Mail Handling Tiers in the Server Farm
We classify servers in the server farm into one of four groups to describe the way they handle electronic mail. The document describes those four tiers, and lists the requirements for configuration of mail handling on the server for each.
Mail Tier descriptions
Minimal Local
- This is the default configuration.
- System is not expected to generate mail or receive mail.
Mail Generator
- Has web app or other tool that generates noticeable outbound mail.
- May have small number of pre-defined known addresses (e.g. webuser@host) that have to land somewhere.
- Known addresses (such as the webserver userid) should be aliased to an off-host address, and set up as virtual users on the mail hub.
MTA Application
- System has an arbitrary number of local addresses that need to receive mail from off-host.
- These may be actual user mail (e.g. NMC) or application queues (e.g. RT).
Campus Messaging Server
- Part of the campus messaging infrastructure. Mail is handled by Messaging group.
Mail Tier Configuration Parameters
