Viewing the Domain Object

Generally, you do not administrate the domain object much after you have initially configured it. However, you will often find that when you are troubleshooting, you will go back to the domain object to confirm how it is configured.

Note

One of the reasons to administer the domain object right after creating your new system or new domain is to add an "administrator" account to the domain object. Failure to do so will mean that you will not receive all sorts of useful administrative messages. You'll find more details about this admin account in the next section.

If you highlight a domain, right-click, and select Properties, you'll get a window like the one shown in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3. The domain object properties window

The domain object properties window has six property pages, selectable by clicking the word on the GroupWise tab:

• Identification

• Post Offices

• Address Book

• Addressing Rules

• Internet Addressing

• Default WebAccess

The following sections offer a discussion of each of these pages in turn.

The Domain Identification Property Page

The Identification page displays all the general information about this domain. There are nine fields, as shown in Figure 5.3, but only six of them can be edited:

• Domain: The domain name cannot be changed after the domain has been created. If naming conventions at your organization require you to change a domain name, you must create a new domain by that name and move users to it. Refer to Chapter 13, "Moving Users," for more information.

• Description: The optional text you place in this field can be used to help other administrators contact you. This text is never visible to users, or from the server console.

• UNC Path: This field should be populated with the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to the domain database for this domain. The syntax for a UNC path is \\server name\volume\path to domain database. When you use the System Connection tool to switch domains (covered more fully in Chapter 6, "Using GroupWise System Operations"), ConsoleOne requires the UNC path value. If a domain is located on a Linux server, the path indicated here would not look like a UNC path. It might look something like this: /data/corp.

• Language: This drop-down menu is populated with the available languages. Be sure to select your local language so that your users will get the system messages, if any, in their own preferred local language instead of in English.

• Domain Type: A domain that is part of your GroupWise system will show as either Primary or Secondary (and only one domain will be the primary). Domains belonging to other systems that your system sends messages to will show as External. Another type of domain that is created for special routing purposes is called a Non-GroupWise domain.

• Time Zone: This field is populated from a drop-down menu containing all the widely recognized time zones worldwide. This field is critical if your organization spans multiple time zones, or if you share email with organizations in other time zones.

• Database Version: In this field, you will see 4.1, 5.0, 5.5, 6, 6.5, or 7. A 4.1 identifies a GroupWise 4.1 domain, whereas a value of 5.0 applies to any version of GroupWise 5.0, 5.1, or 5.2. If a domain is running GroupWise 5.5 or GroupWise 5.5 Enhancement Pack, this field reads 5.5. A GroupWise 6 domain reads 6. For a GroupWise 6.5 domain, this field reads 6.5. A GroupWise 7 domain reads 7. This field is important to keep an eye on if you are upgrading from an earlier version of GroupWise.

• Network Type: This field is a holdover from WordPerfect Office 4.0 days and can be ignored.

• Administrator: The Browse button for this field enables you to choose an eDirectory user object to serve as the GroupWise administrator. The object you select must have a valid GroupWise mailbox associated with it. Any error messages generated by GroupWise agents are emailed to this user.

The Domain Post Offices Property Page

Simply put, this tab lists the post offices that belong to this domain. Because post offices cannot be moved or renamed, the information in this tab is not editable. Post offices can be deleted from this page, however. Post offices can be deleted only if they do not own any objects (such as users, resources, distribution lists, libraries, and POAs).

If you want to know what post offices a particular domain owns, it is often easier just to expand the hierarchy under this domain in the System pane of the GroupWise view. All the post offices will appear there.

The Domain Address Book Property Page

This is the interface for administering the way the system address book appears to your users. In the Windows client, this address book appears under the Novell GroupWise Address Book tab, as shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4. The domain object address book property page

Using this tab, you can change the sort order, the field order, and the field labels in the address book for this domain. You can also add fields to the GroupWise address book.

Warning

This feature set is somewhat limited, though. For example, if you change the sort order from a system level, users can change the sort order to whatever they like, and you can't dictate what they choose.

These are the default fields:

• Sort Address Book By: This tool has only two available values: Last Name, First Name and First Name, Last Name. As expected, the first option would put "Zachary Abrams" above "Allan Zane"(sorting alphabetically by last name). The second option would put "Allan Zane" above "Zachary Abrams."

• Address Book Fields and Available Fields: The interface here is a little tricky:

  • The left- and right-pointing arrows move fields into and out of the address book, respectively.

  • The up and down arrows change the order of the fields by moving the selected field up or down.

  • The Edit Label button enables you to change the field label of the selected field. Note: The only fields you can edit are Administrator-defined fields.

  • The Map Additional Fields button opens a new window. This feature enables you to define additional fields for user objects, which are then available in the GroupWise address book. Chapter 6 talks in detail about how you might use this powerful feature to extend the capabilities of the GroupWise address book.

The Domain Addressing Rules and Internet Addressing Property Pages

The Addressing Rules property page enables you to set and test existing addressing rules. It does not allow for the creation of addressing rules, however. You create addressing rules from the System Operations window. Chapter 6 goes into more detail on creating addressing rules.

The Internet Addressing property page enables you to override system-wide Internet addressing settings at the domain level. It also lets a GroupWise system use native Internet-style addresses for GroupWise users and resources. This page allows for wide ranges of flexibility in regard to how users' Internet-style addresses are maintained and used. At this point, it is important to know that Internet addressing is a very powerful tool, and like any good power tool, it can take your fingers off. Chapter 16, "Internet Addressing," discusses Internet addressing. For now, leave it unplugged and put it back down between your table saw and your workbench.

The Domain Default WebAccess Property Page

Use the Default WebAccess property page to select the default WebAccess agent (gateway) that processes requests for users located in this domain. This page applies only if you have multiple WebAccess agents installed in your GroupWise system. If you have only one WebAccess agent, that WebAccess agent services users in all domains. Chapter 11, "Installing and Configuring GroupWise WebAccess," discusses how to use this feature for practical purposes.

The following bulleted items explain the purpose of the different selections on this property page:

• Default WebAccess: When you have multiple WebAccess agents and a user logs in to GroupWise WebAccess, the GroupWise WebAccess Application (running on the Web server) determines whether a default WebAccess agent has been assigned to the user's post office (Post Office object, GroupWise tab, Default WebAccess page). If so, the WebAccess Application connects to the assigned WebAccess agent. If not, it connects to the default WebAccess agent assigned to the post office's domain that you define from this page.

  If possible, you should select a WebAccess agent that has the best network-level access to the domain's post offices to ensure the best performance. Each post office will use the domain's default WebAccess agent unless you override the default at the post office level (Post Office object, GroupWise tab, Default WebAccess page).

• Override: Check this box to indicate that you want to assign a default WebAccess agent to the domain.

• Default WebAccess Gateway: Browse for and select the WebAccess agent you want to use as the default.

This section has explained how settings can be made at the domain level. Some of these settings can also be made at the post office level. The value of making a setting change at the domain level is that several post offices can be changed at the same time. The notion of a domain administration model helps GroupWise to be administered at a higher level. When GroupWise is administered at a higher level, post office administration can be less taxing.

There are many more property pages to administer under a GroupWise post office versus a domain. However, the purpose for this is flexibility. For example, if you want a post office to be configured differently from other post offices in a domain, some of the defaults that are specified at the domain level can be customized to the requirements of a particular post office.