To select settings for the Maestro User Interface, click on the Global Component Setting icon from the home page of the Administration User Interface. Next, click Maestro User Interface.
Figure 13 Global Component Settings for Maestro User Interface
The top three selections define application settings, and the bottom six selections define application defaults. Click on a link to define or edit the settings.
Application settings are general settings that affect LISTSERV Maestro globally. The Maestro Administrator may change them.
General Administration – Defines general Maestro User Interface settings.
Figure 14 General Administration of the Maestro User Interface
· Backup folder – Defines the folder where the daily backup of the Maestro User Interface is written. If left empty, the default backup folder will be used. Use a relative or absolute path. Relative paths are relative to the Maestro User Interface’s home folder.
· Event transfer interval – Tracking events are initially collected in Maestro Tracker, but before they become available for reports, they need to be transferred to the Maestro User Interface. To prevent the components from being overburdened, these transfers happen in “bursts,” and this parameter defines the time interval between bursts. As a result, there will not be any apparent changes in reports until the next interval has passed, transferring more tracking data from Maestro Tracker to the Maestro User Interface.
· Job archive folder – Defines the folder where archived jobs are saved. Archived jobs are special ZIP archive files that are removed by the administrator from the Delivered Jobs listing in the Maestro User Interface. If left empty, the folder named “archive” inside the Maestro User Interface application home folder will be used.
· Runtime Administration – These settings allow the administrator to influence the availability of the Maestro User Interface – for example, in the event of a system shutdown. The administrator can disable the Outbox, lock login access, present a text message at the top of each screen to actively logged in users while the login is locked, and create a message that appears to any user trying to login while the login is locked.
Tip: Decide on a time slot each week to perform non-emergency maintenance of the server (for example, software upgrades). Let users know about this in advance so they know to avoid sending jobs right before that time slot. When taking the system down for non-emergency maintenance, disable the Outbox and login access an hour ahead (or whatever time seems appropriate) to give the users time to finish their current activities and log out in time.
Database Plugins – Register and unregister database plugins. Database plugins allow LISTSERV Maestro to communicate with databases. For more information, see Section 5.2 Registering a Database Plugin.
Figure 15 Database Plugins
System Database Connection – Defines the settings for the Maestro System Database. For more information on the system database, see Section 4 The System Database.
Figure 16 System Database Connection
· Maximum number of buffered connections – Defines the maximum number of “open” database connections the Maestro User Interface will keep open at any time. After the Maestro User Interface has finished using a connection, it will not close the connection, but keep it open as a buffered open connection.
· System Database connection choice – Select the Use the internal database as the System Database option to use the internal database (based on MySQL) as the system database. Select the The following external database is used as the System Database option to use an external database as the system database. In this case, select the corresponding database plugin from the drop-down menu. Once a plugin has been selected, a set of input fields will appear. Enter details for the database connection such as server name, database port, database name, user name and password. The exact details depend on the plugin selected.
Application default settings are used to set system-wide defaults. LISTSERV Maestro will use default settings if no other settings have been entered at the group or user level. To use default settings, leave all other settings at the group and user level blank. If different settings are entered at the group or user level, they will override the default settings.
Default LISTSERV Connection – Defines the default LISTSERV connection, the default settings for LISTSERV Hosted Lists, and the LISTSERV Connection for automatic bounce handling. The default setting is used for all accounts that do not have single user or group LISTSERV connections defined. LISTSERV settings defined at the user or group level will override the default settings for only those users or groups. As a result, it is possible to have some users and groups using the default LISTSERV settings and other users and groups using settings defined at the user or group level.
Note: If there will be several unrelated groups, it is recommended not to define default settings for client addresses and passwords, as each group should use a separate address, defined in the group’s LISTSERV Connection settings. If each group will access a separate LISTSERV instance, do not specify any default LISTSERV connection information.
· LISTSERV Host – Enter the host name of the server that is actually running LISTSERV. LISTSERV Maestro will use this host name to look up the server running LISTSERV and connect to it using the TCPGUI port. Do not use a server name or alias that only appears to the outside clients to be running LISTSERV, such as the SMTP server name. For more information, see Section 6.2.1 Specifying the LISTSERV Host with Different Internal and External Names.
· External Host Name – If different from the LISTSERV Host, enter the host name of the server running LISTSERV as seen by outside clients such as Internet. This host name can be an alias or point to the SMTP server. For more information, see Section 6.2.1 Specifying the LISTSERV Host with Different Internal and External Names.
· LISTSERV TCPGUI Port – Enter the port number on the LISTSERV host where LISTSERV listens for TCPGUI connections. The default is 2306.
