Mail Server Appliance and Support Service

• US 20080114833A1
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: McLoughlin, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,882,204 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide electronic mail that is easy to automatically setup. Embodiments of the invention provide a mail server appliance that is designed to operate with a support service. Each mail server appliance is pre-configured to use the support service as part of an integrated product. The mail server appliance is configured for ease of installation and maintenance and comprises the hardware bundled with the software applications pre-installed. The mail server appliance is also coupled to the support service and may begin operations almost immediately. The support service serves as the primary relay point for sending/receiving mail for the mail server appliance and provides various supporting features. First, it provides pre-installation services for the mail server appliance. Second, the support service provides flexible operations support. For example, the support service allows the mail server appliance to have a dynamically assigned IP address. In addition, the support service may provide continuous availability and backup services for the mail server appliance.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a mail server appliance for operation with a support service, said method comprising:

receiving a request for a domain name from the support service to be assigned to the mail server appliance;

receiving a request for a certificate for the mail server appliance that asserts ownership of the requested domain name;

authenticating the request for the certificate from the mail server appliance;

assigning the requested domain name to the mail server appliance based on whether the request has been authenticated and whether the domain name is available;

recording a mail exchange record for the assigned domain name that points to mail servers of the support service; and

configuring mail servers of the support service to accept and relay mail for the requested domain name to the mail server appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a certificate for a second domain that is owned by the mail server appliance; and

configuring the mail servers of the support service to accept and relay mail for the second domain to the mail server appliance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the certificate for the second domain that is owned by the mail server appliance comprises authenticating the certificate based on a key assigned to the mail server appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request for the domain name from the support service comprises receiving a request for a sub-domain of a domain owned by the support service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ODMR request from the mail server appliance;

recording an address from which the ODMR request originated; and

relaying mail to the recorded address for the domain owned by the mail server appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ODMR request from the mail server appliance;

authenticating the ODMR request;

recording an address from which the ODMR request originated; and

relaying mail to the recorded address for the domain owned by the mail server appliance based on the authentication of the ODMR request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the mail servers of the support service to accept and relay mail for the requested domain name to the mail server appliance comprises:

determining an availability of communications between the support service and the mail server appliance; and

queuing mail for the mail server appliance based on the availability of communications between the support service and the mail server appliance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the mail servers of the support service to accept and relay mail for the requested domain name to the mail server appliance comprises:

determining if the mail server appliance has failed to authenticate its request for mail; and

queuing mail for the mail server appliance when the mail server appliance has failed to authenticate.

9. An apparatus comprising means configured to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

11. A support service system comprising:

a database storing private and public key pairs assigned to a mail server appliance;

a server configured to host a domain name records for the mail server appliance; and

a set of mail servers configured to accept mail for the domain to the mail server appliance.

12. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to provide a digital certificate to the mail server appliance that grants ownership of the domain to the mail server appliance.

13. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to provide a temporary sub-domain for the mail server appliance.

14. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to record a MX record for the domain provided to the mail server appliance.

15. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to record a MX record that specifies at least one of the set of mail servers in the support service as a primary mail server for mail of the domain provided to the mail server appliance.

16. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to record a MX record that specifies at least one of the set of mail servers in the support service as a backup mail server for mail of the domain provided to the mail server appliance.

17. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to determine an availability of communications between the support service and the mail server appliance and wherein the set of mail servers in the support service are configured to queue mail for the mail server appliance based on the availability of communications between the support service and the mail server appliance.

18. The support service of claim 11, wherein the mail servers in the support service are configured to allow mail to be downloaded by the mail server appliance using ODMR.

19. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to authenticate the mail server appliance based on a key assigned by the support service to the mail server appliance.

20. The support service of claim 11, wherein the server is configured to accept a digital certificate from the mail server appliance that asserts ownership of a new domain and to record a MX record that specifies at least one of the mail servers in the support service as a primary mail server for the new domain based on the digital certificate.