http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/email/alias.html

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/intranet/policy/email_aliases.html

You may be asked to delete an alias no longer used or you may get mail from the system that looks like this:

Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 13:01:02 EST
From: "mail.virginia.edu MMDF Mailer" <root@virginia.edu>
Subject: Bad address in alias
To: Postmaster@virginia.edu
Status: OR

Found bad address in alias 'mystery'.
The alias was 'mst3k'.

There were problems with: mst3k

The remaining addresses in the alias were used for submission.

To delete an alias at the prompt of any window other than postmaster type:

uvadb -d -a alias [Enter]

Delete the message.

On the morning shift you may get a message regarding output from Cron command. It may look like this:

To: upostmst
Subject: Output from "cron" command

Your "cron" job on mailhub.mail.Virginia.EDU
/home/upostmst/bin/aliasreq.pl

produced the following output:

uid:cgg4d*alias:Grosvenor
Creating alias grosvenor for cgg4d.
uid:pky2u*alias:mags
Creating alias mags for pky2u.

Save this type of file to Alias/log.yymmdd (log.020218)

chgadb is used infrequently to:

remove an alias or list name from quarantine
reassign an alias to its original owner
correct an alias/list assignment
recreate a list
create an administrative contact address

The format for the command is:

chgadb -d alias_or_listname

If you were deleting from quarantine the alias tomc to reassign it to its original owner, the check for the alias and its deletion from quarantine might be similar to:

upostmst-list: /home/upostmst $ ckaddr tomc
This alias tomc, is blocked in the old aliases database.
Here is the record . . .
Date deleted: Thu Apr 14 10:54:19 2005
Date it will available: Sat Apr 14 10:54:19 2007
Reason: user_deletion
Type: personal
Old reference: tomc
Comment:
upostmst-list: /home/upostmst $ chgadb -d tomc
You are deleting a record!!!!


You will be deleting the alias tomc with the entry:
Date deleted: Thu Apr 14 10:54:19 2005
Date it will available: Sat Apr 14 10:54:19 2007
Reason: user_deletion
Type: personal
Old reference: tomc
Comment:

Do you wish to proceed with this deletion? (y/n):y

Please give a reason for deleting this entry (hitting return after you are done): Reassignment of alias to original owner

Successfully changed record.
upostmst-list: /home/upostmst $

Note that you have to agree to do the deletion from quarantine and provide a reason for why the deletion is needed.

Alias requests come to postmaster in the following scenarios.

1. The requester wants an alias but doesn't know what to do.

2. The requester sends mail to postmaster@virginia.edu asking for a particular alias.

3. The requester uses the alias request web form.

4. The requested alias does not meet our guidelines.

5. Request for an alias that is in use.

6. Request for change in/creation of administrative alias

1. The requester wants an alias but doesn't know what to do.

Send a reply to the requester with the auto response al.guidel found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.guidel.

Delete the request.

In a separate window from postmaster do a "grepdb" on the requester's UVa computing id to make sure they have not exceeded the personal alias limit of 6. The command will look like this:

mailhub: /home/upostmst $ grepdb tc4x

and the output will be similar to:

meets-expectations:tc4x:usr
t.cichon:tc4x:usr
tcichon:tc4x:usr
tom.c:tc4x:usr
tomc:tc4x:usr

If fewer than 6 personal liases have been assigned, go to step 2. If requester has 6 aliases reply with the following auto response found at /home/upostmst/auto/toomany:

We allow each individual in the U.Va. community to have 6 personal aliases. You have that many already, so we cannot process your additional request for an alias.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

In a separate window from postmaster type ckaddr and the requested alias. For example if the requested alias is gremlin and the alias is available the response will look like this:

mailhub: /home/upostmst $ ckaddr gremlin

If there is no output to the screen, then the alias is not in use or in the quarantined database and may be assigned.

Go to Step 3. uvadb

If the alias is taken the response will look like this:

mailhub: /home/upostmst $ ckaddr gremlin
gremlin:tc4x

If the alias is taken, reply to the requester with the following response found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.used:

The alias you requested is in use by someone else. Our guidelines for the creation of electronic mail aliases are:...(alias guidelines included).

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

In a separate window from postmaster use the uvadb command to create the new alias:

uvadb -a gremlin -e tc4x

Note that aliases are always created with lowercase letters for both the alias the email id. The person can capitalize the alias or the email id in any way they want, but we create them with all lowercase letters.

At the prompt type grepdb gremlin to confirm the alias was created. Output will be similar to:

gremlin:tc4x:usr

In the postmaster window type m gremlin@virginia.edu. <return> This will create a new mail message to the alias.

In the subject field type Alias created <return>

In the message body type ~r auto/al.created.ed. <return> The ".ed" at the end of the filename indicates that the file needs to be edited.

Add your signature by typing ~r your signature <return>

Include the original request by typing ~i <return>

Go to edit mode by typing ~v <return> This puts you into the Jove editor.

Replace uid with the alias then press Ctrl x s Ctrl x Ctrl c This takes you out of Jove

Press . to send the message.

Delete the original request.

