This Read Me file includes:
- Upgrade instructions for existing users of Post.Office for Windows NT
- Installation instructions for new users of Post.Office for Windows NT
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UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS - POST.OFFICE v. 2.0 - WINDOWS NT
The same software is used for installing Post.Office version 2.0,
upgrading from an earlier version, or upgrading your 2.0 license
to accommodate additional accounts/mailboxes. The program checks
to see if Post.Office already exists, then self-adjusts to perform
the necessary installation or upgrade procedure.
REVIEW THE FOLLOWING *BEFORE* UPGRADING YOUR SYSTEM:
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THE POST.OFFICE UPGRADE OPERATION IS PERFORMING TASKS OF CONSIDERABLE
COMPLEXITY INCLUDING DATABASE REGENERATION. TO ENSURE SUCCESS YOU MUST
BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM PRIOR TO UPGRADING AND ALLOW ADEQUATE TIME TO COMPLETE
THE POST.OFFICE UPGRADE OPERATION. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE PROCESS
RUN TO COMPLETION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.
The time required to execute the upgrade process will vary based on the
amount of memory, processing speed, and the number of installed accounts.
Internal benchmarking conducted on a machine with 32 mb of RAM and
a Pentium 100 processor running Windows NT 3.51 with Service Pack 3
produced the following upgrade times. Please compare your system's
statistics to those provided below, and plan accordingly.
Number Number of Upgrade Time
of Users Addresses per User (Min:Sec)
500 10 2:20
2000 3 3:24
2000 10 7:35
BACK UP YOUR EXISTING SYSTEM
In the interest of safety and good software practices, existing users
of Post.Office should back up their system before upgrading to
version 2.0. Upgrading is a nondestructive process which retains all mail,
and account and configuration information; however, if the upgrade
operation is interrupted your mail system can be corrupted.
Instructions on restoring your mail system are provided in
the Backup and Restore section of the FAQ (available at
http://www.software.com/tech/faq/FAQ_Contents.html), but those
instructions presume existence of the required backup files.
To assist you in completing this essential operation, backup instructions
are included as part of the upgrade instructions that follow.
VERIFY THAT ADEQUATE SPACE IS AVAILABLE FOR EXPANSION OF THE REGISTRY
The size of the Registry expands during upgrade. If insufficient space
is available the upgrade will fail and recovery will be required.
Although the exact amount of space required depends on a variety of
factors including the number of Post.Office accounts currently established,
a good rule of thumb is that Maximum Registry Size should be at least
twice Current Registry Size. To verify that sufficient size is available
do the following:
1.) From the Program Manager double click on the Main\Control Panel\System
icons in the order indicated.
2.) Click on the Virtual Memory button in the System window.
3.) In the Vitual Memory window check the values in the fields titled
Current Registry Size and Maximum Registry Size. The maximum size
should be at least twice the current size. If it is not, make the
necessary correction and click on the OK button.
Registry size should now be sufficient to complete the upgrade successfully.
UPDATE ANY CUSTOMIZED FORMS
Because Post.Office forms were significantly modified in version 2.0,
users working with customized versions of the Post.Office forms need to
perform the following steps when upgrading their system to version 2.0.
1. Obtain copies of the standard forms for Post.Office version 2.0 by
sending a request to Support@Software.com
2. Revise the standard forms as desired.
3. Follow the detailed instructions presented below to backup your system
and upgrade the Post.Office software.
4. Once the upgrade process is complete, re-submit your revised versions
of the standard 2.0 forms for use with the upgraded system.
TRIAL USERS ONLY
Please note that all users upgrading to Post.Office 2.0 from a TRIAL VERSION
of Post.Office 1.9.x (current or expired) need to purchase a valid license
from Sales@Software.com.
Because of changes in our licensing system, upgrading to Post.Office 2.0
from a TRIAL VERSION of Post.Office 1.9.x yields an INVALID LICENSE. While
running under an invalid license the following will be true:
1) You cannot create additional accounts beyond those currently established.
(All accounts existing at the time of the upgrade will be retained.)
2) All mail sent after the upgrade will include a notice that you are using
an invalid license.
3) A notice that the license is invalid will also appear in the
Authentication Web Form.
Note: Upgrade instructions apply to current users of the Post.Office
software. If you are installing Post.Office for the first time, refer
to the Installation Instructions section of this document or the detailed
installation instructions found in Chapter 3 of the Post.Office Manual.
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Windows NT Upgrade Instructions
To permit recovery if the upgrade process is accidentally interrupted
(or fails to complete for any reason), backup instructions are included
as the initial steps in the upgrade process. DO NOT omit these important
first steps.
