PMDF System Manager's Guide

It is possible to configure multiple sets of PMDF-FAX channels. However, this requires hand editing your PMDF configuration files as the automatic configuration generator described in the previous section is not capable of producing such configurations.

The most common multiple-channel configuration involves a common TEXT_TO_PS channel, separate PS_TO_G3 channels, and a common G3_TO_FAX channel driving a single, centralized FAX modem. With such a configuration, it is possible for separate departments, groups, or individuals sharing a common FAX modem to have their own customized cover pages.

In this example, a single TEXT_TO_PS channel addressed via either of the two (short form) names TEXT-FAX-A or TEXT-FAX-B and two PS_TO_G3 channels with (short form) names PS-FAX-A and PS-FAX-B are set up for the domain ABC.COM. The two PS_TO_G3 channels feed into a common G3_TO_FAX channel. Mail destined for the "A" channels should use addresses of the form (note the use of the forward slash character, /)

IN%"'/attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../'@TEXT-FAX-A.ABC.COM" IN%"'/attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../'@PS-FAX-A.ABC.COM"

while mail destined for the B channels should use addresses of the form

IN%"'/attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../'@TEXT-FAX-B.ABC.COM" IN%"'/attribute1=value1/attribute2=value2/.../'@PS-FAX-B.ABC.COM"

For example, a user of the A channels might address a plain text FAX message as

IN%"'/FN=(714) 621-5319/O=Process/'@TEXT-FAX-A.ABC.COM"

and a user of the B channels might address a PostScript FAX message as

IN%"'/FN=(714) 621-5319/O=Process/'@PS-FAX-B.ABC.COM"

Example 37-13 gives the necessary channel definitions to implement this configuration.

Example 37-13 Configuring Multiple FAX Channels: The Channel Blocks

text_to_ps text-to-ps.abc.com text-fax-a.abc.com text-fax-a.abc.com text-fax-b.abc.com text-fax-b.abc.com g3_to_fax logging g3-to-fax.abc.com ps_to_g3_a ps-to-g3-a.abc.com ps-fax-a.abc.com ps-fax-a.abc.com ps_to_g3_b ps-to-g3-b.abc.com ps-fax-b.abc.com ps-fax-b.abc.com fax_to_data fax-to-data data_to_bitmap data-to-bitmap

The corresponding rewrite rules for these channels are shown in Example 37-14.

Example 37-14 Configuring Multiple FAX Channels: The Rewrite Rules

text-to-ps.abc.com $U@text-to-ps.abc.com text-to-ps $U@text-to-ps.abc.com ! text-fax-a.abc.com $E$F$U@ps-fax-a.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-a.abc.com $U%text-fax-a.abc.com@ps-fax-a.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-a.abc.com $U@text-fax-a.abc.com text-fax-a $E$F$U@ps-fax-a.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-a $U%text-fax-a.abc.com@ps-fax-a.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-a $U@text-fax-a.abc.com ! text-fax-b.abc.com $E$F$U@ps-fax-b.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-b.abc.com $U%text-fax-b.abc.com@ps-fax-b.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-b.abc.com $U@text-fax-b.abc.com text-fax-b $E$F$U@ps-fax-b.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-b $U%text-fax-b.abc.com@ps-fax-b.abc.com$Mtext_to_ps text-fax-b $U@text-fax-b.abc.com ! ps-to-g3-a.abc.com $U@ps-to-g3-a.abc.com ps-to-g3-a $U@ps-to-g3-a.abc.com ! ps-fax-a.abc.com $E$F$U@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-a.abc.com $U%ps-fax-a.abc.com@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-a.abc.com $U@ps-fax-a.abc.com ps-fax-a $E$F$U@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-a $U%ps-fax-a.abc.com@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-a $U@ps-fax-a.abc.com ! ps-to-g3-b.abc.com $U@ps-to-g3-b.abc.com ps-to-g3-b $U@ps-to-g3-b.abc.com ! ps-fax-b.abc.com $E$F$U@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-b.abc.com $U%ps-fax-b.abc.com@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-b.abc.com $U@ps-fax-b.abc.com ps-fax-b $E$F$U@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-b $U%ps-fax-b.abc.com@g3-to-fax.abc.com$Mps_to_g3 ps-fax-b $U@ps-fax-b.abc.com ! g3-to-fax.abc.com $U@g3-to-fax.abc.com g3-to-fax $U@g3-to-fax.abc.com

With this configuration, the OpenVMS names of the various option files would then be

PMDF_TABLE:text_to_ps_option. PMDF_TABLE:ps_to_g3_a_option. PMDF_TABLE:ps_to_g3_b_option. PMDF_TABLE:g3_to_fax_option.

The option file ps_to_g3_a_option should have a COVER_PAGE_FILE= entry referencing the cover page template (if any) for the channel "A" users; the option file ps_to_g3_b_option should have a COVER_PAGE_FILE= entry referencing the cover page template (if any) for the channel "B" users. See Section 37.2.16.2 for a discussion of this option and how to specify it.