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DNX E-mail Services:
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Server Equipment and Software
Discovery Networks is primarily a UNIX based hosting company.
We currently employ eight E-mail servers. Three for inbound
service, two for storage, one for outbound service, and two
webmail servers.
E-mail is a highly volitile service, which is prone to abuse
by outside parties. We utilize several methods to reduce
the effects of abusive parties. We use Postfix for our MTA
functions, Cyrus for our maildrops, Perdition for maildrop proxy, and Horde/Imp
for Webmail. We also utilize Spamassassin, and SmapCop for UCE control.
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Your Maildrop
Each E-mail account has a "Maildrop". The maildrop
is where your received E-mail is stored. Although the terms
"account" and "maildrop" can often be used
interchanably, when talking about storage, maildrop is preferred.
If you use
the E-mail address such as "xyz@dnx.net", your maildrop
is the group of characters to the left of the "@;" sign.
(i.e. "xyz") The group of characters to the right of
the @ sign is the domain. (In our example: "dnx.net")
Maildrops are unique for any given ISP. Therefore, if a
particular dnx client already has the maildrop "john" no one else may
have that maildrop/account.
If you have a virtual domain, the E-mail address which you give
people will be different. For instance you may have the domain:
"your-domain.com", and you may wish for your address to
be "sales". (i.e. "sales@your-domain.com")
When we engineer your domain, we make a "virutal mapping"
from your virtual E-mail address to your maildrop.
This mapping does not change your maildrop!
In the above example, E-mail received for "sales@your-domain.com" will
be dropped into the maildrop "xyz". Often maildrops for virtual
domains will be prefaced alike, so native maildrop names may be preserved.
WARNING!
Discovery Networks, Inc. will not be held responsible for any content you
may receive via E-mail. Unsolicited commercial E-mail, (UCE) or
often called "Spam", is an unfortunate occurance for people who have
E-mail addresses. DNX does to the best of it's ability, reduce the
receiption of junk E-mail. There is no guarentee our methods are fool-proof.
Inasmuch as we must grapple with inbound UCE, outbound UCE from DNX
subscribers is very much under our control! DO NOT send UCE!
Well will terminate accounts which knowingly send UCE outbound from DNX!
See our acceptable usage agreement, which is the
basis for the Internet access we grant you.
The contents of your maildrop is your responsiblity. DNX cannot be
held responsible for any loss to the contents of maildrops. Any E-mail
considered important to you should be downloaded to your local computer.
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Quotas
Your maildrop by default has a 20MB quota maximum collectively
for all folders. (More can be available for an additional fee.) Once you
reach this capacity, no more E-mail can be received
for any address that maps to this maildrop, and deleted mail cannot be retrieved
from the Trash folder. As stated previously, it's best to save any important or
large E-mail on your local computer as backup and to relieve space in your
maildrop.
Over quota maildrops are a nuisance to us. It causes our servers to work
overtime attempting to deliver mail which they cannot. This causes
everybodys E-mail to be delayed. Maildrops which are consistantly
over quota for which the owner cannot be contacted are considered
"abandoned" and will be deleted!
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POP3 Service
Post Office Protocol, (version 3), is a method of receiving stored
E-mail from your maildrop on our servers to your computer. Once it has received
all the E-mail, it deletes it from the maildrop. POP3 is the most common method
for this purpose, and is the default for many browsers.
There are three basic pieces of information you need to know when
setting up pop3:
- POP3 server - Several names may work, but the best
is to use "pop3.dnx.net".
- Account - This is your maildrop/account id from DNX.
- Password - The password for your maildrop/account.
Most E-mail programs require an SMTP server, see settings below.
WARNING!
To avoid needless aggravation, (see quotas below), you should
never use settings such as: Keep a copy on the server. Doing so
will fill up your maildrop and you'll stop getting E-mail for no
apparent reason!
