The Connection page lets you specify when and how often the gateway machine connects to the Internet in order to send and receive Internet mail. You can also specify options for disconnecting automatically.
Specifying Connection Options
This page lets you specify whether or not to connect to the Internet when OfficeTalk starts up. You can specify that OfficeTalk connects after start up by checking the Connect to the Internet on Service startup check box. You can also specify the number of seconds to wait before connecting in the corresponding field.
You may specify whether or not you wish OfficeTalk to prompt you prior to connecting to the Internet. You can do this by checking the Prompt before connection check box.
Scheduling Connection Times
The Connection page also lets you specify a schedule for connecting to the Internet. For example, you may specify that OfficeTalk connects every 30 minutes, or you can specify that OfficeTalk will connect Monday through Friday at 10:00am. You can do this by pressing the Connection Schedule… button. This will bring up the Schedule dialog box. The Schedule dialog box contains the list of defined scheduled events for when a connection will be made.
You can add a scheduled event in the following way:
Bring up the Schedule dialog box by pressing the Connection Schedule… button in the Connection page of the Internet Service property sheet.
Press the New… button located in the Schedule dialog box. A Scheduled Event dialog box is displayed.
The When drop down list lets you choose the type of scheduled event. You may choose between specifying connection to occur Every n minutes or Once on a particular date at a particular time or Weekly on one or more days of the week at a certain time. The fields in the Scheduled Event dialog box will change according to your selection. Once you have selected the scheduled event type and have specified the appropriate dates and times, then press OK. The scheduled event will be added to the list in the Schedule dialog box.
Specifying Disconnection Options
You can configure the Internet mail service to automatically disconnect from the Internet after a certain period of time. You can do this by checking the Disconnect automatically check box and specifying a time period in the adjacent field. You may specify whether or not you wish OfficeTalk to prompt you prior to disconnection. You can do this by checking the Prompt before disconnection check box.
If the service is still sending or receiving mail at this time, then the service will not disconnect until all activity has finished. If you wish to force disconnection after a certain period of time regardless of whether mail is still being sent or received then bring up the Advanced dialog box by pressing the Advanced… button.
The Advanced dialog box gives you three disconnection options:
Do not force disconnection
Prompt before forcing disconnection
Force disconnection silently
Choose the appropriate option and press OK.