Digest Services

From GWAVA4

Digest reports are sent to users on a regular, configured basis by the QMS (Quarantine Management System). These reports contain a mix of text and HTML (the HTML provides a richer viewing experience, while the text version provides more compatibility with PDAs and other hand held devices with limited display capacity).

Any message that triggers a configurable set of events (for example -- spam, RBL, SURBL) is compiled into this report and users can click the entries to request a release. The user may also quickly access the QMS from the Digest.

Messages that are not quarantined (only blocked, for example) are never compiled into a digest.

Digests may be configured under the Digest function tab in QMS, available only to administrators.

NOTE: Digests act in addition to, rather than as a replacement for standard notifications.

The Digest section consists of 4 subsections:

• Settings - core settings for the digest
• Schedule - how often the digest is generated
• Events - what events trigger a message to be included in the digest
• Manual Release - force an immediate digest generation

NOTE: As you make changes to your configuration, the disk icon in the upper right corner of the page will become active and the words SAVE CHANGES will appear. Do not forget to click the icon to save your changes before moving to another page, or your changes will be lost.

Contents 1 Settings 2 Schedule 3 Events 4 Manual Release 5 Digest Reports 5.1 Editing Digest Reports

Settings

Digests are enabled by default under the Digest | Settings tab in the QMS.

Under the Settings tab you can modify the following:

• Enable Digest Services - If this is unchecked, no digests are generated at all.
• Remove message from users quarantine when released - If selected, the user is removed from the list of "owners" of the message. No physical deletion takes place, but the message will no longer be visible to the user. The message remains visible to other "owners" as well as QMS administrators.
• Remove message from QMS when all recipients have released their copy - If there are no "owners" of the message remaining, remove the message entirely from the QMS system. This has no function if the above option is disabled. Most administrators will want this setting on; however, keep in mind that the administrator will also no longer be able to see the message in the QMS if it is deleted.
• Maximum digest rows - What is the maximum number of messages that can appear in a digest for a specific user? The reason for this setting is that if a ceiling is not set, the QMS system may be unnecessarily bogged down during digest generation during a "spam storm". Also, the digests may become too large to be useful to the users. This setting will need to be adjusted depending on the volume of e-mail you receive and the frequency of digest generation. If the setting is exceeding, the digest will contain the maximum rows and a brief message telling the user that there are more messages waiting for them in the QMS.
• Release button address - The digest sent to the users really consists of a number of hyperlinks. If this setting is left blank, the QMS uses the IP address and port of the QMS system at the beginning of the hyperlink. However, this may not be a public IP address. It's probably better to set this to something like release.yourcompany.com:49285, and make sure both public and private DNS (as well as your firewall) permit this.
• The last few items on the screen let you decide if the digest is generated for all users or just some of the users. It's good for testing purposes and for excluding users that do not like the digest.

Schedule

To configure the times in which the digests are created and sent to the users, in the Digest | Schedule section, check the times to sent the digest. When complete, click Save Changes to update the configuration.

TIP: You may click the Hour or Day column headings to quickly toggle the checkboxes.

Events

In the Events section, select the blocked message events to include in the digest reports. Options for digest alerts include: attachment filter, fingerprint, IP address, oversized message, RBL, recipient filter, SURBL, sender filter, spam threshold 1-5, text filter, and virus. The first column defines what events can cause a message to be published in the digest.

There is an ambiguity introduced by this system. If, for example, the administrator chose to include spam events in a digest (a common scenario), and a message is processed that fires both the spam and content filter events, it is probably alright to include this message in the digest. In fact, that is exactly what will occur. However, if a message is processed that fires both the spam virus events, it's quite likely the administrator does not want to publish the message in the digest. To avoid this "carry along", the administrator would select the NEVER DIGESTED option for virus events.

Manual Release

The digest can be released manually outside of the selected time frame. To do this, click on the Digest | Manual Release section, and type the word CONFIRM in all uppercase lettering. Then click the green triangle on the right.

Digest Reports

Digest reports are created at the times specified in the schedule. Modifiable templates are used to create these reports. Shown below is a sample digest report. A list of blocked mail is presented to the user, with information about the blocked e-mail. These are the block reason, subject, sender, date/time, and release button which contains a link to the quarantined message file. There is also a link to Manage MY quarantine. If users have an account setup within the quarantine, they can link directly to QMS from here.

NOTE: The user does not need to have created a QMS account to release messages from his/her digest. Nor does the user need to possess Release rights. The message will be released only to the user, even if there are multiple recipients.

Editing Digest Reports

The digest templates consist of multiple files, stored in <GwavaRoot>/assets/global/template, alongside other notification templates.

The relevant files are

• digest_header.shtml - the header of the message, as well as the beginning of the plain text section of the report
• digest_text_body.shtml - the template for the main body of the plain text section.
• digest_mime_seperator.shtml - the bottom of the plain text section, followed by the top of the HTML text section.
• digest_html_body.shtml - the template for the main body of the HTML text section
• digest_footer.shtml - the bottom of the HTML text section, followed by the footer of the message.
• digest_master.xml - should normally not need to be edited, defines the structure of the message.

IMPORTANT: You MUST read through all of the following information before customizing template files, otherwise changes you make may be overwritten by the online update service.

By default, the digest service is driven by the 'digest_master.xml' file. This file contains directive information that defines which templates to use for generation of digest messages.

The default files will get overwritten by the online updater if they are changed, so it is very important that customized digests are either created from scratch, or copied then edited.

To create a set of customizable digest files, this is the procedure you must follow:

• Copy digest_master.xml to your own version, i.e. digest_master_custom.xml
• Open digest_master_custom.xml and modify all of the items with <source> tags to point to a custom version, i.e. <source>digest_header_custom.shtml</source>
• Copy all of the source items to custom versions, i.e. digest_header.shtml -> digest_header_custom.shtml
• In the QMS settings, modify the name of the digest master template to point to your custom version.

Once these steps are completed, you are free to modify the customized files to suit your own needs, as the update service will not modify these files.