Most pop3 implementations are weak. Many do not understand the
concept of folders. As part of our efforts to reduce UCE, we
place suspect mail into a "Spam" folder. If your E-mail program does
not understand folders, you could lose mail placed there, (albeit probably
fine), it also can cause your maildrop to go over quota, causing you to stop
getting E-mail. POP3 does not work well when accessed from multiple locations.
Often downloaded mail is trapped on one computer, but you need it on another!
POP3 service is very stable and robust. However, if your E-mail needs are more
than just casual, consider using the IMAP protocol instead of POP3.
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IMAP
Internet Mail Access Protocol, like POP3 is a method of getting
your E-mail from your maildrop, however IMAP is much more advanced.
One of the most important concepts to understand about IMAP is the fact it
controls your maildrop remotely. If you have an 8MB E-mail in your maildrop,
you don't need to download it just to delete it, like POP3 does. You simply
delete it. In other words, it only downloads the E-mail messages you want it
to. IMAP understands folders, and because the mail stays on the maildrop
server, it allows you to seemlessly get your mail from multiple locations.
(At the office, at home, or out of town!)
IMAP requires three pieces of information:
- IMAP server - Several names may work, but the best
is to use "imap.dnx.net".
- Account - This is your maildrop/account id from DNX.
- Password - The password for your maildrop/account.
Most E-mail programs require an SMTP server, see settings below.
WARNING!
Because IMAP keeps it's contents on our mailservers, chances are
if you don't regularly get your mail, your maildrop can go over
quota, causing any new mail to be rejected. Be sure to clear your Spam and
Trash folders regularly to avoid this situation.
Discovery Networks, Inc. will not be held responsible for the contents of your
maildrop. Although we regularly mirror the contents of your maildrop, any
E-mail of special importance should be saved locally on your computer.
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SMTP
Simple Mail Transport Protocol is the method of sending E-mail
via the Internet. Commonly, E-mail programs do not send to the destination
servers directly, but use a SMTP host, (or sometimes called a
"Smart Host") to do the leg work for them. If you connect up through
any of DNX connectivity services all that is required to know is the name of
the SMTP server:
- SMTP server - Use "smtp.dnx.net".
If you are not connecting to the Internet though our services, or you are
using DSL, the outbound SMTP server requires authentication, therefore the
additional settings are required. (It wont hurt to use these if you connect
locally.)
- Account - This is your maildrop/account id from DNX.
- Password - The password for your maildrop/account.
- Server Requires authentication. This option, if present
should be selected.
WARNING!
You should not select the option:
"Server requires Secure authentication". This will make your
connection fail!
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WebMail
Webmail is a web page based IMAP client. It allows you to get your mail from
anywhere that has a browser with an Internet connection. You can use webmail
off the dnx home page, or directly:
webmail.dnx.net Webmail also contains a
calendar program and is a means to configure some general attributes of your
E-mail account.
There are two things to know when using webmail:
- Account - Your DNX maildrop account.
- Password - Your maildrop password.
NOTES:
- For an additional fee, DNX can engineer domain specific use
of Webmail. This allows you to access the site like:
http://webmail.your-domain.com, and will show the mail coming from your domain.
- Secure Webmail is also possible. Call us to learn how to
use secure webmail
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ETRN
Clients with E-mail servers that connect intermittently, can
use the ETRN option on their assigned secondary MX server to trigger a download.
This method works well for dialup connections.
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Common Maildrop Domain Processing
Common Maildrop Domain processing is a means of collecting all the
E-mail for a virtual domain into a single maildrop. The contents of the
maildrop are retrieved, (via POP3/IMAP), and then delivered locally by a local
server. This method works fairly well, but has some caveats:
- Mail to multiple recipients either gets delivered to only one
party, or doubles.
- Mail to "Undisclosed Recipeients" will often fail.
If you currently utilize this method, we'll be happy to help you, however you
should be aware of better solutions.
NOTE: - Let us know if you need to use this method.
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© Copyright MMIX Discovery Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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