In all versions of SmarterMail (High Availability, Enterprise, and Professional) it's possible to rename a domain. For example, if a business rebrands itself, renaming their domain in SmarterMail saves mail administrators from doing a mass migration of data from one domain to another. They simply rename the domain, let SmarterMail do all the work, then add their former domain as a domain alias. Regardless of the reason, the renaming process seems simply on the surface, but it does occur in a couple of different stages.
The first stage updates the domain itself. This includes any existing domain alias mappings and domain Message Archive settings. Once this is done, the administrator will see a toast indicating it.
The next stage is a bit more complex as it entails work being done in the background, and it begins after the first stage is complete. This includes:
- Updating GAL entries in the domain to modify the primary email address so it reflects the renamed domain.
- Reviewing all appointments in user and domain calendars. If an appointment is in the future, or if it is a recurring appointment with future occurrences, the organizer and affected attendees are updated as necessary to reflect the domain change. This may include sending updated meeting invitations, in the following scenarios:
- If the owner of the calendar is the Organizer, an updated appointment is sent to any attendees who are NOT part of the renamed domain.
- If the owner of the calendar is an attendee and the Organizer is NOT part of the renamed domain, and the user has previously sent a response for the meeting, and updated meeting response is sent to the Organizer.
Once this second stage is complete, the administrator will see a second toast stating that the domain was renamed and that all background tasks have completed.
Renaming a Split Domain
In SmarterMail High Availability (HA), it's possible to split a domain across several different nodes. This allows hosting companies, ISPs, and enterprise organizations to support a virtually unlimited number of mailboxes for a single domain. However, there are times when that domain name changes, and that name change needs to be handled across a SmarterMail HA cluster. In SmarterMail HA, a domain only needs to be renamed on a single node. That change, then, is communicated to other nodes that host that domain to make sure they're all active. If not, an error is returned and the domain cannot be renamed. If all nodes return as active, the rename occurs and is propagated across all nodes hosting their portion of that split domain.