Mail Settings

KeyServer can optionally send status messages and error alerts to any e-mail account. If this account is a mailing list, then all of the members of that list will get notified when there is a problem or notable condition on the KeyServer.

OPEN Mail Settings dialog

Select Mail Settings... from the Admin menu to give KeyServer the e-mail information for your site, and to set the conditions under which KeyServer will send e-mail.

KeyServer needs three pieces of information in order to send e-mail: The “From” and “To” fields for the message, and the name of a mail server through which it can send the mail.

From: Type the e-mail address from which KeyServer's e-mail will be addressed. This is the address that will appear in the “From” field of KeyServer's e-mail. This address can usually be anything valid for your domain, and does not necessarily have to be a full e-mail account. However, some mail servers can be configured to reject mail that is “relayed” from an external or non-existant account. In this case, you will need to create a matching account on your mail server.

To: Type the name of the account (or mailing list) to which KeyServer should send status and error messages. This account must be valid, otherwise KeyServer will not be able to send e-mail. It is best to make this a mailing list with a few people who can be responsible for checking KeyServer if it reports a problem.

Page To: Type the name of the account (or mailing list) to which KeyServer should send abbreviated error messages. This option can be used for pagers or cell phones which can only receive short emails.

SMTP Host: Type the host name or IP address of the mail server that KeyServer will use to relay e-mail messages. Typically, this should be the mail server on which the “To” account exists.

The remaining settings specify the conditions under which KeyServer should send mail. Any one of these conditions will generate e-mail, and the resulting message will contain a summary of the current conditions.

Time between repeat warnings: This value sets how frequently KeyServer will repeat e-mail about a problem that has not been fixed. For example, say you choose to receive warnings when disk space is lower than 50 MB, and this condition arises. KeyServer will send you e-mail, and if you do not free up space, it will continue to send warning messages. The time between these messages is specified with this setting. If a different error condition arises, an e-mail message will be sent immediately, even if the Time between repeat warnings has not yet elapsed. Therefore, you could set this value to 1440 minutes (equal to one day), and you would not be bothered more than once per day about any given error condition. You would still be informed immediately upon any new notable events on the KeyServer.

Daily status Message at: KeyServer can send an informational message once a day. This can be useful to monitor the status of KeyServer, but also adds more mail to your in box. The daily status message will contain the basic status information, plus any warnings even if those warnings have been sent recently (i.e., the time between repeat warnings has not elapsed).

Warn if free space lower than: If the space on the disk that stores KeyServer's logs falls lower than the amount you indicate, KeyServer will send e-mail, and indicate that the disk is getting low on space.

Warn if usage greater than: Your KeyServer is configured to support a maximum number of network clients. If the number of computers approaches the number of clients your KeyServer supports, you will be sent a warning e-mail message. This can be useful to monitor KeyServer usage, and ensure that you have adequate KeyServer licenses for your client computers. If you receive this message, you should use the Computers Window to determine if there are computers which no longer need to connect to the KeyServer. These computers can be deleted or set to Login Denied in order to allow other clients to use KeyServer.

Warn if there are disk errors will send e-mail if KeyServer has trouble reading or writing to its files. This condition should never occur, but if it ever does, should be fixed immediately. Most likely, this is an indication of a failing disk drive, or of system instability.

Warn if automatic backup fails will send e-mail if KeyServer cannot successfully make a backup copy of its data files. This might be due to insufficient disk space, disk errors, or other system instability.

Warn when log file is swapped will send e-mail when KeyServer rolls its log file, as configured in the Log File Management dialog. This is not an error condition, but can be useful as a reminder.

The mail messages that KeyServer sends can be formatted using either “Enriched text” or HTML. Styles are used to call attention to important information in KeyServer's messages. Most popular e-mail clients support at least one of these formatting techniques. If your e-mail client does not support formatting, the in-line formatting commands can be distracting. In this case, you can set KeyServer to send messages without style information. Check your e-mail client's documentation to determine what kinds of style information are supported.

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