GroupWise 5 Advanced Administration - Cramsession

Designing a system
GroupWise agent disk space requirements:

Agent RAM requirements:

Post Office disk space requirements:

To determine disk space for DMS: (avg. doc size) x (# of docs) x (# of users) = DMS disk space.

To change an object's visibility in the address book:
System All users will see this object in the address book.
Domain Only users in the same domain as this object will see this object in the address book.
Post Office Only users in the same PO as this object will see this object in the address book.
None No one will see this object in the address book.

Domains
Each GroupWise system can contain only one primary domain.

The primary domain contains the master WPDOMAIN.DB file for the GroupWise system.

GW directory store:

GroupWise has a separate directory store from NDS. NDS synchronizes with the directory store.

Secondary domain databases can be rebuilt from the WPDOMAIN.DB held by the primary domain.

The primary domain database cannot be rebuilt from another database. If the database becomes unrepairable, it will need restored from tape backup.

Once a domain has been named, the name cannot be changed.

When creating a secondary domain, you must create it in the proper container in NWAdmin. Then, you must run the agent install program to create the ADA and MTA.

The agent installation will create a GRPWISE.NCF file for GroupWise agent startups on the file server.

GroupWise administrators
  • Centralized administration - one person administers the GW system.
  • Distributed administration - GW system administration is handled by a number of administrators. Administrators are usually given rights over certain areas of the NDS tree.

    Distributed administration can be beneficial when needing to divide the administration due to groups within the organization, or to prevent the need for administration across a WAN link.

    GroupWise administrators must have at least these system rights:

    • PUBLIC - [RF]
    • SYSTEM - [RWC_MF]
    • Proper domain and post office directories - [RWCEMF]
    • Domain directory - [RWC]

    When using multiple administrators, you must make sure that they are receiving administrative mail updates and warnings. You will need to perform the following:

      1. Give the administrators GW accounts.
      2. Create a distribution list and add these administrators to the list.
      3. Add this account name to the Administrator field in the domain details page in NWAdmin.

    • POA - Post Office Agent
    The POA performs the following:

    MTA - Message Transfer Agent
    The MTA performs the following:

    ADA - Administrative Agent
    The ADA works with NWAdmin to process and replicate administrative messages, update PO and domain databases, and synchronize NDS information with WPDOMAIN.DB and WPHOST.DB databases.

    NWAdmin sends administrative messages to the ADA. The ADA then replicates these messages and updates the directory store.

    The ADA updates the GW address book.

    Agent Settings
    Making a change in NWAdmin to the ADA, MTA or POA will make the agent automatically restart to make the change take place immediately.

    When loading an agent, configuration settings are read in this order:

    MTA

    Scan cycle Number of seconds between each scan of the MTA normal priority input folders.
    Scan High Number of seconds between each scan of the MTA high priority input folders.
    Attach Retry Interval that the MTA tries to transfer messages to another system that is unavailable.
    Use 2nd High Priority Router When enabled, allows high priority queues to be processed on separate threads rather than the same thread.
    Use 2nd Mail Router When enabled, the \WPCSIN\2 and \WPCSIN\3 directories are processed separately from the other normal priority queues.

    ADA

    Enable automatic database recovery When enabled, the ADA automatically detects and repairs corruptions in WPDOMAIN.DB and WPHOST.DB.
    Scan domain cycle Interval between polls of ADA domain input queues.
    Scan PO cycle Intreval between polls of ADA post office input queues.

    POA

    Enable automatic database recovery When enabled, the POA automatically detects and repairs corruptions in user databases.
    Enable TCP/IP (for Client/Server) Enables TCP/IP communications for client-server mode.
    Enable caching Enables database caching.
    Enable QuickFinder Indexing Enables QuickFinder, which indexes messages and documents in post offices.
    Enable SNMP Enables the Simple Network Management Protocol.
    Message File Processing Setting that determines the level of message file processing for the POA. Can be set to:
  • All
  • Low
  • High
  • Off
    • Msg Handler Threads Determines the number of available threads to the POA.
    TCP Handler Threads Sets the maximum number of TCP threads that can be created by the POA.
    QuickFinder Interval Time between updates to the QuickFinder index.
    DiskCheck Interval Interval to check free disk space.
    DiskCheck Delay Time between reporting a problem and re-notifying the administrator when not resolved.
    Max App Connections Maximum number of client-server connections at once.
    Max Physical Connections Maximum number of physical client-server connections at once.
    CPU Utilization Maximum CPU time that the POA can use.
    Delay Time Specifies time that threads lie idle after CPU threshold has been exceeded.
    Enable SMP Enables SMP for use with GroupWise.
    Log Settings
    When a log file is created, it is named after the date and agent. The first four characters signify the month and day, the next three letters signify the agent, and the three-digit extension signifies the order the log file was created in.
    • A file created on May 19 for the ADA agent will be named 0519ADA.001.
    • Once the log file for the day is full, it will create a second log file named 0519ADA.002

    Logging levels:

    • Verbose - Used mainly for troubleshooting. Displays normal logging, routing information and filenames.
    • Normal - Displays regular logging information.
    • Off - Logging is not available.

