Messaging Server

What problems does Netscape Messaging Server solve for SuiteSpot?		As part of SuiteSpot, Netscape Messaging Server lets users easily exchange information within a company as well as across the Internet. Controlled by electronic mail or HTML forms, Messaging Server lets administrators manage user information and system-configuration parameters with the easy-to-use, point-and-click interface of Netscape Navigator and Communicator from any desktop on the network. It offers feature richness without compromising messaging interoperability or standards compliance.

Who needs Messaging Server?		Messaging Server is a solution that addresses key problems for: Small businesses installing a new electronic mail system Corporations needing to provide SMTP messaging to interoperate with Internet-based mail systems Corporations migrating from proprietary, LAN-based mail systems to standards-based messaging.

What are the new features of Messaging Server 3.5?		Messaging Server 3.5 provides numerous feature enhancements over the previous releases, including: Support for Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4 (RFC 1730) to provide messaging support for remote users, including support for IMAP4rev1 (RFC 2060) for optimal performance of message throughput. Integration with the latest release of the frames-based administration of Netscape SuiteSpot 3.1 for centralized administration of all Netscape servers. New and improved procedures for performing bulk additions, deletions, and modifications allow quick migration of existing users. Integrated NIS and NIS+ lookup capability to facilitate address resolution outside of Messaging Server's domain. SSL 3.0 support in Netscape Messaging Server administration for secure remote administration and client communications. LDAP version 3 support (RFC 2251) for centralized user management, message routing, and international character sets. Advanced security features, including authenticated SMTP (to prevent unauthorized Message transmissions) and IMAP over SSL (to fully encrypt communications between the server and the client). Support for delivery status notifications, to determine status of sent messages inside or outside the corporation. Improved network manageability via SNMP and NT EventVwr and Perfmon. Support for messaging Internet Foundation Classes, for creating mail-enabled applications between the client and server. Server Application Programming Interface, to provide an architecture to develop customized transport-enable applications. Improved user and group administration.

Why was the product name changed?		Netscape Mail Server has been deployed in thousands of customer applications ranging from simple electronic mail transport to complex mission-critical applications that orchestrate core communications. Messaging Server has been named to reflect the wider range of customer applications in which it is being deployed.

What does "LDAP support" mean?		Messaging Server supports the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (RFC 1777) for managing its user information and for routing messages. Messaging Server interoperates with a wide variety of third-party directory tools and, of course, Netscape Directory Server.

How does Messaging Server interoperate with Netscape Directory Server?		Administrators will be able to add a user to the directory from either the Messaging or Directory Services administration forms. Messaging Server will automatically create, delete, or change the account when it receives the update. Messaging Server uses the account database provided by any LDAP-compliant directory server.

What functionality does IMAP4 provide?		IMAP4 is based on work by the University of Washington and is embodied in the RFC 1730 specification. In short, it allows users to be disconnected from the main messaging system and still be able to process their mail. The specification allows for administrative controls for these disconnected users and for the resynchronization of the user's message store once the user reconnects to the messaging system.

Does IMAP4 provide security features, and when will secure email be possible with Netscape messaging solutions?		IMAP4 as an open standard does allow for the integration of security mechanisms for the client authentication to the messaging server. An encrypted messaging transport protocol is not part of the IMAP4 specification and has been developed to the S/MIME standard in Netscape Communicator.

How does Messaging Server compare to other competitive offerings?		Messaging Server, by virtue of its support for open protocols, allows organizations to deploy a back-end messaging system that works seamlessly with their existing Internet-compliant messaging servers and clients. Customers are not forced into using any particular vendor's technology to solve their messaging needs. With Messaging Server customers are free to choose any POP3 or IMAP4 client they wish. The ability to support server-side backups and other administrative tasks is open to any client connected to Messaging Server. Messaging Server also scales better and outperforms proprietary messaging systems. The architecture of the server allows it to support several thousand users per server unlike traditional proprietary messaging systems, which average only several hundred users per server. Since the server is based on open protocols, unnecessary document conversions, address remapping, and attachment encodings are not performed, improving the throughput to the messaging network. Finally, because of the IMAP4 support built into Messaging Server, customers are now able to enjoy the same freedom of remote message connectivity previously available only in proprietary messaging solutions. With an IMAP4 client connected to the server, users can download all or part of their messages. In low-speed situations, the user can select only message headers or one particular message to download. IMAP4 also provides the capability for the client to resynchronize with the server once it reconnects.

How does Messaging Server relate to the Software.com Post.office product?		Although Messaging Server technology originally evolved from the Post.office product of Software.com (Netscape Mail Server 1.1), Messaging Server has been designed, structured, and developed with a focus on Netscape's customer market requirements. Both products are excellent examples of the powerful advantages to customers of native standards implementations. However, Messaging Server is designed specifically for those customers who are not only seeking a messaging solution but are also investigating a range of groupware and content-publishing services, as would be provided with Netscape SuiteSpot.

