Ref: 00630001
Title: Flexible Routing Options Between Networks
Date: 6/16/89

Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991.  All rights reserved.

For networks with users on many servers, it can be difficult
to maintain an accurate list of users' routing addresses for
3+Mail.  This article explains how to enable users to send mail
to all other users, without having to duplicate all the routing
addresses on all the servers.

    Note:  In the following paragraphs, the terms "name,"
    "domain," and "organization" refer to the three-part logical
    address used in 3+Mail, where name:domain:organization
    specifies a user's address within a network or across
    networks.

Each server must be a complete LAN with 3+Share, 3+Name, and
3+Backup, and connected to the other servers in the network by
3+Route.  For each organization, one server is designated as the
hub server.  Its 3+Share name service contains the complete route
addresses for all users at all locations in that organization.
The other servers are satellite servers.  Their name service
files contain the route addresses for all local users, plus an
additional route to the hub server for the special address,
_ANY:[Organization].

In the case of _ANY:[Organization], there is no first part
(name), just the domain "_ANY" and the name of an organization,
such as "3Com."

When the address _ANY:[Organization] is in the name service,
3+Mail routes all mail messages for the specified organization
through the hub server, no matter what domain name is used in the
mail message.  There can be an _ANY address for each
organization.  Also, the hub server (and therefore the routing
address) for each _ANY:[Organization] address can be different.

For example, suppose a network contains three servers:  Server1
at the company headquarters, Server2 at the company's U.S. field
sales office, and Server3 in London.

Server1:HQ:Com        Server2:SALES:Com      Server3:LON:Com
Net # 40001           Net # 40002            Net # 40003


Server1:HQ:Com is the hub location.  Its name service contains
the full routing addresses for all users in the Com organization.

The name services for Server2 and Server3 contain the address
_ANY:Com and the routing address for Server1:HQ:Com, net number
40001.  When a user on Server2 or Server3 sends a message to a
remote user in the Com organization, the 3+Mail service queries
the 3+Name service and does not find the user's routing address.
It does find _ANY:Com, so it sends the mail message to the hub
server, where the user's full route address is located, and from
where the message is forwarded to its final destination.
(Without this option, if a user wanted to send a message to a
remote user, the 3+Name service would return the message marked
"Undeliverable--no such user.")

