A messaging backbone is responsible for receiving, storing, routing,
and delivering messages within an enterprise or to remote sites via
the Internet. Some of the criteria for choosing an enterprise messaging
backbone system are:
- It must be secure
- It must have the ability to process, manage, and troubleshoot
large amounts of mail
- It should inter-operate with other message systems
- It must be reliable
Exchange does not meet these criteria and is better suited for presenting
mail to the user after the mail has been processed by a messaging
backbone. An enterprise can benefit from a powerful secure messaging
backbone such as PMDF, and the user friendly features in Exchange
such as calendaring (Figure 1) by using the products in conjunction
with each other.
Figure 1
Exchange does NOT support the following features that are critical
to an enterprise messaging backbone:
- Filter by file type to prevent the spread of viruses.
Executable files often transmit viruses. With PMDF, a system administrator
can filter executable files via the conversion channel and perform
any of the following options:
- Delete all executable files automatically
- Replace the file with a text message alerting the user that
the file was deleted
- Use virus scanning software automatically prior to the delivery
of mail
- Filter on key words to prevent spam or the spread of viruses
- A system administrator can proactively search and isolate
messages based on key words or header information. For example,
a search can be done on "make money" or on the From: field.
These messages can be filtered to prevent spam, creating a more
secure messaging system.
- A system administrator can identify key words used in a virus
and filter the message. For example, with the Melissa virus,
"Melissa" was in the name of the file. The system administrator
could filter out all files based on the word Melissa. Exchange,
in combination with client anti-virus software, filters the
virus eventually. However, it took some additional time for
anti-virus software companies to develop a solution. System
administrators also have to depend on the users to download
and install the anti-virus software on their own systems. PMDF
administrators filtered for "Melissa" and stopped delivery before
it reached the users.
- Provides secure communication with SASL, CRAM-MD5 and DIGEST-MD5
PMDF includes additional security methods such as authentication
with SASL, CRAM-MD5 and DIGEST-MD5. SASL is a method for adding
authentication support to POP or IMAP logins and to SMTP message
submissions. PMDF comes with built-in CRAM-MD5 and DIGEST-MD5 authentication
methods to avoid the clear text transmission of users and passwords
during logins.
- Filter by file type to avoid consuming bandwidth
Some application files (such as BMP, JPG and MP-3) are bandwidth
intensive and often not related to work. The single message parts
can be deleted automatically that have these files or can be substituted
with a text notification part. The system administrator can develop
system level filters using the SIEVE mail filtering language. Exchange
does not support SIEVE.
- Troubleshooting from a command line interface allows you to
save time by isolating problems faster
Exchange mail messages are stored in one large database that is
accessed with a GUI interface, which is difficult to manage. With
the release of Exchange 2000, this database can be broken up into
separate databases to improve performance and make it more manageable.
However, Exchange is still difficult to manage because a system
administrator must point and click, selecting one message at a time
to examine causes for a delay in a queue. Additionally, there is
no means of examining every aspect of the processing of an e-mail
address. With PMDF, a system administrator can easily examine all
steps in this process at the operating level in order to diagnose
problems.
- Logging and testing utilities save time by:
- Isolating problems faster
- Monitoring performance proactively for capacity planning
- Providing granular control over your system configuration
PMDF logs every action that takes place during mail processing.
These extensive log files allow a system administrator to analyze
and isolate where a problem may reside. System administrators can
customize the level of detail they want to track.
PMDF 6.1 can monitor the overall health of a network by measuring
loopback messages. PMDF can send out a message to the remote system
and have it loop back to its origin. The outbound and the arrival
of an inbound message can be analyzed for performance. Also, mail
monitoring is available through the Mail Monitoring MIB, RFC 1566.
Finally, a system administrator can test configuration changes
or new installations locally before they are implemented globally.
In this way, potential problems can be identified prior to deployment.
- Mailing list management saves time
PMDF includes basic mailing list management tools that Exchange
does not provide. For example, PMDF permits users to control mailing
lists similar to those of majordomo and LISTSERV.
- Support for Internet standards for better interoperability
with other mail systems
PMDF supports IETF standards including SMTP, SMTP extensions, and
MIME protocols that are needed for communicating over the Internet.
Exchange has many incomplete and poor implementations of these standards.
PMDF provides more advanced flexibility for setting up your Internet
connectivity, with multiple domain support, better relay security,
black-list and white-list support, and many features not available
in any version of Exchange.
- Provides integration of disparate messaging systems for investment
protection
PMDF provides integration for legacy messaging systems (Figure 2)
including GroupWise (WordPerfect Office for PCs), Lotus cc:Mail
(both PC and Macintosh), Lotus Notes (server on OS/2 or Windows
NT), Microsoft Mail for PCs, any Novell MHS-based mailer, X.400,
Message Router, and SNADs. Using Exchange as a messaging backbone
does not support other messaging systems and therefore forces an
enterprise to migrate to a Microsoft-only messaging system.
- Provides integration of disparate directories for investment
protection
Although a directory is not required for the operation of a PMDF
messaging backbone, PMDF provides access to any X.500 and LDAPv3
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) compliant directories, including
Process Software's IDDS directory for OpenVMS.
For the organizations that have not standardized on one directory
type, PMDF offers a fully automated, highly customizable solution
for synchronizing data contained in multiple disparate directories.
Exchange only supports Active Directory.
- PMDF runs on several different platforms
Unlike Exchange 2000, which runs only on Windows 2000, PMDF has
a long history of running on multiple operating systems. PMDF is
available on NT, OpenVMS, Solaris, and Tru64 UNIX.
- Proven reliability and outstanding customer support
PMDF has been an industry leading messaging backbone for thirteen
years. It was developed using industry standards by engineers who
helped formulate those standards. PMDF is reliable, stable and the
technical support is second to none for messaging products.
Exchange is still evolving, so every version of Exchange has
a significant time of questionable stability while bugs are addressed.
Service Packs (bug fixes) address the major issues, but they are
released irregularly.
PMDF
- Is secure
- processes, manages, and troubleshoots large amounts of mail
- Inter-operates with other message systems
- Is reliable
Exchange does not meet these criteria; it is better suited as a
departmental mail server. The two products used in conjunction with
each other provide optimized security, performance, and reliability
with PMDF and user friendly features with Exchange.
The information contained in this document is subject to change
without notice. Process Software assumes no responsibility for any
errors that may appear in this document. © Process Software, January
2001. TCPware and MultiNet are registered trademarks of Process Software.
The PMDF and IDDS marks and all PMDF and IDDS based trademarks and
logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. in the U.S. and other countries and are used under license. The
Process Software name and logo are trademarks of Process Software.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
January 22, 2001 |
