PC Mac: Cannot See Postoffice on Pathworks Server (103199)

SYMPTOMS

After installing the Macintosh workstation, the user is not able to select the Mail postoffice when the postoffice database files are on a Pathworks server.

The most common symptom of this is when the user sees all the folders (directories) that comprise the postoffice, and sees the files within the folders, but the Macintosh client cannot find the postoffice.

Usually, when the Macintosh client is first installed, a dialog box appears with the following text:

The Preferences file could not be found.
Where is your postoffice located?

Selecting "Find PO" lets the user search for the postoffice data files. After selecting the drive and the folder where the postoffice data files are located, the Macintosh client responds with:

Select <postoffice name>?

With the postoffice on the Pathworks server, the Macintosh client may not recognize the folder with the postoffice as a valid Mail postoffice, and the dialog box for selecting a drive and the folders remains active.

CAUSE

The README.TXT file on the version 3.0 of Mail for PC Networks Server disk (paragraph B.5) states the following:

Using a Non-PC-based Network Operating System

The Macintosh client assumes that the file path to the postoffice is either all uppercase or all lowercase letters. If your network operating system uses pathnames that are case sensitive (such as DEC Pathworks or NFS), make sure that for the Macintosh client, the path to the postoffice does not contain a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters.

Another possible difficulty when using a non-PC-based network operating system is automatic file translation from PC text format to Macintosh text format by the operating system. File translation must not occur for any postoffice data file.

To confirm the problem is in the configuration of the Pathworks server, verify the following:

The Macintosh can mount the Pathworks share that contains the postoffice data files.
The Macintosh views all directory and filenames in UPPERCASE. Lowercase or mixed case names are incorrect.
The Macintosh can Get Info on the MASTER.GLB file, and this file's size is 176 bytes. If the file is 174 bytes, then invalid file translation is occurring.
A file can be copied from the Macintosh to the postoffice directory, and this file, when checked at the MS-DOS level, has the same size and date stamp that correspond to the Macintosh's Get Info on this file. If MS-DOS reports the file as 0 bytes, no date/time stamp, then the permissions for the PC are incorrect.

If any of these steps fail, then the Pathworks server will need to be reconfigured.

NOTE: For more information regarding problem 1 listed above, please consult your Pathworks manual for Macintosh connectivity.

RESOLUTION

To reconfigure the Pathworks server for problems 2, 3, and 4, it will be necessary to do the following:

Change a filename conversion and the file translation control file. -and-
Change the permissions for the clients.

If the postoffice directories and files are already on the Pathworks server, then they will need to be copied to an MS-DOS drive and deleted from the Pathworks server. This is because the changes to the filename conversion and the translations only affect new files, not existing files on the Pathworks server.

To Change the Filename Conversion (Problem 2)

The DCL command required to define the filename conversion logical is:

LOWERCASE     Filename is converted to all lowercase.

MIXEDCASE     Filename is converted to mixed case. First letter
              of each word is capitalized and the remaining letters
              display in lowercase.

UPPERCASE     Filename is converted to uppercase.

Values for rule2:

SPACES         Underscores are replaced with spaces.

UNDERSCORES    Underscores are displayed as underscores.

Mail for PC Networks, Macintosh client, and version 1.0b of Microsoft Mail Connection Gateway both require all uppercase and underscores in the names of the files that they access. The correct logical definition for this is:

DEFINE/SYS/EXEC MSAF$SERVER_VMS_NAME_CONVERSION "UPPERCASE,UNDERSCORES"

For Invalid File Translation (Problem 3)

The FILE_TYPES.DAT file in the SYS$COMMON:[MSA] directory on the VAX running Pathworks needs to be edited. The file is a text file and any text editor can modify it. The file translations defined in FILE_TYPES.DAT are position-sensitive, meaning only the first translation that matches the MS-DOS extension is used. The translations for the postoffice files should, therefore, be placed as close to the beginning of the file as possible.

NOTE: MICROSOFT CANNOT ASSIST IN PROBLEMS WITH MODIFICATION TO THE FILE_TYPES.DAT FILE. It is up to the Administrator to rectify any problems on the Pathworks Server. If there is a problem with modification to the file, please refer to your Pathworks support provider.

Each file extension used in the Microsoft Mail database must be defined in the MSAF$FILE_TYPES.DAT file; thus, the entries in the MSAF$FILE_TYPES.DAT file for the Mail postoffice must look like this:

!Format   Attr   Semantic   "EXT"    Creator   Type    Translation
 
*         *      *           ATT     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           GLB     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           GRP     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           HLP     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           INF     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           IDX     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           KEY     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           MAI     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           MBG     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           MEM     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           NME     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           TPL     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           USR     mdos      BINA    none
*         *      *           XTN     mdos      BINA    none

NOTE: If the Mail Connection Gateway is installed and the Connection Store directory structure is defined on a Pathworks volume, the following extension must also be added to the MSAF$FILE_TYPES.DAT file.

*         *      *           MSG     mdos      BINA    none

Any time the filename conversion logical is defined and/or changed, or the MSAF$FILE_TYPES.DAT file is changed, all file servers in Pathworks should be stopped and restarted for the changes to take effect.

To stop and restart the file server, as SYSTEM type:

ADMIN/MSA FILE_SERVER STOP ADMIN/MSA FILE_SERVER START

Default Permissions Not Correct for the User (Problem 4)

The Macintosh is able to read MS-DOS files, but the PC cannot read Macintosh files. This is NOT a Macintosh file problem but a Pathworks permissions problem. Use the Pathworks Administrator's Guide to grant all users of the postoffice share full Read Write permissions to all levels of the postoffice directory structure and all files within the directories.

After all these steps have been accomplished and verified, copy the postoffice directories back to the Pathworks server, and verify the Macintosh can correctly view the directories, files, MASTER.GLB, and can write files the PC can read. Then run the Macintosh client and connect to the postoffice.

If problems still occur, delete the database and do all the steps above again, but instead of restarting the file server, reboot the Pathworks server by typing as SYSTEM:

REBOOT

Then reinstall the postoffice directories and files.