User Accounts

User Accounts

3.1 Introduction

Only authorized users of the server can access some facilities offered by "Rainmail Server". These include the "File Server" , "Email Server", "Fax Server", "VPN Server", "VoIP Server" and the "Chat Server". When you want to provide such facilities to a user, an account corresponding to the user must be created. A user account not only makes sure that the user gets access to the facilities, but also makes sure that unauthorized users are not allowed to access these facilities.

Each user account in the computer must have a unique name. A password is associated with every user account. Authorized users need to enter both their account names and passwords to get access to facilities. In the following sections, we will look at how to create and manage user accounts.

3.2 Adding User Accounts

To add a user account, you must have the following information ready:

User ID: This can be derived from the user's real name, but should be limited to eight characters.

User Password: This is the password with which valid users can access their account. It is best to avoid common names and easily guessed words as passwords. As a policy, we require that passwords be at least six (6) characters long and recommend that they contain at least one special character (like %, $, &, etc.).

User's actual Name: Usually account names are cryptic, as they are limited to eight (8) characters. Therefore, the system also required you to add their real name in a separate field. This helps in maintenance of the system.

Once you have this information ready, start up the "Rainmail Server" configuration program. Click on "Add User Account" in the left-hand side. That will bring up the following screen:

3.2.1 Adding User Accounts - RIS Standard

Adding an user account helps you share the resources of your system with your employee/client/staff. To create the account, decide on the username you are going to assign to the user. The username is at most 8 characters long, and wherever possible you should choose their first name, or first name and first initial if a user account already exists.

In the above screen, enter all the required information. The password that is entered is not displayed on the screen and therefore, we require you to enter it twice. If your configuration consists of an email domain, then the name of account will be the prefix you entered in "User ID" field followed by the name of your email domain. In the above case, the full account name will be "user.icsoft", where icsoft is the email domain name. If you do not have an email domain, then the account name will be just the value that you have entered in the "User ID" field.

Emailid: This will be a word with no spaces or special characters. Valid account names can only include alphabetical characters. Examples of valid account names include "basha", "moorthy" and "priya". There are no limits on the number of characters an account name can have, but we do recommend that it is no more than eight (8). Examples of names that are not valid account names include "9isnotvalid" (because it contains a number), "sita.gita" (because it contains ".", a special character) and "douhavea$" (because it contains "$", a special character).

User ID: If you do not have multiple domain, then the login name will be just the name that you have entered in the "User ID" field. Otherwise, this field gets emailid name as the userid, which appears automatically as the "Email Id" is typed. In case of multiple domain, the login name of the user account will be composed of 5 character domain prefix followed by the "Email ID". So if the domain prefix is "cariz" and the Email ID entered is "priya" then the User ID will be "carizpriya".

Password: This is the password with which the user can access the resources on the system (be it mail or files). It needs to be at least six (6) characters long. When you type this in, the letters will not be reflected on the screen for security reasons. Therefore, we need you to type this in twice (Once in the "User Password" and once in the "Confirm Password" field).

User name : This is the field in which you enter the real name of the user. It can contain blanks and any character other than ":".

Specify Quota - Unlimited
This section takes care of allocating disk quota to a particular user. By default, there is no restriction placed on the users home directory disk space. Check "Specify quota -Unlimited" to specify quota limit for that particular user. This opens Quota Configuration box. Enter the total amount of disk space in the "Quota Limit" edit box. Click "OK" to set the quota.

Quota limit can be set or modified later using the "Modify User Quota" option of Mail System Properties.

Synchronise account using IMAP
This section takes care of mail synchronization using IMAP protocol, by assigning IMAP Server synchronization password for that particular user.This is a requirement that has to done at the time of the creation of the user. This option once enabled cannot be changed later. Check "Synchronize account using IMAP" check box to open IMAP Synchronize Configuration window. Enter the password twice, once in the "IMAP server password" edit box and then in the "Confirm Password" edit box. Click "OK" to set the password.

Add user to address book
By default, information about any added user is entered into the centralized address book maintained by "Rainmail Server". This information can be used by mail clients like "Outlook" and "Outlook Express" to get email address and other information about this person. If you do not want this user's information to be visible, uncheck the "Add user to address book" check box. Press the "Add" button to create the actual account.

