SUMMARY

This article outlines how users can automatically create mailboxes via a web page via the Sign-Up utility.

DETAIL

The Sign-Up utility is included in Professional, Enterprise and Premium Editions (Version 10.13 and later). It can be enabled via the administration program under the Web Mail/Properties/Advanced tab. Once enabled, it can be accessed via adding /SignUp to your base webmail URL.

Example: https://mail.example.com/SignUp

FEATURES

It provides the following features:

• includes Google reCAPTCHA validation (to prevent abuse via internet signup bots)
• customizable via CSS (you can manipulate the layout and styles via an external stylesheet)
• includes the ability to apply default settings for users (limiting user access to a defined set of protocols)
• allows limiting the number of messages users can send per hour
• allows preventing users from being able to send e-mail
• includes has the ability to add additional fields and functionality to the signup page via jQuery and Javascript allows customizable branding
• has the ability to automatically sign users into webmail once they have been validated via the Sign-Up form
• allows localization on the Sign-Up form
• allows administrators to nominate which domains are allowed to participate in public sign-up
• can redirect to an external URL once the sign-up has created the user
• uses session tokens to prevent bots from auto-submitting user creation attempts

CONFIGURATION

The options for the signup utility are stored in a file called signup.xml within the Mail Enable\Config directory. This file is created when the page is first accessed.

The source code of the utility is located under the Mail Enable\bin\Netwebmail\SignUp folder and has explanations of these settings.

CUSTOMIZATION

The signup utility allows customization by specifying alternate locations for CSS and Javascript library files. For example, the location of logo image can be edited by changing the location within CSS file located in the same folder as the signup page.

To achieve this, you should make a copy of the signup.css file with a modified name, e.g.: signup2.css.
You should then edit the Config\signup.xml file and change the CSSURL element as follows: <CSSURL>signup2.css</CSSURL>.
You can then apply any changes to the style of the page within the signup2.css page.

Page changes can also be achieved by modifying the <JSURL/> member to include Javascript to add or modify HTML elements.

CONSIDERATIONS

The signup utility has many options for limiting account usage so that users are less likely to abuse the services.

With MailEnable Enterprise Edition it is possible to restrict access to specific MailEnable services as well as enforcing usage thresholds. This means that users signing up for web mail can be excluded/provided restricted access to POP, SMTP, IMAP, and other services (which inhibits people from abusing hosted services).

However, allowing anonymous persons to signup to the mail service may lead to you being blacklisted. If you disable these thresholds and do not review your system, spammers will use the service to generate accounts and send spam, which in turn will  lead to blacklisting on RBL/ORDB databases.

UPGRADING

When you upgrade MailEnable, please be aware that the install kit will overwrite the default.aspx and signup.css files in the Mail Enable\bin\netwebmail\signup directory. You may need to re-apply changes, or only edit your own copies of these files.

MORE INFORMATION

A tool allowing automatic mailbox creation is available at: https://www.mailenable.com/utilities/addons