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The BlitzMail system is composed of three servers and a number of client programs. A brief overview of the components, their functions, and their requirements are provided below.
- DND Server - The DND server handles naming and authentication for the BlitzMail system. Each user has a DND entry that indicates the user's name, nicknames, preferred e-mail address, and can hold other personal information (such as department and phone number). The BlitzMail system uses the DND to authenticate users (using their names and DND passwords), and keep track of which mail server their mail is stored on.
- BlitzMail Server - The BlitzMail mail server stores user mail and mail-related data (such as mailing lists). Besides normal mail delivery, the mail server handles tasks such as mail notification, forwarding, vacation messages, and file enclosure handling. In addition to its own client protocols, the BlitzMail server supports POP and IMAP clients.
- Bulletins Server - The BlitzMail Bulletins server provides a means for communicating announcements to a large number of users, without the administrative overhead or privacy concerns of traditional mailing lists. The Bulletins server keeps track of what topics users are interested in, and works with the BlitzMail server to notify users when an announcement of interest has been posted. The Bulletins server works with the Usenet News system to make Bulletins available to traditional news reading software. The Bulletins server software runs on UNIX computers and requires either C News or INN.
- Macintosh BlitzMail Client - The Macintosh BlitzMail program is the primary client for the BlitzMail system. It provides an easy-to-use interface for reading, sending, and filing mail. It also supports reading and posting BlitzMail Bulletins, querying and editing the DND name directory, and managing both private and system-wide mailing lists. Users running the necessary system software can take advantage of AppleScript scripting and recording, Drag and Drop support for moving files into and out of messages, Command-clicking on URLs for easy access to Web resources, and support for the URL Apple Event suite (so BlitzMail can be used by other Internet applications). The online help for the Macintosh BlitzMail client is available for browsing on the Web; see BlitzMail.
- Windows BlitzMail Client - A Windows BlitzMail client has been developed by the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. The Windows client duplicates the look and feel and feature set of the Macintosh BlitzMail client.
- Notify - The Notify program lets Macintosh and Windows users know immediately when they have received new mail or a new Bulletin has been posted. Users can control how they prefer to be notified (via beeps, dialog boxes, blinking icons, or custom sounds). Users can tell Notify to "listen" for new mail from multiple computers, or for multiple users on a shared computer.
- DartDM - The Dartmouth Directory Manager (DartDM) Web application allows users of non-BlitzMail clients to manipulate their e-mail server settings (such as forwarding address, spam tolerance, and password).
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