· Client Address for Mail Delivery – Enter the email address that has been configured in LISTSERV to have the right to send DISTRIBUTE jobs. See Section 6.1 Preparing LISTSERV to Process Jobs from LISTSERV Maestro.
· Client Password for Mail Delivery – Enter the password configured with the LISTSERV Client Address. See Section 6.1 Preparing LISTSERV to Process Jobs from LISTSERV Maestro.
If Hosted LISTSERV Lists will be used, the settings for those lists need to be configured as well.
· Client Address for Hosted LISTSERV List Administration – This should be the email address that was added as a POSTMASTER in the LISTSERV Site Configuration file (see section 6.1.2 Preparing LISTSERV to Allow List Creation by LISTSERV Maestro).
· Password – Enter the LISTSERV password that was registered for the Client Address entered above.
· List Archive Settings for LISTSERV Hosted Lists – If postings sent to the LISTSERV lists will not be archived, then select No archives allowed for LISTSERV Lists. If there will be archived list postings, then select the option to allow archives for Hosted LISTSERV lists, and supply the archive folder location that was configured in section 6.1.3 Preparing the LISTSERV List Archive Folder.
Figure 17 Default LISTSERV Connection
In high volume environments, a special LISTSERV instance that is dedicated to handling bounced mail may be used. If this is the case, select Use dedicated server and then define the settings of this second LISTSERV instance in the lower fields. For more information, see Section 6 LISTSERV and LISTSERV Maestro.
Figure 18 Dedicated Bounce Server
Default Tracking URL – Generates the tracking URL for all accounts where no explicit tracking URL is defined on either the single user or group level. For more information on the default tracking URL, see Section 7.3 Setting the Default Tracking URL.
· Tracker Host – Enter the host name of the server running the Maestro Tracker component.
· HTTP Port – Enter the port where the Maestro Tracker component on the Maestro Tracker host listens for HTTP connections. The default port number is 80.
Figure 19 Default Tracking URL
Important: All accounts and groups must use tracking URLs that point to the same physical Maestro Tracker server, using the same HTTP port. Although it is possible to enter different Maestro Tracker host names and port settings on the same global application, group level, or individual user level, all those entries must point back to the same physical server, using the same HTTP port. For more information, see Section 7.3.1 Multiple Tracking URLs and the online help.
Default Size Limits – Sets a size limit for email messages and any file uploaded to the system. The size limit for an email message applies to the total byte size of the message (after all transfer encoding and MIME multipart wrappers have been applied). If the message exceeds the size limit, the delivery will fail. The size limit for all uploaded files includes recipient lists, attachments, image files, and so on.
Figure 20 Default Size Limits
Default Content Restrictions – Define AOL Rich Text settings for an alternative part of an HTML message. (The AOL Rich Text setting is obsolete and not recommended except in special cases.)
Create a set of parameters to set up a list of files or URLs that are available to use as drop-in content elements. See the online help for more information on using this setting.
Figure 21 Default Content Restrictions
Default
Recipients Restrictions – The screen is split into two sections.
The top section, Recipients Type Restrictions, sets the type of
recipients the user is able to use for an
email job. If Disabled is selected, then that option will appear
grayed out in the Maestro User Interface, and the user will not be able
to select it. If Hidden is selected, the recipient type will be
disabled and will not appear at all in the Maestro User Interface.
The bottom section, Recipients Upload Restrictions, contains a text box for the administrator to enter in allowable paths or path prefixes leading to files on a server accessible to the Maestro User Interface. These files are used for uploading "just-in-time" CSV files for recipients definitions. If left blank, CSV files used for just-in-time recipients definitions in the recipients definition wizard will not be allowed.
Figure 22 Default Recipients Restrictions
Default Tracking Restrictions – Defines the type of tracking that will be available, by default. To enable a tracking type, select Enable. To disable, but still display the tracking type, select Disabled. To disable and hide a tracking type, select Hidden.
Figure 23 Default Tracking Restrictions
Default Hosted Data Settings – Defines the settings for hosted recipient data.
· General Hosted Data Settings – Defines an external host name under which subscriber access pages are accessible to subscribers. This should be the same host that the Maestro User Interface (LUI) is running on, but if the host has a different external host name, enter it here.
· Hosted List Settings – Select whether or not users/groups may create Hosted Recipient Lists or Hosted LISTSERV Lists.