    Log files can be read within the agent by hitting the key or by manually editing the proper file within the agent's log directory.

     
    Links
    All domain link information is located in WPDOMAIN.DB.

    Link configuration is managed through NWAdmin by clicking Tools, GroupWise Utilities, and Link Configuration.

  • Direct link - Domains transfer messages to each other directly.
  • Indirect link - Domains transfer messages through another domain(s) to get to the recipient domain.

  • Gateway link - Provides communication to foreign and external systems and domains.

    Link configuration types:

    • Ring - All domains are directly linked to two other domains, forming a ring.
    • Star - Central domain is directly linked to all other domains. All non-central domains are indirectly linked through the central domain to the other non-central domains.
    • Mesh - All domains are directly linked together.
    • Hybrid - Extension or hybrid of one of the other configuration types.

    RING
    STAR
    MESH

    Link connection types:

    • Mapped
    • UNC
    • TCP/IP

    Setting the link connection type to TCP/IP is necessary when connecting two domains that have dissimilar O/S's.

    Making a link connection TCP/IP will automatically restart the MTA and load the TCP/IP transport monitor.

    Transfer pull can be configured when you don't want another domain to be able to push mail to the recipient domain. The recipient domain will then pull the mail from the sending domain's MTA. Is often used when connecting different mail systems or when controlling network connections. When using transfer pull, you must manually create a TRANSFER directory with subdirectories named 0-7 underneath the post office directory. The MTA will put all outgoing mail in this TRANSFER directory, and the receiving MTA will pull the mail from this directory.

    Installing MTA at the PO will allow the messages from that PO to be pushed to the domain.

    When TCP/IP links are created between the PO and the domain, you must install an MTA at the PO.

    When two domains are communicating with TCP/IP, the protocol places outgoing mail to the other domain in the \MSLOCAL\MSHOLD\MSIBOUND of the receiving domain.

    • MTA Input and Output directories

    The WPCSIN directory contains messages coming into the MTA to be delivered elsewhere. The PO places outgoing files into the WPCSIN directory.

    The WPCSOUT directory contains messages that have been moved by the MTA. The PO scans this directory for new files and delivers them accordingly.

    These directories are relative to the MTA, not the PO.

    Each WPCSIN and WPCSOUT directory contains priority subdirectories.

    External Systems and Domains
    When two systems are located under the same NDS tree, you will need to switch to the domain that you would like to administer.

  • External GroupWise domain - GroupWise 5.x or 4.1 domain existing within another system.
  • External foreign domain - Non-GroupWise system.

    When creating external domains, you are only connecting the external system with your system to allow proper message transferring between the two. You will not be able to administer the external domain.

    The address book for the local GroupWise system can contain user lists from the external mail system.

    Synchronization with other GW 5 systems can occur automatically by enabling settings when creating the domain.

    Synchronization with GW 4 systems occurs by using the Import and Export features.

    Synchronization with external foreign domains usually occurs through custom gateways.

    When merging two systems, the system your are merging must not have any secondary domains beneath it.

    The domain you merge will become a secondary domain to the primary domain in the system you merged with.

    Converting a domain promotes the secondary domain to a primary domain, and demotes the primary domain to a secondary domain. References to each are automatically updated in all domain and post office databases.

    Releasing a domain creates a new system and makes the domain an external domain.

    When two systems are located under the same NDS tree, you will need to switch to the domain that you would like to administer. To do this (in NWAdmin):

      1.Click Tools - GroupWise System Operations
      2.Click System Connection
      3.Click Switch System
      4.Select the domain you would like to administer
      5.Click Connect
      6.Click Close

    • Access Methods
    Access methods:
    • Client-Server - Uses POA only for delivering messages. Communicates with POA via TCP/IP.
    • Direct - Directly accesses PO directories for delivering messages. Requires that the user have proper access rights to the proper PO directories.

    Client server benefits:

    • Prevents user from needing rights to mail directories.
    • Keeps client from affecting database integrity.
    • Reduces network traffic.
    • Increases performance.
    • Increases scalability.

    For direct access, users must have [RWCE_F] rights to all PO directories except X:\WPCSOUT\ADS\. Users also must have a mapped connection to the PO directory.

