MailDoor User's Guide

This appendix summarizes how to configure your domain name server (DNS) for use with AIMS and MailDoor. It assumes you are familiar with the details of configuring your DNS for multi-domain services in general. If you are not, consult Appendix 1 of this Users' Guide, and of the HomeDoor Users' Guide as well.

Setting up a DNS for virtual e-mail is much like setting up a DNS for virtual Web services. When setting up virtual Web domains, you utilize HomeDoor, your DNS and your Web server to create the domains and serve the pages. In the same way, when setting up virtual e-mail domains, you utilize MailDoor, your DNS and your mail server (AIMS) to create the domains and process and forward the e-mail. To be specific, when setting up a virtual e-mail domain, you use your DNS to point to AIMS as the mail server for that domain, and you use AIMS and MailDoor to accept, forward and store the mail.

• NOTE: As described in Appendix 1, if you are using both HomeDoor and MailDoor, the DNS host files for the domain serve as a point of commonality. You only need to set up one DNS host file for each domain.
  

To configure your DNS for virtual e-mail domains, you must first set up a hosts file for your mail server's domain, and define the name of the mail server itself (for instance "mail.yourdomain.com"). You or your network administrator have probably done this already.

After setting up the hosts file for the mail server's domain, you then need to set up a host file for each virtual e-mail domain you will be processing through AIMS and MailDoor. You may have also done this already, especially if you have set up these domains to provide virtual Web services via HomeDoor (see Appendix 1 for details). Either way, be sure each of these hosts files include an MX record. The MX record indicates the name of your AIMS machine. Examples of complete hosts files for both Unix-style DNS's (including MIND and QuickDNS Pro) and MacDNS are included in Appendix 1 of the HomeDoor Users' Guide.

Finally, as indicated in the Getting Started section, be sure to configure AIMS with the name of each virtual domain, so that it knows to accept and store mail for that domain. Otherwise AIMS will try to forward the mail onwards, resulting in a mail loop (since the MX record for that domain will point back to AIMS itself).

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