From 0cba9a6e16939722d25ebdd79e07703ed57fc460 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Art Cancro Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 22:25:37 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] journaling --- citadel/docs/journaling.html | 178 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 178 insertions(+) create mode 100644 citadel/docs/journaling.html diff --git a/citadel/docs/journaling.html b/citadel/docs/journaling.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..58b61236a --- /dev/null +++ b/citadel/docs/journaling.html @@ -0,0 +1,178 @@ + + + + Message Journaling with the Citadel System + + + +
+

Message Journaling with the Citadel System

+

A technical guide

+Copyright ©2006 by the Citadel development team.
+
+ +
+ +
+ +

Table of Contents

+ + +
+ +

Introduction

+ +

There are many different environments in which the Citadel system is +useful for messaging and collaboration tasks. Naturally, many sites use +Citadel as their organization's primary email server. Some of these +organizations are corporations which operate in industries that are subject +to regulations which dictate that all electronic messages must be archived +for some period of time.

+ +

Message journaling is a function of the Citadel system which provides the +ability to record all messages which are processed by the server. Journaling, +by itself, is not a message archival service, nor should one attempt to +treat it as one. We recommend that you combine Citadel journaling with a +third-party archival product or service, in order to assemble a data retention +solution that will meet the requirements of your organization.

+ +

Technical overview of Citadel journaling

+ +

In order to keep the configuration options simple and straightforward, +Citadel implements only one variety of journaling. It is generally known +in the messaging universe as "envelope journaling." As you are +probably already aware, one cannot trust the headers of any particular +message to be a reliable indication of which users have read it. In addition +to the declared sender and recipients, there may also be blind carbon copy +(BCC) recipients, recipients on one or more mailing lists, and even recipients +who are not listed due to forged or badly formed headers.

+ +

The format of a journalized message, therefore, contains extra information +about who actually sent and/or received the original message. The very +first portion of the journalized message lists the sender, message ID, and +recipients. It should be noted that the listed Sender and Recipients are +those which were relevant to delivery on the Citadel server performing the +journaling of the message. If the message arrived via SMTP from the +outside world, any recipients not on the local Citadel server would not be +listed, because they were not involved in the transaction which delivered the +message to the server.

+ +

The original message is then included, as an attachment of type +message/rfc822, to the journal message.

+ +

This logic provides the ability to answer these questions: +

+Either question can be answered by searching your archive for the message in +question and reviewing the names and addresses listed in the journalized +messages.

+ + +

Additional resource utilization

+ +

On a server with message journaling enabled, each message must pass through +the submit chain twice: once for the delivery of the original message, and once +for the delivery of the journalized message. You must plan accordingly for the +additional overhead which will be incurred. Nearly twice as much CPU, memory, +and disk space will be consumed by journaling.

+ +

Despite the extra processing, however, it should be noted that the Citadel +server performs journaling as a deferred background operation. This allows +interactive users to continue along instead of waiting for the server to +synchronously journal each message that is submitted.

+ + +

Where should I send the journalized messages?

+ +

As previously noted, any valid email address may be used as the destination +for journalized messages. Where you send your journalized messages will +likely depend upon how you are going to archive them.

+ +

Some archival systems contain their own email addresses. With these +products and services, you are expected to email your journalized messages +directly to a specific address. This is typically referred to as "push" +journaling because the transfer is initiated by your server. If you intend +to use this type of system, the required configuration is obvious: the +journal destination is the email address of your archival system.

+ +

Other archival systems are built around the idea that you should provide +a dedicated email address on your server, and the archival system +periodically uses POP3 (or POP3S, the SSL-encrypted version of POP3) to poll +the mailbox for new journalized messages. Upon successful retrieval of new +messages, the archival system deletes the journalized messages from your +server. This is typically referred to as "pull" journaling because the +transfer is initiated externally. If you intend to use this type of system, +you should create a dedicated account on your Citadel server for this purpose, +and then configure that account as the journal destination. No real users +should ever log in to this account. It exists solely as a drop box for +journalized messages.

+ +

In rare instances, you may wish to send the journalized messages to an +address on some other node on a private Citadel network. This could be useful +if, for example, one server is used to aggregate messages journalized from +several other servers. It might also be useful if, for some reason, you +require a dedicated server for journaling.

+ +

It should also be noted that the message data format contains a field which +declares that a message is actually a journalized copy of some other message. +The Citadel system will not journalize any message which carries this flag. +This prevents messages from being double journalized (or worse, caught in an +infinite loop of journaling).

+ + +

How to configure journaling

+ +

After you have formulated a strategy for combining journaling with some +third-party archival product or service as part of a compliance solution, the +actual configuration is very easy. You only need to set the following three +configuration items in Citadel: +

+

+ +

From the text-based Citadel client, these options may be found in the +.Aide System-configuration General command. You +will see the following options among the many other options in this dialog: +

+Perform journaling of email messages [Yes]: 
+Perform journaling of non-email messages [Yes]: 
+Email destination of journalized messages [example@example.com]:
+
+"Non-email messages" refers to any message which has no recipients. +This includes posts to public and private rooms, calendar items, address book +entries, notes, tasks, and any other data types which may be introduced in +the future. +

+ +

Configuration of journaling using WebCit is even easier. Log in with your +web browser and then select Administration --> Edit site-wide +configuration --> Indexing/Journaling, and you will find the same three +options.

+ +

It is not necessary to restart the Citadel server when you change your +journaling options. Changes will take effect immediately.

+ + +

Disclaimer

+ +

The message journaling feature of Citadel is only one component which may +be utilized as part of a larger solution for regulatory compliance. The +Citadel developers do not make any guarantee, expressed or implied, that this +functionality by itself will cause your organization's email services to +be sufficiently archived. It is up to you to design your complete archival +solution, to test it, and to evaluate its ability to comply with whatever +regulations are relevant to your organization.

+ + + +
+ + + -- 2.39.2