Kerio MailServer consists of the following components:
Kerio MailServer Engine
is the core of the program that provides all services and functions. It runs as a back-ground application (as a service on Windows, or as a daemon on UNIX-like systems).
The Kerio MailServer Engine also includes the avserver and spamserver processes which run separately that maintain the antivirus plug-in and theSpamAssassin antispam module (details in section4.2).
Kerio MailServer Monitor
With this application you can monitor the Engine and Monitor applications, you can switch the engine’s on/off status, edit startup preferences or launch the administration console.
Details can be found in chapter4.1.
Note: Kerio MailServer Monitor is an application completely independent from the Kerio MailServer Engine which is running hidden on the background or as a service.
Kerio Administration Console
is a universal program designed for local or remote administration of Kerio Technologies products. To connect to a certain application a module containing a specific interface for this application is needed. During Kerio MailServer installation the Kerio Administration Console is installed together with the appropriate plugin. Kerio Administration Console and its usage are described in detail in chapter5.
Performance Monitor
This component allows for real time system performance monitoring of KMS components.
For more details, see chapter25.10. This module is available under MS Windows operating systems only.
4.1 Kerio MailServer Monitor
Kerio MailServer Monitor is a utility used to control and monitor the MailServer Engine status.
This component is available only under Windows and Mac OS X.
Windows Operating Systems
In Windows, Kerio MailServer Monitor is displayed as an icon in the System Notification Area.
Chapter 4 Kerio MailServer Components
Figure 4.1 Kerio MailServer Monitor
If the mailserver is stopped, a red mark appears over the icon. Starting or stopping the service can take several seconds. During this time the icon is grey and inactive.
On Windows, left double-clicking on this icon runs the Kerio Administration Console (described later). Right-clicking on this icon displays the following menu.
Figure 4.2 Kerio MailServer Monitor — menu
Start-up Preferences
— options for running Kerio MailServer and Kerio MailServer Monitor automatically at system start-up. Both options are enabled by default.
Administration
— this option runs the Kerio Administration Console program (this can also be achieved by double-clicking the Kerio MailServer Monitor icon).
Start/Stop Kerio MailServer
— start or stop the MailServer Engine (Start or Stop is displayed according to the Engine status).
Exit Engine Monitor
— exits the Kerio MailServer Monitor. This option does not stop the MailServer Engine.
The user is informed about this fact by a warning window.
Mac OS X
On Mac OS X, the Kerio MailServer Monitor is displayed in a new window (see figure 4.3) which can be opened from the Other section of System Preferences. The window includes the following options:
• About Kerio MailServer — the button opens the About window providing basic infor-mation on the product and its version number.
• Stop/Start Server — the button starts/stops the Kerio MailServer Engine.
Username which must belong to the Admins group and password is required for stop-ping or running of the service.
• Configure Server — the button runs the Kerio Administration Console.
4.2 Standalone processes of the server
Figure 4.3 Kerio MailServer Monitor — Kerio MailServer Status
You can also stop, start or restart the Kerio MailServer Monitor through Terminal or a SSH client with the following commands with root access:
Stopping the Kerio MailServer Engine
SystemStarter stop KerioMailServer Starting the Kerio MailServer Engine
SystemStarter start KerioMailServer Restarting the Kerio MailServer Engine
SystemStarter restart KerioMailServer
Linux
Installation packages for Linux do not include Kerio MailServer Monitor. Kerio MailServer Engine can be started by the following command:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/keriomailserver [start | stop]
4.2 Standalone processes of the server
In addition to the main process mailserver.exe, there are other two stand-alone processes (avserver.exe and spamserver.exe) running in Kerio MailServer that serve applications de-veloped outside Kerio Technologies. These applications include any antivirus plugins (external and/or the built-in McAfee antivirus) and the SpamAssassin antispam filter. As hinted by their names, avserver maintains antivirus plugins, while spamserver maintains the SpamAssassin.
Chapter 4 Kerio MailServer Components
The mailserver.exe process is located in the directory where Kerio MailServer is installed (Kerio\MailServer\mailserver.exe or Kerio/mailserver/mailserver.exe).
The other two processes are represented by executables located in the directory where Kerio MailServer is installed (\Kerio\MailServer\plugins on Windows, /Kerio/mailserver/pluginson Unix-based systems).
Separation of the processes solves server stability issues that had surfaced when the plug-ins had been used.
Whenever a problem occurs regarding any of the plug-ins (e.g. when connection is closed improperly or if connection “freezes”), automatic restart is initiated by the corresponding process. This implies any error that occurs does not cause failure of the entire mailserver and communication with the corresponding plug-in is even not interrupted for a long time.
Initiation of the application’s restart also generates and saves a crashdump log that might help discover the problem’s cause. Then, when an administrator connects to Kerio MailServer, a Kerio Assist dialog asks them to decide whether the crashdump log would be sent to Kerio Technologies for analysis.
Behaviour of the Kerio Assist differs in dependence on the operating system:
• Windows — the Kerio Assist dialog is opened immediately upon the incident.
• Mac OS X — the Kerio Assist dialog is opened upon the first startup of the Kerio Ad-ministration Console after the incident.
Warning
Any information recorded in the log are used only to solve problems associated with usage of Kerio Technologies products. No information including the sender’s email address will be misused in any way.