Another information you will need to have ready is if the user's information needs to be added to the address book. By default, this information is added to address book and can be accessed by all your LAN users. To avoid adding this user's information to address book, uncheck the "Add user to address book" button.

Enable external mailing
This section takes care of changing the user permission to enable external mailing. By default, on creation of a user, the user will not be given external access. Check "enable external access" for that particular user.

Once you enter these values, click on "Add" button and the specified user will be added to the system. A message box will be displayed on the successful completion of the process.

3.2.2 Adding User Account- Catch All

Adding a "Catchall" user account

Adding an user account helps you share the resources of your system with your employee/client/staff. To create the account, decide on the username you are going to assign to the user. The username is at most 8 characters long, and wherever possible you should choose their first name, or first name and first initial if a user account already exists.

In the above screen, enter all the required information. The password that is entered is not displayed on the screen and therefore, we require you to enter it twice. If your configuration consists of an email domain, then the name of account will be the prefix you entered in "User ID" field followed by the name of your email domain. In the above case, the full account name will be "user.icsoft", where icsoft is the email domain name. If you do not have an email domain, then the account name will be just the value that you have entered in the "User ID" field.

Email ID: This will be a word with no spaces or special characters. Valid account names can only include alphabetical characters. Examples of valid account names include "ramu", "michael" and "rathi". There are no limits on the number of characters an account name can have, but we do recommend that it is no more than eight (8). Examples of names that are not valid account names include "9isnotvalid" (because it contains a number), "sita.gita" (because it contains ".", a special character) and "douhavea$" (because it contains "$", a special character).

If your configuration consists of multiple domains, then the field Email ID appears first.

User ID: If you do not have multiple domain, then the login name will be just the name that you have entered in the "User ID" field. Otherwise, this field gets emailid name as the userid, which appears automatically as the "Email Id" is typed. In case of multiple domain, the login name of the user account will be composed of 5 character domain prefix followed by the "Email ID". So if the domain prefix is "cariz" and the Email ID entered is "priya" then the User ID will be "carizpriya".

User Password: This is the password with which the user can access the resources on the system (be it mail or files). It needs to be at least six (6) characters long. When you type this in, the letters will not be reflected on the screen for security reasons. Therefore, we need you to type this in twice (Once in the "User Password" and once in the "Confirm Password" field).

Real name: This is the field in which you enter the real name of the user. It can contain blanks and any character other than ":".

Specify quota - Unlimited: This section takes care of allocating disk quota to a particular user at the time of the creation of the user. By default, there is no restriction placed on the users home directory disk space. Check "Specify quota -Unlimited" to specify quota limit for that particular user. This opens Quota Configuration box. Enter the total amount of disk space in the "Quota Limit" edit box. Click "OK" to set the quota.

Quota limit can be set or modified later using the "Modify User Quota" option of Mail System Properties.

Synchronize account using IMAP: This section takes care of assigning IMAP Server synchronization password for that particular user. For IMAP mail accounts, you'll need to know the IMAP mail server you use, the users IMAP account name and password.

Check "Synchronize account using IMAP" to open IMAP Synchronize Configuration box.Enter the new number in the "IMAP Server" field. Enter the Account name of the user in the "Account Name" field. Enter the password twice, once in the "IMAP server password" edit box and then in the "Confirm Password" edit box. Click "OK" to set the password.

To avail this facility, IMAP Server password must be assigned at the time of the creation of the user itself. This option once enabled cannot be changed later.

Add user to address book:
Another information you will need to have ready is if the user's information needs to be added to the address book. By default, this information is added to address book and can be accessed by all your LAN users.

To avoid adding this user's information to address book, uncheck the "Add user to address book" button.

This section takes care of adding the user to the address book. By default, on creation of a user, the user will not be added to the address book. Check "Add user to address book" for that particular user.

Once you enter these values, click on "Add" button and the specified user will be added to the system. A message box will be displayed on the successful completion of the process.

3.2.3 Adding User Account- POP Accounts

Adding a "POP" user account.

Adding an user account helps you share the resources of your system with your employee/client/staff. To create the account, decide on the username you are going to assign to the user. The username is at most 8 characters long, and wherever possible you should choose their first name, or first name and first initial if a user account already exists.

