Administration and Configuration
- Table of Contents
- How do GreenArrow customers manage their system?
- Do customers typically choose one particular method for managing their GreenArrow software?
- How flexible and customizable is GreenArrow software?
- What are the configuration options available for GreenArrow software?
- Is it possible to retrieve and update the configuration via API?
- Can we point the MTA to specific DNS servers in config?
How do GreenArrow customers manage their system?
GreenArrow software is operated, managed, configured, and administered through a combination of all of the following:
- A configuration file
- A Command-Line Interface (CLI)
- Web-based User Interfaces (UIs) for both our Engine and Studio products
- APIs for both Engine and Studio
The configuration file supports “include” files, which allows you to manage your configuration with several smaller configuration files versus one all-encompassing one.
On-prem customers have full access to managing and configuring their software through all means listed above.
Cloud customers, on the other hand, have the ability to operate and engage with their software through the web UIs and APIs, but access to the CLI and configuration file is limited to the GreenArrow Support Team. However, CloudMTA customers will soon have the ability to set a specific list of greenarrow.conf configuration-file directives through the UI/API or through a GitHub integration hook.
Do customers typically choose one particular method for managing their GreenArrow software?
The answer here is that it depends on the customer and the particular configuration setting. Some settings are only available through one method, some are available through multiple parallel methods, and some, while available through multiple methods, require the administrator to choose one method for managing a setting or group of related settings.
To illustrate this last point, the following are configuration file directives that are set to “no” or “false” by default, meaning that the associated configuration settings can be managed in parallel through the web UI or API. However, should a particular directive be set to “yes” or “true” in the configuration file, then the configuration settings for that particular item can only be managed in the configuration file:
- define_virtual_mtas_in_config_file
- define_database_connections_in_config_file
- define_dkim_keys_in_config_file
- define_url_domains_in_config_file
- define_incoming_email_domains_in_config_file
- define_throttle_programs_in_config_file
- define_mail_classes_in_config_file
- define_engine_users_in_config_file
How flexible and customizable is GreenArrow software?
GreenArrow is extremely flexible, which is evidenced by the wide range of businesses who find success using GreenArrow.
Some key concepts that increase flexibility are:
- Routing Rules (IP Pooling)
- Throttling
- IP backoff mode and domain pauses (traffic shaping automations)
- Custom default DKIM behaviors
- Custom Domains
- Mail Classes, which allow you to easily apply configuration defaults to mail streams
Almost all configuration changes in GreenArrow can be made without any downtime or interruption to the existing mail flow
What are the configuration options available for GreenArrow software?
The configuration options available in the configuration file are numerous, and they are documented here. Some additional configuration files are documented in other sections of the documentation such as the SMTP Services page.
The configurations most commonly needed by all users (even those who are not comfortable with a command line interface) can alternatively be managed via the Web UI and API
Is it possible to retrieve and update the configuration via API?
Yes - when you’re configuring GreenArrow via the Web UI, the API can read and configure those same configurations.
For any sections of configuration you have chosen to configure through the config file using a define_*_in_config_file directive, the UI and API will be read-only and show you the settings you have defined using the configuration file.
Some configuration is not available via the UI/API, such as connection reuse, TLS configuration, and proxy server configuration.
Can we point the MTA to specific DNS servers in config?
You can set your own nameservers in /etc/resolv.conf