3. The requester uses the alias request web form. It will appear similar to:

To: postmaster@virginia.edu
Subject: Alias Request Status:
OR

uid:tc4x*alias:gremlin
POSTMASTER: Please save this message in mbox.alias

Name:                         Thomas D. Cichon
Mailid/Handle:               tc4x
Unix Uid:                      29127
Classification:               Staff
Department:                 It-Css-Gen-Astro
Office Phone:                unknown
Local Phone:                 unknown
Registered E-Mail Addr:  tc4x@Virginia.EDU
                                   tc4x@t.mail.virginia.edu
                                   meets-expectations@virginia.edu
                                   t.cichon@virginia.edu
                                   tcichon@virginia.edu
                                   tom.c

In a separate window from postmaster type ckaddr and the requested alias. For example if the requested alias is gremlin and the alias is available the response will appear similar to:

upostmst: /home/upostmst $ ckaddr gremlin
upostmst: /home/upostmst $

If anything else appears, then the alias is not available for assignment (is in use.) If the alias is taken, reply to the requester with the following response found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.used:

The alias you requested is in use by someone else. Our guidelines for the creation of electronic mail aliases are:...(alias guidelines included).

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

If the alias is in quarantine, use the auto response, al.quarantine, found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.quarantine.

Edit the response to include the date and time that the alias may be reassigned.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

Delete the request.

Look at the original request to see how many personal aliases are assigned to the individual. If there are many, use grepdb to check how many personal aliases exist for the individual. Checking tc4x would give results similar to the following:

upostmst: /home/upostmst $ grepdb tc4x
meets-expectations:tc4x:usr
t.cichon:tc4x:usr
tcichon:tc4x:usr
tom.c:tc4x:usr
tomc:tc4x:usr
upostmst: /home/upostmst $

If fewer than 6 personal liases have been assigned, go to step 3. If requester has 6 aliases reply with the following auto response found at /home/upostmst/auto/toomany:

We allow each individual in the U.Va. community to have 6 personal aliases. You have that many already, so we cannot process your additional request for an alias.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

Assuming the alias request is OK go back to the postmaster window and type

s mbox.alias

to save the message to the mailbox "mbox.alias". A nightly cron job will process the requests saved here to create the aliases.

Delete the request.

4. The requested alias does not meet our guidelines.

Send a reply to the requester explaining what aspect of the alias does not meet our guidelines. For a list of the guidelines go to:

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/email/alias.html#guidel

Use the auto response al.guidel found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.guidel.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

Delete the request.

If the alias is in use by someone else...

Use the auto response al.used found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.used.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

Delete the request.

If the alias is in quarantine...

Use the auto response, al.quarantine, found at /home/upostmst/auto/al.quarantine.

Edit the response to include the date and time that the alias may be reassigned.

Save request in Alias/not.yymmdd

Delete the request.

6. Request for change in/creation of administrative alias

Administrative aliases are normally created as single-person mailing lists to allow for reassignment as needed.

When creating a new administrative address, use the response in auto/al.admin.ed (changing xxx to the name of the administrative address) to notify the person that a list has been created instead of an alias. After creating the list, also follow the instructions given in Configure the List (below) to insure that the list is configured as an administrative address, and that the person is a member of the list.

The process to make the change from an administrative alias to an administrative contact list is as follows:

delete the alias
remove the alias from quarantine
create a list using the alias name
configure the list
notify requestor of change

In the following examples, we will use the alias address name
uva-in-april@Virginia.edu.

uvadb -a uva-in-april -d

chgadb -d uva-in-april

See the list creation information for information on creating a list, and then return here to complete the rest of the steps. You should keep this process as transparent to the requestor as possible, and so should assign ownership as indicated by the requestor and also assign an arbitrary password.

Messages from the list need to have the same format, as much as is possible, as a message sent to an alias address. Some changes in list configuration are needed for this to occur.

From the list administrative web site whose address is similar to:

http://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/admin/uva-in-april

insure that the following configuration exist for the list, changing any that are needed:

Initial Options:

Should the list moderators get immediate notice of new requests, as well as daily notices about collected ones? yes

Send mail to poster when their posting is held for approval? No

What steps are required for subscription? Require approval

By default, should new list member postings be moderated? No

What to do with non-listmember email . . . Accept

Must posts have list named in destination (to, cc) field? No

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

General Options:

Maximum length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body. Use 0 for no limit. 0 (digit zero)

Should messages from this mailing list include the RFC 2369 (i.e. List-* ) headers? Yes is highly recommended. No

Should postings include the List-Post: header? No

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

Non-digest options:

Footer added to mail sent to regular list members remove all information in text box

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

Digest options:

Can list members choose to receive list traffic bunched in digests? No

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

Privacy options

Recipient filters

Ceiling on acceptable number of recipients for a posting. 0 (digit zero)

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

Membership Management

Mass Subscriptions

Subscribe these users now or invite them? Subscribe

Send welcome messages to new subscribees? No

Send notifications of new subscriptions to the list owner? No

Into the box after the words: Enter one address per line below... put the email address of the person(s) who is(are) suppose to receive messages sent to the administrative contact address

Click Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the screen

Click the Logout link near the top right of the page

Send the requestor the response found in mailman/adminalias.ed. The response will have to be edited to insert the list name in three places (replace xxx with the name of the list) and the list administrative password (replace yyy with the administrative password for the list).

Delete the request.