Overview of routing mail using Notes® routing

How Notes® routing moves a message

When a user sends mail to a recipient with a Notes® address -- for example, Jane Doe/Renovations -- the Router picks up a message in mail.box to determine where to direct the message. The Router first looks in the Domino® Directory for a Person document for the recipient, Jane Doe/Renovations. The Person document contains the name of Jane Doe's mail server. From this information the Router uses its knowledge of the network (that is, the routing table) to determine the next stop for the message. How the Router dispatches the message depends on whether the recipient's mail file is located:

• On the same server
• On a different server in the same Notes® named network
• On a server in a different Notes® named network within the local Domino® domain
• On a server in an external Domino® domain

Moving a message to a recipient on the same server

After checking the recipient's Person document, if the Router determines that the recipient's mail server is the same as the sender's server, the Router delivers the message to the recipient's mail file.

Moving a message to a recipient on another server within a Notes® named network

If the sender and recipient don't share a mail server, the Router checks the Domino® Directory to determine whether the servers are in the same Domino® domain.

If the Server document for the destination server is found within the Domino® Directory, the Router checks that document to determine the network information for the server. On the Ports > Notes Network Ports tab of the Server document, the server is assigned to one or more Notes® named networks (NNNs). A Notes® named network is a group of servers in a given Domino® domain that share a common protocol and are connected by a LAN or modem connections.

If the two servers share a Notes® named network, the Router immediately routes the message from the mail.box file on the sender's server to the mail.box file on the recipient's server. The Router on the recipient's server then delivers the message to the recipient's mail file. Because mail routes automatically within a Notes® named network, you do not need to create any additional connections or documents.

Moving a message to a recipient in a different NNN within the same Domino® domain

If the sender's and recipient's mail servers are in the same Domino® domain, but don't share either a mail server or a Notes® named network, for transfer to succeed there must be some connection between the two networks. Connections between Notes® named networks can be achieved by two means:

• Using a "bridge" server that is a member of multiple Notes® named networks
• Using a Connection document

When a Connection document provides the information for routing mail between NNNs, the source and destination networks can be in different Domino® domains. The document contains all of the information the Router needs to locate the destination network.

Using a "bridge" server to connect two networks in the same Domino® domain

Two networks in the same domain can communicate with each other in the absence of a Connection document if any one server is a member of both networks. Servers that reside in multiple networks can act as a bridge between networks running diverse protocols. For example, if you have one Notes® named network running TCP/IP and another running SPX, you can set up a server that runs both protocols to be a member of both Notes® named networks. This server acts as a bridge between the networks.

When a user in the TCP/IP network sends a message to someone in the SPX network, the Router transfers the message from mail.box on the sender's server to mail.box on this "bridge" server. After the message reaches a server in the destination Notes® named network, the Router on that server transfers the message to the mail.box on the recipient's server. The Router on the recipient's server delivers the message to the recipient's mail file.

If the path between servers involves multiple server "hops," the Router transfers the message to mail.box on the next server in the path. Each Router on the path transfers the message to the mail.box on the next server in the path.

Using Connection documents to connect networks and domains

When there is no common server to provide a bridge between networks, the Router requires a Connection document to transfer mail between them. A Connection document specifies the sending and receiving servers, when and how to connect, and what tasks -- such as, replication and mail routing -- to perform during the connection. The source, or sending, server, and the receiving, or destination, server named in a Connection document may reside within the same Domino® domain, or in different Domino® domains.

After the Router finds a connection between the two Notes® named networks, it routes the mail to the next server along the connection path.

Connection documents for mail routing specify connections in one direction and are generally found in pairs. For example, one Connection document schedules a connection from Server A to Server B, and another Connection document schedules a connection from Server B to Server A.

Moving a message to a recipient in an external Domino® domain

When a message in mail.box has a recipient address that points to a destination outside of the local Domino® domain, the Router checks the Domino® Directory for a Connection document that describes how the local domain communicates with the destination domain. You can create a Connection document between two domains whenever there is a direct physical connection between them.

After finding the Connection document, the Router routes the message to the server in the sender's domain that connects to a server in the recipient's domain. When the servers connect, the message is transferred to the other domain, where it routes to the recipient's server and mail file.

Indirect connections between Domino® domains

In organizations that have three or more Domino® domains, you may not be able to use Connection documents to connect certain domains, because the network topology does not allow for direct physical connections between them. However, if they both have Connection documents to a common intermediate domain, you can route mail from the source domain to the destination domain through the domain (or domains) that bridge them. For example, if Domain A and Domain B do not have any server connections but both have connections to Domain C, mail between Domain A and Domain B can route through Domain C. To set up this routing path, you create Nonadjacent Domain documents that specify the target domain and the domain through which to route mail to reach that target domain.

Addressing mail to users in a different domain

When sending mail within a Domino® domain, the sender only has to specify the user's common name, for example, John Smith. Since John Smith has a Person document in the same Domino® Directory as the sender, the Router finds John's entry in the directory and determines the location of his mail file. However, when sending mail to a user in a different Domino® domain, the Router does not have access to the recipient's Person document, since it is stored in a different Domino® Directory. When addressing mail to a user in a different Domino® domain, the sender must append the recipient's domain to the recipient's address. For example, a user in the Renstores domain who wants to send mail to John Smith in the Renovations domain must address the message to jsmith@Renovations, not just jsmith or John Smith. The domain name in the address signals the Router to look for a Connection document to this domain and transfer the message to the server specified in that document.

To make it easier to address mail to users in other domains, users can create an entry in their Contacts to specify the recipient's complete address -- for example, jdoe@Renovations. Alternatively, an administrator can create an entry in the Domino® Directory to specify the recipient's address in the Forwarding address field of the recipient's Person document, or use Directory Assistance or a Directory Catalog to share Domino® Directories across domains.