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Planning
Use this topic as an overview of planning task.
Messaging overview
The HCL Domino® mail system has three basic components: Domino mail servers, Domino mail files, and mail clients. The Domino mail server is the backbone of an organization's messaging infrastructure, acting both as an Internet mail server and an HCL Notes® mail server. Domino provides standards-based Internet messaging through its support of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). At the same time, Domino supports Notes mail through the use of Notes routing protocols -- Notes remote procedure calls (NRPC) -- and the Notes rich text message format.
Examples of using multiple MX records
You can use a single Internet domain with a single domain name or single Internet domain name with two balanced servers when using multiple mail exchanger records (MX records).

Planning
Use this topic as an overview of planning task.
- Roadmap for deploying Domino® servers
  Use this as a tool when planning how to integrate HCL Domino® into your existing environment.
- Planning server-to-server connections
  Servers must connect to each other to exchange data, for example to replicate databases and exchange mail. You can create connections between servers across a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), by using a pass-through server (a server that acts as an intermediary server between a client and its destination), or over the Internet. Create a Server Connection document whenever you need to establish any new or additional server connections. You can modify this document when necessary.
- Planning directory services
  HCL Domino® provides a range of directory service features.
- Planning a mail routing topology
  HCL Domino® offers you considerable flexibility in configuring your mail system infrastructure, allowing you to use HCL Notes® routing, SMTP routing, or both, for internal and external messages.
- Planning a cluster
  When planning a cluster, it is important to consider the performance and ability of your hardware. The cluster must have enough CPU power, memory, and disk space to handle the cluster traffic and the number of databases and replicas required.
- Planning the TCP/IP network
  The default TCP/IP configuration for an HCL Domino® server is one IP address that is globally bound, meaning that the server listens for connections at the IP addresses of all NICs on the computer. Global binding works as long as the computer does not have more than one IP address offering a service over the same assigned TCP port.
- Messaging overview
  The HCL Domino® mail system has three basic components: Domino mail servers, Domino mail files, and mail clients. The Domino mail server is the backbone of an organization's messaging infrastructure, acting both as an Internet mail server and an HCL Notes® mail server. Domino provides standards-based Internet messaging through its support of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). At the same time, Domino supports Notes mail through the use of Notes routing protocols -- Notes remote procedure calls (NRPC) -- and the Notes rich text message format.
  - Requirements for a working mail system
    Consider these basics when planning your HCL Domino® server-based mail topology.
  - Supported routing, format, and access protocols
    The HCL Domino® server and HCL Notes® client support both Internet standards and Notes protocols for message routing, retrieval, and formatting. On the server, the Domino mail router (the router) can send and receive messages using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Notes Remote Procedure Calls (NRPC), or Notes routing. To enable users to retrieve mail, the server supports the Internet access protocols, IMAP and POP3, as well as NRPC.
  - The Domino® mail server and mail routing
    To process incoming and outgoing mail, HCL Domino® mail servers run a variety of server tasks and maintain a number of special databases. Some components are required for all Domino messaging systems; others are needed to support specific configurations only.
  - How mail routes in a Domino® system
    Mail message routing through the HCL Domino® Domino environment is described.
  - Domino® mail files
    When you create a user account through the HCL Domino® registration process, Domino creates an HCL Notes® database (NSF file) to serve as the user's personal message store. Each mail file database is created from a mail file template on a Domino server. The server where the mail file resides is known as the user's home server or mail server. Users can access a Domino mail file from a Notes client, a Web browser, a POP3 client or an IMAP client or from multiple types of clients.
  - Mail clients
    Various clients are available that enable users to interact with mail files on an HCL Domino® server.
  - Mail security
    To provide secure message transfer among clients and servers, the HCL Domino® mail server supports name and password authentication and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for SMTP mail routing, IMAP, and POP3 access, and supports Notes® encryption when routing mail over Notes routing.
  - Working with other mail systems in your organization
    HCL Domino® interoperates with other mail servers and systems through its support of Internet standards and message transfer agents (MTAs), for example, Microsoft™ Exchange. Domino can exchange mail with other SMTP servers and route mail to and from Microsoft Exchange and other systems through the MTAs. Additional third-party tools are available to provide interoperability with and gateways to other mail systems.
  - Mail performance and monitoring
    HCL Domino® offers performance-enhancing features.
  - The Domino® Directory and mail routing
    The Domino® Directory (names.nsf) is the most important database on a server. It defines the primary administrative unit in a Domino network, the Domino domain, which is a group of servers that have the same Domino Directory. The Domino Directory serves as the control center for the domain. Administrators use it to manage users and connect and configure servers and it contains almost all of the essential information required for routing mail.
  - Overview of routing mail using Notes® routing
    HCL Domino® uses Notes® Remote Procedure Calls (NRPC) to transfer mail between servers. HCL Notes routing uses information in the Domino Directory to determine where to send mail addressed to a given user. Notes routing moves mail from the sender's mail server to the recipient's mail server.
  - Overview of routing mail using SMTP
    HCL Domino® uses the HCL Notes® routing protocol to transfer mail between servers. You can configure Domino to use SMTP to route mail instead of or in addition to using Notes routing.
  - The Domain Name System (DNS) and SMTP mail routing
    The Domain Name System (DNS) is a directory used by SMTP to convert a name, such as renovations.com, to a list of servers that can receive connections for that name and to find the IP address of a specific server. By looking up a destination server's address in the DNS, the sending server can properly route a message to a recipient.
  - Examples of using multiple MX records
    You can use a single Internet domain with a single domain name or single Internet domain name with two balanced servers when using multiple mail exchanger records (MX records).
  - Converting TNEF file attachments to Notes® file attachments
    Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) is a Microsoft™ standard for tunneling rich data over the Internet to a recipient. Rich data includes Microsoft Rich Text Format (RTF) text, OLE objects, file attachments, and other application data such as Microsoft Outlook calendar data. Microsoft Outlook clients and Microsoft Exchange can be configured to format email for sending to recipients who use Microsoft Outlook. In such a configuration, Microsoft Outlook sends the RTF data as plain text and places all other objects into the TNEF stream, which is usually attached to the email as a file named winmail.dat.
  - Using shared mail
    If you previously used shared mail, consider configuring your Domino® site to use both the Domino Attachment and Object Service (DAOS) and both types of compression, instead of SCOS.
- Planning your Notes® client deployment
  Use the references listed here to plan for, install, upgrade to, and configure the HCL Notes® client.
- Planning security
  An important aspect of planning security for your Domino® environment is understanding the tasks and features involved with securing each type of resource.