Were any features of the IMAP4 protocol not implemented in this release?		The only features of the IMAP4 specification not implemented in this release were the optional extensions for ANNOTATE and ACL. These features will be implemented in future releases.

When will IMAP4 support be present in Netscape Navigator?		Netscape Navigator supports IMAP4 in the Netscape Communicator release of the product.

How many users does Messaging Server support?		On a 133MHz Pentium processor with 32MB of memory sending and receiving half a dozen messages per user each day, Messaging Server can handle messaging throughput for approximately 3000 users in a 10-hour workday.

If security was already excellent with Mail Server 2.0, what has been added in Messaging Server 3.5 and why?		Messaging Server now supports client certificates to enable single sign-on for a user from anywhere in the enterprise. In addition, Messaging Server provides a mechanism for authenticating use of the server for any user who wishes to send an email, thus preventing forged messages and unauthorized transmissions. Finally, Netscape Messaging Server now allows administrators to fully encrypt the IMAP4 communications between a client and server.

On what platforms does Messaging Server run?		Messaging Server runs on Windows NT, Solaris, Irix, Digital Unix, AIX, and HP-UX.

How do I connect Messaging Server to my existing messaging network?		Messaging Server fully supports the latest features and functions associated with SMTP/MIME-compliant messaging systems. As a result, Netscape Messaging Server connects seamlessly with any existing SMTP messaging system or any SMTP-compliant messaging gateway.

What improvements have been made in administration?		Messaging Server supports SNMP version 1. The server also provides an optional message quota system to control user growth and delivery service notifications to guarantee delivery of messages within an enterprise or even across the Internet. Finally, all the bulk user administration has been rewritten to improve performance and ease of use.

Can I develop messaging applications with Messaging Server?		Messaging Server supports both a Messaging Internet Foundation Class library for developing client-server messaging applications and a server-side application programming interface for developing server-side programs for processing messages.

Does Messaging Server support a single-copy message store?		Messaging Server now supports single-copy message storage.

Does Messaging Server support ACAP?		Application Configuration Access Protocol has not completed its development process yet. As soon as a reference implementation of ACAP is available, Netscape Communications Corporation will examine that architecture to determine when and how to integrate that technology into the Messaging products.

Messenger Express

What is Netscape Messenger Express?		Netscape Messenger Express provides web-based access to email. Messenger Express users can view, send, move, or delete their messages and manage their mail folders via an easy-to-use interface. Messenger Express is available only as a component of Netscape Messaging Server. Messaging Server provides a standards-based, enterprise messaging system.

What makes Messenger Express easy to use?		Leveraging the intuitive interface of Netscape Communicator, Messenger Express gives email users one consistent interface for accessing email. This reduces IT departments' end-user training costs.

Which browsers does Messenger Express support?		Messenger Express supports the most popular browsers such as Netscape Communicator 4.x, Netscape Navigator 4.x and 3.x, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x and 3.x.

How much storage space does Messenger Express use on a desktop?		Messenger Express is resident on Enterprise Server and so does not take up system resources on the desktop. In other words, no additional desktop software is needed.

How is Messenger Express different from Communicator?		Messenger Express provides basic email functionality such as sending and receiving email and managing messages and mail folders. It is designed to be the secondary email client for quick email access from any computer with a browser. Communicator is a full-featured email client with features not provided in Messenger Express, such as S/MIME for encryption and authentication of email, HTML composing for rich formatting, and mail filters. Communicator is designed to be the primary email client for most corporate users.

Why do corporations need Messenger Express?		As corporations standardize on Internet-based messaging, they need to provide Internet-based messaging clients on their computers.  Messenger Express provides a quick way to deploy such a client so roaming users can access their email from any computer inside the company or outside the firewall if configured appropriately.

How does Messenger Express help roaming users outside the company?		Messenger Express uses the web to access email, so corporations can use Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to provide security-enhancedaccess to users working outside the company firewall at, for example, airport kiosks, conference centers, and hotels.

How does Messenger Express interoperate with Netscape Directory Server?		Messenger Express is integrated with Directory Server (the LDAP corporate directory) to find user email addresses within the company.

How does Messenger Express compare to competitive products?		Messenger Express supports the goal of a totally thin, second email client for quick email access better than Microsoft Outlook Express does because Messenger Express doesn't take up system resources on a user's hard disk when not in use. It also works on any platform supported by the major browsers. Outlook Express, on the other hand, is another full client that takes up system resources, such as the user's hard disk, even when not in use.

On what platforms does Messenger Express run?		Messenger Express runs on any platform that Communicator 4.x, Navigator 4.x and 3.x, and Internet Explorer 4.x and 3.x support. For example, Communicator 4.x supports the following platforms: Apple Macintosh System 7.5 and later Caldera OpenLinux(Intel) Digital Unix 3.2, 4.0 (Alpha) HP-UX 9.05, 10.x IBM AIX 4.x Microsoft Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95; NT 3.51, NT 4.0 Silicon Graphics IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3 Sun Solaris 2.4, 2.5; SunOS 4.1.3