In the above screen, enter all the required information. The password that is entered is not displayed on the screen and therefore, we require you to enter it twice. If your configuration consists of an email domain, then the name of account will be the prefix you entered in "User ID" field followed by the name of your email domain. In the above case, the full account name will be "user.icsoft", where icsoft is the email domain name. If you do not have an email domain, then the account name will be just the value that you have entered in the "User ID" field.

Email ID: This will be a word with no spaces or special characters. Valid account names can only include alphabetical characters. Examples of valid account names include "ramu", "michael" and "rathi". There are no limits on the number of characters an account name can have, but we do recommend that it is no more than eight (8). Examples of names that are not valid account names include "9isnotvalid" (because it contains a number), "sita.gita" (because it contains ".", a special character) and "douhavea$" (because it contains "$", a special character).
If your configuration consists of multiple domains, then the field Email ID appears first.

User ID: If you do not have multiple domain, then the login name will be just the name that you have entered in the "User ID" field. Otherwise, this field gets emailid name as the userid, which appears automatically as the "Email Id" is typed. In case of multiple domain, the login name of the user account will be composed of 5 character domain prefix followed by the "Email ID". So if the domain prefix is "cariz" and the Email ID entered is "priya" then the User ID will be "carizpriya".

User Password: This is the password with which the user can access the resources on the system (be it mail or files). It needs to be at least six (6) characters long. When you type this in, the letters will not be reflected on the screen for security reasons. Therefore, we need you to type this in twice (Once in the "User Password" and once in the "Confirm Password" field).

User Name: This is the field in which you enter the real name of the user. It can contain blanks and any character other than ":".

Specify quota - Unlimited: This section takes care of allocating disk quota to a particular user at the time of the creation of the user. By default, there is no restriction placed on the users home directory disk space. Check "Specify quota -Unlimited" to specify quota limit for that particular user. This opens Quota Configuration box. Enter the total amount of disk space in the "Quota Limit" edit box. Click "OK" to set the quota.

Quota limit can be set or modified later using the "Modify User Quota" option of Mail System Properties.

Synchronize account using IMAP: This section takes care of assigning IMAP Server synchronization password for that particular user. For IMAP mail accounts, you'll need to know the IMAP mail server you use, the users IMAP account name and password.

Check "Synchronize account using IMAP" to open IMAP Synchronize Configuration box.Enter the new number in the "IMAP Server" field. Enter the Account name of the user in the "Account Name" field. Enter the password twice, once in the "IMAP server password" edit box and then in the "Confirm Password" edit box. Click "OK" to set the password.

To avail this facility, IMAP Server password must be assigned at the time of the creation of the user itself. This option once enabled cannot be changed later.

Add user to address book: Another information you will need to have ready is if the user's information needs to be added to the address book. By default, this information is added to address book and can be accessed by all your LAN users.

To avoid adding this user's information to address book, uncheck the "Add user to address book" button.

This section takes care of adding the user to the address book. By default, on creation of a user, the user will not be added to the address book. Check "Add user to address book" for that particular user.

Click the Options button to open the Advanced Configuration window to set the following three parameters.

Delete Mail from Server: This section takes care of deleting mails from the server. When a mailbox has reached its maximum, additional messages sent to that mailbox will bounce back to the sender. You can resolve this by deleting messages. Checking this option will delete the messages from the server after downloading it. Uncheck this option to keep a copy of the messages in the server.

Enable POP account: This section takes care of enabling or disabling the POP account at the time of adding the user.

Append Domain Name: This section takes care of appending the domain name to the userid. You can enable this if your ISP requires your email to be in the form of "username@domainname.com" to fetch mails.

You can modify these options subsequently through the "Modify POP Account" option in the Mail System Properties. Click OK after setting all the options.

Once you enter these values, click on "Add" button and the specified user will be added to the system. A message box will be displayed on the successful completion of the process.

3.2.4 Adding User Account- No EMail Services

Adding an user account helps you share the resources of your system with your employee/client/staff. To create the account, decide on the username you are going to assign to the user. The username is at most 8 characters long, and wherever possible you should choose their first name, or first name and first initial if a user account already exists.

In the above screen, enter all the required information. The password that is entered is not displayed on the screen and therefore, we require you to enter it twice.

