A common goal is to filter incoming messages, perhaps sending an
automatic response, forwarding the messages to another account,
or automatically rejecting or discarding some based upon material
in the messages' headers or bodies. One way to do this is via the
DELIVER facility.
If your messages are delivered to the native message store (VMS
MAIL mailbox) or to a PMDF popstore or PMDF MessageStore account,
your system administrators may have chosen to enable another
option: PMDF message filtering. If your system administrators
have chosen to enable it, PMDF provides a web-based interface
through which you can specify a vacation notice, specify a
forwarding address, and construct and manage your own message
screening rules. These are collectively known as mailbox
filters.
1 – Mailbox Filter File
By default, you have no mailbox filters unless your system
administrator has chosen to set them for you. If mailbox
filtering has been enabled for your account, when you use
the web-based interface, a mailbox filter is created for you.
Your mailbox filters are stored in a mailbox filter file. The
location of that file is site-configurable. For popstore and
MessageStore accounts, that location is normally in a directory
that is not directly accessible by non-privileged users, and
all modifications to your mailbox filters are done using the web
interface. For VMS MAIL mailboxes, the filter file normally is in
your login directory, and therefore accessible by you.
If the mailbox filter file is accessible by you, you may create
or modify the filter file using any text editor. The mailbox
filter file is a text file containing commands in the SIEVE
language with some extensions. See the System Manager's Guide,
Chapter 16, for information about SIEVE.
WARNING
If you edit your mailbox filter file manually, you cannot
use the web interface any longer. The web interface can only
read filter files it it has written itself. You can use the
web interface to create an initial mailbox filter file, and
then edit it manually, but not vice-versa.
1.1 – Checking Your Changes
NOTE
After you have made changes to your mailbox filter file, it
is important for you to verify that it is working correctly,
especially if you have edited it manually. If your filter
file is not working, for example if it has a syntax error,
your mail delivery could be interrupted.
The easiest way to check your mailbox filter file is to send
yourself mail. If your mail gets to your mailbox successfully,
then there is nothing wrong with your filter file.
Your filter file can also be verified by your system
administrator using the command:
$ pmdf test/rewrite/filter <your-mailbox>
2 – Web Interface
In order to use the web-based interface for setting up message
filters, a vacation notice, or a forwarding address, you must
have a web client and TCP/IP access to the PMDF system. Your
messages must also be delivered to the native message store
(VMS mailbox) on the PMDF system, or to a PMDF popstore or PMDF
MessageStore account on the PMDF system.
The web form asks you for your e-mail address and your password;
you need to provide this information in order to set up or change
your mailbox filters.
To connect to the interface with your web browser, you normally
open the URL
http://host:7633/mailbox_filters/
In place of host, use the actual IP host name of the system
running PMDF, on which your messages are delivered. Your system
administrator may have chosen to configure the web interface port
to be a port other than 7633; if so, then you need to specify
that other port number in place of 7633 in the above URL. Check
with your system administrator if you are not sure of the exact
URL to use.
Once connected to the introductory web page, links to help and
various mailbox filtering activities may be followed.
2.1 – Web Interface Features
The web interface allows you to set up eight distinct message
filters: four to identify messages to always keep, the Accept
filters; four to identify messages to always throw away,
the Discard filters. The Accept and Discard filters operate
on envelope and header source addresses, header destination
addresses, and phrases or words appearing in the SUBJECT: header
line or body of the message. The eight filters are thus known by
the names ACCEPT FROM, ACCEPT TO, ACCEPT SUBJECT, ACCEPT BODY,
DISCARD FROM, DISCARD TO, DISCARD SUBJECT, and DISCARD BODY.
The web interface also allows you to set up a forwarding address.
When you have a forwarding address set up, all of your mail that
you have decided to keep with your Accept filters will be sent to
that address instead of being delivered to your local account.
Note that the Accept and Discard filters are applied first,
and the vacation notice (if any) is also sent first, before the
message is forwarded.
The web interface also allows you to set up a vacation notice.
Set up a vacation notice when you want to send an automatic reply
to mail messages that you receive. The reply notifies the sender
that you are on vacation or otherwise away for an extended period
of time and may not respond to your mail until you return. The
web interface allows you to enable or disable the vacation notice
feature, to specify the subject and text that is included in the
vacation notice, and to set up some advanced options.
PMDF keeps a history of which addresses it has sent the vacation
notice to, and does not send another vacation notice to that same
address unless
o you change the text or subject of your vacation notice
o you enable the vacation notice feature after it has been
disabled
o the number of days that you specify in the web interface has
passed
Note that PMDF will not send the vacation notice if it determines
that the message was received through a mailing list.