The POPGate is a CommuniGate communication module supporting e-mail message transfer using the POP Internet protocol (RFC1725) via TCP/IP network.
The POPGate module supports multi-stream communications. For each registered user, POPGate can retrieve messages from several remote mailboxes and provide access to CommuniGate user mailboxes for several remote users simultaneously.
Retrieving mail:
Sometimes (usually, when your CommuniGate server is not directly connected to Internet), mail is stored on some foreign "mail servers". The POP protocol allows client applications to connect to those "mail servers" and retrieve mail from mailboxes on those servers.
Each registered CommuniGate user can specify POP accounts he/she has on remote mail servers, and POPGate will automatically make connections, retrieve new mail and store mail in user's In Box mailboxes.
When you have many local users, you may consider getting your own domain name. In this case your network provider can store all messages directed to your domain in one POP account. POPGate can retrieve mail from such a "unified", domain-wide account. When specified, that account is polled periodically, and all messages retrieved from it are delivered to CommuniGate users. Since the "envelope" information is lost when messages are stored in a unified POP account, sometimes it is not possible to automatically route a message retrieved from that account. In this case the message is routed to CommuniGate Postmaster.
For dial-up linked system, you will use POPGate to retrieve your mail from the mail server(s), and you will use SMTPGate to send your mail. When a dial-up (MacPPP) link is used, POPGate initiates dial-up connections only when it is allowed by the schedule set with the "PPP Dialing" CommuniGate Server settings.
You may want to enable access to CommuniGate user mailboxes via Internet. Any E-mail software supporting POP protocol can be used to connect to your CommuniGate server and to retrieve mail from user mailboxes using POPGate.
Installation
Place the POPGate module into the Modules folder inside the CommuniGate Folder in your System Folder. Restart the CommuniGate Server.
If you use a dial-up link to Internet, make sure that the TCP Agent application is placed into the Modules folder. That application can be found in the CommuniGate Server software archive.
Configuring
When the POPGate module is in the Modules folder on the Server computer, you can configure it from any workstation that has the "can configure" privilege.
1. Choose POPGate from the Monitor section of the Server menu. The POPGate Monitor window appears.
2. Choose "Service Settings…" from the POPGate menu. The POPGate Settings dialog box appears.
3. Set the "Max outgoing connections" option. This option limits the number of connections the POPGate can make at the same time to poll accounts on remote hosts. Usually, 1-3 is enough, you may increase that number if you have many users that have many POP accounts on different hosts.
4. Set the "Max incoming connections" option. This option limits the number of incoming POP connections the POPGate can accept at the same time. You set a non-zero value if you want remote users to be able to connect to your CommuniGate server using any E-mail program that supports the POP protocol. You usually set this option to 0 if you use a dial-up link to Internet.
5. You may want to use the "Mail coding" option to make the POPGate convert message texts from the Mac OS coding to the coding used in your national network and vise versa. Remember that some mail hosts still support the standard ASCII character set only (7-bit data), so national symbols will be lost when mail comes through those hosts.
6. Set the log level.
Note: if you select the "All Info" log level, log files will become very large very soon and the system may operate slowly when a POP connection is active.
7. If you have a "unified" POP account on some host that collects all mail messages directed to the entire domain supported with your CommuniGate Server, you should enter the name of that account in the "Unified Domain-wide Account" box, along with the password for that account. Also, use the Check Every option to specify how often the unified account should be polled.
Setting User Accounts
When POPGate is installed, each CommuniGate user can specify the POP accounts on other hosts he/she wants to be polled.
To specify POP accounts, choose User Settings from the Edit menu and select POP Accounts from the list on the left side of the User Settings dialog box.
Enter each accounts as <username>@<host name>, for example: myaccount@that.host
and specify the password for that account. The Check Every pop-up menu allows you to set how often that account is checked. When POPGate connects to an account and detects new mail there, it downloads new messages and they appear in your In Box.
When you have e-mail accounts on foreign hosts, you may want to use one of those accounts as your 'From:' address.
Let's say your account with the CommuniGate Server is John Smith, the CommuniGate Server domain is cGate.mycompany.com, and all your mail goes to the host mail.mycompany.com where you have an account jsmith@mail.mycompany.com.
You enter this account (jsmith@mail.mycompany.com) into the list of POP accounts, so it is polled and mail from there appears in your (John Smith) CommuniGate In Box.
When you compose a message, the From: address generated is John_Smith@cGate.mycompany.com.
If you want jsmith@mail.mycompany.com to be your From: address, so all replies will go to your POP account, you should choose User Settings from the Edit menu, select Personal Info from the list on the lefgt sode of the User Settings dialog box, and enter jsmith@mail.mycompany.com into the Special 'From:' address field.
Enabling Remote Access
When POPGate is installed, each CommuniGate user can enable remote access to his/her mailbox, so any E-mail program can be used to retrieve mail from CommuniGate Server remotely.
To enable remote access, choose User Settings from the Edit menu and select POP Access from the list on the left side of the User Settings dialog box.
Enter the password to be used when connecting to your CommuniGate In Box from a remote computer. To disable remote access, enter an empty string there.
Usually E-mail applications retrieve mail using the POP protocol and mark the retrieved messages as deleted. You can specify what the system should do with those marked messages: it can either delete them or it can mark them as read. If marked as read, the marked messages are left in your In Box, but they disappear for an E-mail application you use from a remote computer: POPGate shows only new, "unread" messages to remote clients.
Troubleshooting
If you see that the POPGate tries to connect to a host, but fails, or it cannot negotiate with that host, switch the log level to "Low-Level Info" or "All Info". After the next attempt, switch logging back and examine the log. If you still cannot find the source of the problem, and the administrator of that host cannot help either, copy that part of the log and e-mail it to support@stalker.com with the detailed description of the problem as you see it. Include the information about the versions of your CommuniGate Server and POPGate (use the About CommuniGate command from the Apple menu in the CommuniGator application).
Attachments
When retrieving mail from foreign mail servers, POPGate detects the BinHex enclosures in messages and converts them into the attachments. If conversion fails, the unmodified original BinHex text is included in the message body.
When a remote user retrieves a message via POPGate, all attachments are converted on the fly into the BinHex format.
Revision History
1.1.
• Support for dial-up TCP/IP Links is implemented.
• Unified Domain-wide Account support is implemented