User ID: Enter the user name in the "User ID" field. Login name will be just the name that you have entered in the "User ID" field.

User Password: This is the password with which the user can access the resources on the system (be it mail or files). It needs to be at least six (6) characters long. When you type this in, the letters will not be reflected on the screen for security reasons. Therefore, we need you to type this in twice (Once in the "User Password" and once in the "Confirm Password" field).

User Name: This is the field in which you enter the real name of the user. It can contain blanks and any character other than ":"

Once you enter these values, click on "Add" button and the specified user will be added to the system. A message box will be displayed on the successful completion of the process.

3.3 Deleting User Accounts

User accounts can be deleted, thus permanently denying the user access to facilities offered by "Rainmail Server". All of user's data in the system are deleted when an account is deleted. Please make sure that user's data is not required before deleting the user from the system. To delete a user's account, open up the configuration program and select "Delete User Account" from the left-hand side. That will bring up the following screen:

WARNING!!!! This will delete all data currently present in user's home directory. Please make sure that the data is not required before completing this operation.

In the above screen, select the account to be deleted from the "User ID" field, and press "Delete". In this case, Do you want to delete temp@carizen.com? yes/no dialog appears. Click yes to delete it permanently.

3.4 Disabling / Enabling User Accounts

Do not remove an account right away, but first simply disable it, especially if you are working with a corporate server with lots of users. After all, the former user may one day require the use of his or her account again, or may request a file or two which was stored in their home directory. Or perhaps a new user (such as an employee replacement) may require access to the former user's files. In any event, make sure you have backups of the former user's home directory, &ldquojust-in-case&rdquo.

User accounts can be temporarily enabled/disabled. This feature is useful to temporarily allow/deny access to users to the facilities offered by "Rainmail Server". When an account is disabled, user cannot log in to access email or see files on the server system. To enable/disable user account, bring up the configuration program and select "Disable/Enable Account" from the left-hand side. That will bring up the following screen.

In the above screen, select the name of the account you want to dis(en)able. The current status of the account will be displayed. Press on the "Disable" or "Enable" button to make the necessary change. When you enable an account, "Rainmail Server" resets the account password to blank. Therefore, we require that you immediately provide a new password to the enabled account.

3.5 Change password

It is good policy to keep changing the user passwords frequently. That will keep the system secure. To change a user's password, bring up the "Rainmail Server" configuration program, and click on "Change User Password" in the left-hand side. That will bring up the following screen:

In the above screen, select the name of the user whose password is to be changed from the "User ID" combo box. Enter the user's current password in the "Present Password" field (leave blank if there is no password). Enter the new password twice (once in "New Password" and another time in "Confirm Password" field). Press "Change". For security reasons we require the password to be at least six (6) characters long and we recommend that it have at least one special character.

3.6 Set User Permissions

"Rainmail Server" gives minimal permissions to internal users by default. For example, any new user created does not have the following access:

FTP Access : FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. An FTP access allows transfer of files to and from the server.

Shell Access : Telnet is a program that allows a person to run arbitrary commands by logging in to the server.

External Access: Encrypted remote shell sessions are available through SSH to access the server through internet.

These permissions are useful for remote access and execution of applications. Only the "Mail Administrator" user is given all these permissions. This section allows you to change the settings for individual users. For example, if an user wants to access her mails from the outside, you have to give the user "External Access".

To change the permissions for an user, select user's account name from "User ID" combo box. Then, check the permissions you want to give the user using the respective check boxes. Pressing the "Set" button gives the set permissions to the user. Successful completion of this operation is indicated by a dialog.

3.7 Set maximum users - RIS Standard

The Rainmail Server is licensed based on the number of user license purchased. This information is validated at the time of installing the software. However, after installation if you have purchased additional <n>user license, (n= 25 or 50 or 75 or 100), you have to increase the number of users, inorder to create additional users. To set the user license, bring up the "Rainmails configuration program" and select "Set Maximum Users" in the left-hand side panel. This will bring the following screen:

To increase the number of licensed users, enter the maximum number of users, your license allows you to create using the "Number of Users" field. Enter your license password in the "License Key" field. Please take care to enter the license key as given in your letter. License Key is case sensitive and are exactly thirty two (32) characters long. Press "Set". If the password entered is valid, the system will validate your license and will issue a success message.