Figure 24 Default Hosted Data Settings
If Hosted LISTSERV Lists will be used, optional suffixes for the LISTSERV lists can be used by selecting the option. Since there may not be more than one list with the same name on the same LISTSERV server, employing automatically generated or individual group/name suffixes for LISTSERV list names prevents list creation errors due to duplicate list names. See the online help for more details about name suffixes.
Tip: By installing separate LISTSERV instances, and configuring the LISTSERV connection for each user/group to use a different LISTSERV instance, then the use of suffixes is not necessary to distinguish between lists. Separate instances will also give each group a separate LISTSERV Web Interface for their lists.
Default DomainKeys Settings – Defines whether or not to use DomainKeys signatures to authenticate the origin of the LISTSERV Maestro email messages. See Section 24 Authenticating Message Origin with DomainKeys Signatures.
Before a user can send mail with open-up or click-through tracking, the administrator first has to configure the host name and port that LISTSERV Maestro will use for the tracking URLs generated for the message. The global default setting is used for all accounts that do not have single user or group settings. The default settings, single user settings, and group settings can be combined to offer separate tracking URL settings for different accounts and groups so that the administrator has greater flexibility in terms of customizing the tracking URL for certain accounts or groups.
When LISTSERV Maestro tracks open-up or click-through events, it does so by inserting special tracking URLs into the messages that are delivered. A typical click-through tracking URL looks something like the example below:
http://hostname/trk/click?ref=z4bx39x&
In this URL, the hostname points to the server where the Maestro Tracker component is installed. If the Maestro Tracker component is configured to use a non-standard HTTP port, then the tracking URL has to include the HTTP port, like the example below:
http://hostname:port/trk/click?ref=z4bx39x&
All account holders who do not have separate single user or group tracking URLs configured use the default tracking URL. The administrator can define the tracking URL host and port on an individual account level (for accounts that are not part of a group) or on group level (in which case the settings are shared by all accounts in the group).
To define the tracking URL host and HTTP-port:
· Default Tracking URL – For all accounts and groups that do not have individual settings, click Global Component Settings > Maestro User Interface > Default Tracking URL. The settings defined here will affect all accounts that do not have a tracker host or HTTP-port configured on a single user or group level.
· Single User Tracking URL – For an individual account that is not part of a group, click Administer User Accounts. Click on the user name of the account to be configured (must be an account without a group), and then click on Maestro User Interface. The settings defined here affect only the selected account.
· Group Tracking URL – For all accounts in a group, click Administer User Accounts, and then click on the group name of any account that is a member of the group to be configured. The settings defined here affect all accounts in the selected group.
For all three choices, there are two possible settings:
· Tracker Host – Enter the host name to be used in the tracking URL. Leave empty to accept the default (if any). If left empty with no default given, users of this account or group will not be able to send email messages with tracking.
· HTTP Port – Enter the HTTP port to be used in the tracking URL. Leave empty unless using a proxy (see the next section for more information).
There are many uses for setting up multiple tracking URLs. One use of multiple tracking URLs is to customize the look of the tracked URL within the message. Another use of separate tracking URLs would be in the case of using a proxy where the host name of the tracker host used in the internal network is different from the host name that external users would have to use.
Customization is useful in an environment where the same LISTSERV Maestro setup is shared between several distinct groups that want to differentiate themselves in the tracking URL that is merged into the messages they send. For example, the fictitious organization MyCorp has two divisions, one for consumer electronics and one for home appliances. The administrator of MyCorp sets up a single LISTSERV Maestro and creates two groups, electro and homeapp. These group accounts are created in order to be used by the members of the two divisions (team collaboration can also be employed inside of each group).
The name of the server where the Maestro Tracker component is installed is “tracker.mycorp.com”, but the users do not want this host name to appear in the tracking URL in the messages that are delivered. Therefore, the administrator also sets up two DNS names, electro.mycorp.com and homeapp.mycorp.com as aliases for the same server. Next, the administrator uses the procedure described above to set the tracker host name of the electro and homeapp groups to the corresponding aliases. As a result, even though both divisions are sharing the same LISTSERV Maestro installation, the tracking URLs generated for the email they send are “customized” to contain a host name that matches each division’s name.
Another example is if LISTSERV Maestro is installed behind a proxy, where URLs for external access need to use the proxy’s host name and port, which then transparently forwards the requests to the actual tracker host behind it. In this case, the administrator would set the proxy’s host name and the proxy-port that is forwarded to the HTTP port on the tracker host as the default “Tracker Host” and “HTTP Port” setting, to be used by all accounts.
Note: HTTP Port should always be left empty unless there is a proxy at the new host/port pair that redirects the connection to the single port on the TRK server that processes all tracking events, as described in this section.