    When using client-server access, the workstation must be configured with a TCP/IP address, and must be able to communicate properly with the server. Once the client has been installed, check to make sure you can ping the IP address of the server to ensure proper communications.

    Direct access options:

    • Agent Always - This allows the client to write to the WPCSOUT\OFS directory instead of directly to the databases. The POA will then deliver the message to the proper destination. This allows an added level of security, so that you will not have to give users certain rights to the database directories. You will need to grant users the following rights when using Agent Always with direct access:
    • OFUSER - [R]
    • OFMSG - [R]

    • Use App Threshold - Tells the client to deliver the message when the POA is busy. Sets a number that tells the client to deliver when the database updates are less then or equal to the number specified, and the POA to deliver when the number is more than the number specified. This option is set by default.

    • Client Delivers Locally - The client always delivers all messages. The POA never handles the messages.

    With client-server, you can proxy with users in another PO. With direct access, you can only proxy with users in the same PO.

    Stores
    The message store contains all messages for a GroupWise system.

    The directory store is a distributed database containing contact information for all users, commonly accessed through the GW address book. The ADA processes all updates for this information, known as directory synchronization.

    The document store contains all documents for GroupWise libraries.

    Mailbox/Library maintenance options are used to maintain message store databases. Message database problems result in user problems with sending and receiving messages.

    Mailbox/Library maintenance options:
    Analyze/Fix Databases
  • Structure - Checks database integrity.
  • Index - Checks index
  • Contents - Checks for existence of messages.
  • Acquires statistics from user databases.
  • Fix problems - Fix problems that are found.
    		•
    Expire/Reduce Messages
  • Reduce Only - Reclaims disk space.
  • Expire and Reduce - Expires messages older than age specified.
    • Mailbox Statistics
  • Summary Statistics - Display basic user statistics
  • Complete Statistics - Displays thorough user statistics.
    • Reset Client Options Resets options set by user within the client.
    Recreate User Database Recreates a deleted database.
    Structural Rebuild Reconstructs a user database.

    System maintenance options are used to maintain directory store databases.

    System maintenance options:

    Validate Database Verifies database integrity.
    Recover Database Corrects inconsitencies, but not information. Can be run while database is in use.
    Rebuild Database Corrects inconsitencies and information. Must have exclusive access to database. Rebuilds database using information from parent domain.
    Recliam Unused Space Reclaims unused space in database.
    Rebuild Indexes for Listing Rebuilds indexes for address book.

    You must ensure that the NWGUARD.DB, WPDOMAIN.DB, WPHOST.DB and message and user databases are backed up regularly.

    Scheduled Events
    Events can be scheduled for POA and ADA agents, but not the MTA.

    POA:

    • Check for PO database corruption, and repair if found.
    • Index documents.
    • Check disk space usage.

    ADA:

    • Suspend ADA for periods of time. Used when performing backups.
    • Automatically synchronize information from NDS with WPDOMAIN.DB.

    Document Management Services
    A library must be created before a user can use document management services.

  • BLOB (Binary Large Object files) - files where documents are stored.

  • DMSH.DB - Shared document services database that holds a list of all libraries and lookup tables for those libraries.

  • DMDLxxxx.DB - Contains document logging information.

  • DMSDxxxx.DB - Contains library system data.

  • DMDDxxxx.DB - Contains library document data.

    The LIB directory contains three sub directories:

    • ARCHIVE - Contains archived documents.
    • INDEX - Holds indexes for document searches.
    • DOCS - Contains library documents.

    Integrated Applications - how an application interacts with GroupWise.

  • Loose - Uses Windows 95 file extension associations to open the proper program based on the file extension.
  • Tight - GroupWise is used to open the file.

    Types of tight integration:

    • ODMA - Supported applications can be integrated with GW.
    • Point-to-point - Word and Excel can be integrated with GW.

  • *.INC file - Incremental document index that is written at regular intervals.

  • *.IDX file - .INC files are compressed into these QuickFinder index files.

    Document properties:
    • Maximum revisions - Number of times the document can be revised.
    • Retention time - Amount of time the document will stay in the document store.
    • Disposition - Determines what happens to the document when it expires. Can be archived or deleted.
      Migrations
      There are four steps when performing a migration:
      1. 1. Plan Migration - Opens the help file to give an overview of the migration process.
      2. 2. Migrate Domain - Converts the GW 4 domain database to a GW 5 domain database.
      3. 3. Graft Objects - Creates NDS objects for all converted GW 4 objects. Associates new GW account with the NDS object.
      4. 4. Migrate Post Office - Converts the post office database to a GW 5 post office database. Installs POA agent. Converts GW 4 messages to GW 5 messages.

      When migrating a post office, make sure no users have access to the post office.