Examples of using multiple MX records

You can use a single Internet domain with a single domain name or single Internet domain name with two balanced servers when using multiple mail exchanger records (MX records).

Two examples for setting up multiple MX records in the DNS are as follows:

Using a single Internet domain with a single domain name
Using a single Internet domain name with two balanced servers

Using a single Internet domain with a single domain name

You can specify MX records for a single Internet domain -- for example, renovations.com -- with a single Internet domain name, such as renovations.com. Use the server's fully-qualified Internet host name in the MX and A records -- for example, mail1.renovations.com.

For example, configure a backup SMTP server (mail2.renovations.com) to deliver or forward mail when the primary SMTP server (mail1.renovations.com) is unavailable:

MX record: renovations.com IN MX 5 mail1.renovations.com
A record: mail1.renovations.com IN A 192.168.10.17
MX record: renovations.com IN MX 10 mail2.renovations.com
A record: mail2.renovations.com IN A 192.168.10.18
Messages addressed to renovations.com route to mail1.renovations.com first because the record's preference (5) is not as high. If mail1.renovations.com is unavailable, mail is routed to mail2.renovations.com.

Using a single Internet domain name with two balanced servers

If you specify equal preference for two servers, DNS randomly selects a server to balance the load of incoming mail.

MX record: renovations.com IN MX 5 mail1.renovations.com
A record: mail1.renovations.com IN A 192.168.10.17
MX record: renovations.com IN MX 5 mail2.renovations.com
A record: mail2.renovations.com IN A 192.168.10.18

Using a single Internet domain with multiple domain names

You can create MX records for a single Internet domain -- for example, renovations.com -- with multiple Internet domain names -- for example, renovations.com, qrs.com, and xyz.com.

Note: Users can address mail to each domain name and each domain has a backup SMTP server.

MX record: renovations.com IN MX 5 mail1.renovations.com
MX record: renovations.com IN MX 10 mail2.renovations.com
MX record: qrs.com IN MX 5 mail1.renovations.com
MX record: qrs.com IN MX 10 mail2.renovations.com
MX record: xyz.com IN MX 5 mail1.renovations.com
MX record: xyz.com IN MX 10 mail2.renovations.com