1. Back up the required Registry information by launching the Registry Editor,
(REGEDT32.EXE), locating the following keys, and saving each one
independently (by selecting the desired key, pulling down the Registry menu,
and then choosing the Save Key command).
a) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Software.com\Post.Office
(suggested name & location: anotherhost\temp\Post.OfficeRegKey1.9.3)
b) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Software.com\Post.Office\MTA-Accounts
(suggested name & location: anotherhost\temp\MTA-AccountsRegKey1.9.3)
2. Back up the required file system information. The exact location
of the required directories can be found via the Program Manager by
double clicking on the Main\Control Panel\Post.Office icons in the
order indicated. When the Post.Office applet window appears look at
the bottom to determine the locations of the following items:
a) The Post.Office Directory containing configuration information
(suggested name & location: anotherhost\temp\Post.Office1.9.3config)
b) the Program Directory containing Post.Office executables
(suggested name & location: anotherhost\temp\Post.Office1.9.3execs)
c) the Mailbox Directory containing your mailbox information
(suggested name & location: anotherhost\temp\Post.Office1.9.3mailbox)
Back up those directories in addition to the registry keys mentioned in
Step 1 above.
Note: If you aren't already doing so, you should be backing up these items
on a regular basis.
3. Locate the Post.Office package either on the CD on which it was delivered,
or in the directory in which you stored a downloaded version.
4. If you obtained the software from our web or ftp site you will need
to extract the Post.Office package. The Intel package will self extract
if you "run" it from the command line or double-click on the file from within
the File Manager. All other versions require use of an extraction utility
(UNZIP.exe for mips, ICOMP.exe for DEC Alpha and Power PC) which can be
downloaded from the same directory in which you found the Post.Office package.
Place the entire contents of the package into a NEW temp directory since
there are no guarantees that existing older versions will be overwritten
during extraction. (When installation is complete you can remove the
temporary directory.)
5. Verify that you are logged on properly. If you are on a workstation
or backup domain server you must be logged on as the Administrator of
your host machine before running Setup.exe. Only if you are on a
primary domain controller can you log in as the Administrator of
your domain.
6. Run Setup.exe
Note: The Setup program occupies only half your screen to allow for
simultaneous display of Simple Online Support (SOS). SOS is intended for
use as a guide during initial installation, however it contains
supplemental information that may also be of interest to people
upgrading their software. To access SOS, launch your browser and point
it to: http://www.software.com/tech/sos/po-install.htm
7. The Installshield GUI will prompt you to choose one of three options:
Remove, Update, or Set License Number.
Choose Update and click on the Next button. This installs all the new
software and configuration files, retaining the values of any parameters
you have customized and all information in your accounts database. When
it's finished, the Setup program will re-start Post.Office for you.
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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS - POST.OFFICE v. 2.0 - WINDOWS NT
1. Open the Simple Online Support (SOS) tool by launching your browser and
pointing it to: http://www.software.com/tech/sos/po-install.htm
This tool provides detailed information on pre-installation requirements,
the installation process, and related topics such as proper configuration
of DNS records.
If you are unable to access the SOS tool you must read the detailed
installation instructions which appear in Chapter 3 of the Post.Office
manual in order to obtain the necessary pre-installation information.
2. Verify that all pre-installation requirements have been met, including
the creation of a special NT user and group for the exclusive use of
Post.Office.
3. Locate the Post.Office software package that was downloaded from the
Software.com web site (http://www.software.com), obtained via ftp from the
Software.com ftp site (the ftp/public/software/PO20 directory), or
delivered directly on CD.
4. If you obtained the software from our web or ftp site you will need
to extract the Post.Office package. The Intel package will self extract
if you "run" it from the command line or double-click on the file from
within the File Manager. All other versions require use of an extraction
utility (UNZIP.exe for mips, ICOMP.exe for DEC Alpha and Power PC) which
can be downloaded from the same directory in which you found the
Post.Office package.
Place the entire contents of the package into a NEW temp directory since
there are no guarantees that existing older versions will be overwritten
during extraction. (When installation is complete you can remove the
temporary directory.)
5. Verify that you are logged on properly. If you are on a workstation
or backup domain server you must be logged on as the local Administrator
of your host machine before running Setup.exe. Only if you are on a
primary domain controller can you log in as the Administrator of
your domain.
6. Run Setup.exe
Note: The Setup program occupies only half your screen to allow for
simultaneous display of Simple Online Support (SOS).
7. Respond as prompted to complete the installation process (making entries
via Installshield and then the web interface) using SOS to guide you
through each step.