored in the registry. (2) User DSN -- created for a specific user. Also stored in the registry. (3) File DSN -- DSN info is stored in a text file with a .DSN extension. DSN is often used by Active Server Pages (ASP) and Visual Basic programs when a query to a database is necessary to retrieve information. There is also what is known as a "DSN-less connection." Instead of using a DSN to connect to a database, the developer specifies the necessary information right in the application. With a DSN-less connection the developer is free to use connection standards other than ODBC.
A list of words that are not included to determine whether a message is spam. The words in the exclude list are words that have an equal chance of being non-spam as spam. For example, "Mortgage" is a term frequently used in spam. However, if you work in the financial industry, this term may appear frequently as non-spam. In such a case, you can enter the word "mortgage" into the exclude list. The exclude list should also include common words like proper nams. The exclude list is stored inthe exclude-list.txt file located in the mail domain's directory.
See Domain Administrator.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages (text, images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page. Relative to the TCP/IP suite of protocols, which is the basis for information exchange on the Internet, HTTP is an application protocol.
Short for Internet Information Server, Microsoft's Web server that runs on Windows NT platforms. In fact, IIS comes bundled with Windows NT 4.0. Because IIS is tightly integrated with the operating system, it is relatively easy to administer. Currently, IIS is available only for the Windows NT platform, whereas Netscape's Web servers run on all major platforms, including Windows NT, OS/2 and UNIX.
Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 is a method of accessing electronic mail messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. It permits a client e-mail application to access remote message stores as if they were local.
The MX record identifies the domain name of the computer running the mail server (in this case, the IMail Server).
The mail queue also known as the spool, is a directory that stores mail messages that are waiting for delivery. Files in the queue include incoming messages, outgoing messages, attachments, and error messages. The queue releases messages one at a time in the order that they were received.
The Syslog (also known as the UNIX System Logger or GNU/Linux System Logger) is the system resource for all messages or errors generated by UNIX based systems. In addition to any UNIX computers, hardware components such as routers and firewalls, even on Windows-based networks, can generate Syslog messages.
Trojan horses are executable programs that are disguised as other programs. These executables then give the originator information about the infected computer's operating system, and sometimes gives them the ability to access it remotely.
A virus is an executable program or code that infiltrates your computer or network and begins running. Viruses can replicate themselves and use up valuable memory space. Other more harmful viruses can destroy programs and may possibly shut down your system. Viruses have the ability to spread across an entire network of many computers.
Worms are different from viruses because even though they can replicate, they cannot attach themselves to other programs. Worms are most commonly transmitted through email. When a computer receives an email message with a worm in it, the worm automatically sends itself to everyone in that computer's address book.