Overview
MailEssentials uses different ways to retrieve and count users depending on the installation environment and deployment scenario. The number of users retrieved is used for licensing purposes and for user-based functionality e.g. access control, user-based rules, etc.
This article provides information on the different ways that MailEssentials retrieves and counts users.
Information
MailEssentials can retrieve and count users from three different user databases namely:
The next sections provide more information about each of these methods.
Exchange Information Store
Users can be retrieved from the Exchange Information Store only when MailEssentials is installed on the Exchange server. During the installation, the administrator can select to retrieve users from Active Directory (AD), and all AD users that have their mailbox on the Exchange Information Store on the same machine will be counted and used and for licensing purposes.
Active Directory
Users can be retrieved from Active Directory when MailEssentials is installed on a machine that is part of the domain (but not on the same machine as Exchange). During the installation, the administrator can select to retrieves users from AD, and all AD users that have an SMTP email address will be counted and can be used in configuration and for licensing purposes. Only user objects (objects where the 'mail' property is defined) are retrieved from AD, other AD objects are not counted.
When installed in this mode, MailEssentials will deduct one user from the total users counted, assuming that one user will be used as a system mailbox. Disabled users are also not included in the results, since they are filtered out during retrieval.
- Should the Active Directory UserAccountControl property not be readable by the System user (due to Active Directory restrictions), the disabled users will be treated as normal users and counted against the license.
- If MailEssentials is installed as a gateway, to any other SMTP server, and it is desired to retrieve users from Active Directory, a purchase of the equivalent of the number of Active Directory users that have an SMTP address is required.
Internal User Database
During the installation, the administrator can decide not to retrieve users from AD or the Exchange server and instead store users in an internal user database.
This is the only option available if MailEssentials is installed on a machine that is not part of an Active Directory domain. However, it is also possible to make use of the internal user database if MailEssentials is installed in a Microsoft Active Directory environment.
In this case, the users are stored in the internal database file called userlist.mdb located at ..\GFI\MailEssentials\EmailSecurity\Data\
Users can be inserted into userlist.mdb either from the configuration UI, or gathered automatically from outbound emails and saved in the user database. For the latter, MailEssentials will retrieve the sender’s email address of outbound emails and add the email address to the users’ list. These users (email addresses) are used in user-based rules (e.g. disclaimer) and for licensing purposes.
Users can also be added manually as such:
- Open the GFI MailEssentials Configuration UI
- Navigate to General Settings > Settings
- Open the User Manager tab
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Add users as required:
- If GFI MailEssentials is installed as a Gateway, to any other SMTP server, and it is undesirable to retrieve users from Active Directory, a purchase of the equivalent amount of email addresses that are used to send outbound emails is needed.
- There is no way to exclude users from a license. A purchase of the equivalent amount is required according to the criteria above.
- Please note that the System mailbox is not counted (or any disabled users).