Author: ieugen
Date: Thu Feb 28 09:23:55 2013
New Revision: 1451154
URL: http://svn.apache.org/r1451154
Log:
Added overview documentation
Added:
james/server/trunk/Overview.md
Added: james/server/trunk/Overview.md
URL:
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/james/server/trunk/Overview.md?rev=1451154&view=auto
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--- james/server/trunk/Overview.md (added)
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+Apache James Server
+===================
+
+This document is an effort to document the architecture and components that
make Apache James. As a new committer to
+the project I found out fast that the lack of documentation made development
slow. On my quest to solving issues I
+decided to document what I understand about Apache James.
+
+Feel free to add/change things if you think it's required.
+
+Server structure: components and services
+=========================================
+
+The directory structure is presented bellow. All directories are maven
projects and correspond roughly to a component/service.
+I'll explain what I mean by 'component' and 'service' bellow.
+
+~~~
+|-- app
+|-- cli
+|-- core
+|-- data
+ `-- data-api
+ `-- data-file
+ `-- data-hbase
+ `-- data-jcr
+ `-- data-jdbc
+ `-- data-jpa
+ `-- data-ldap
+ `-- data-library
+|-- dns-service
+ `-- dnsservice-api
+ `-- dnsservice-dnsjava
+ `-- dnsservice-library
+|-- fetchmail
+|-- filesystem-api
+|-- karaf
+ `-- distribution
+ `-- features
+ `-- integration
+|-- lifecycle-api
+|-- mailbox-adapter
+|-- mailetcontainer-api
+|-- mailetcontainer-camel
+|-- mailets
+|-- protocols
+ `-- protocols-imap4
+ `-- protocols-library
+ `-- protocols-lmtp
+ `-- protocols-pop3
+ `-- protocols-smtp
+|-- queue
+ `-- queue-activemq
+ `-- queue-api
+ `-- queue-file
+ `-- queue-jms
+|-- spring
+|-- util
+
+~~~
+
+Apache James is made up of *components* and *services*. Most of the components
implement an API and there are several
+implementations that you can choose from. The only difference between
components and services is the fact that a
+service is a component designed to be consumed. It provides a useful feature.
+
+Take **dns-service** for example:**dnsservice-api** and **dnsservice-library**
are components while **dnsservice-dnsjava**
+is a service that implements an API that James uses for resolving email domain
names to IP addresses.
+What you need to remember is that you can instantiate a service and it will
provide useful value for you.
+The only way to know which one is a service and which one is a component is by
reading the documentation or code.
+
+James has a nice architecture based on reusable components/services. Services
are important. Components are just means to
+get to create services without duplicating a lot of code.
+
+Services in Apache James Server
+===============================
+
+Being an email server, James is composed of services related to this task:
+
+* dns-service - Service for resolving (email) domain names
+* fetch-mail scheduler - Service for scheduling email fetching
+* queue - Service used for spooling email
+* data (user and domain) repository - Service for storing users, passwords and
email domains managed by James
+* mail-store - Service for persisting email messages in mailboxes
+* mailet-container - Service for processing emails using Mailets
+* protocol services: SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, LMTP - Services that implement
specific protocols
+* JMX monitoring - Service that provides application monitoring via JMX
+* configuration - more of a concern than a service
+
+Services are created via Spring. You can find the main configuration
**spring-server.xml** file in the **spring** component.
+Each service defines his own Spring context which is imported in the main
application context.
+
+Application bootstrap
+=====================
+
+There are multiple ways to start/deploy James Server:
+
+* as a standalone application/service, using scripts provided by the **app**
+* as a web application (WAR) inside an application server (Apache Tomcat,
Jetty, GlassFish)
+* inside an OSGi container - Apache Karaf (in progress)
+
+The preferred way is
+
+DNS Service
+===========
+
+Provides DNS resolution for (email) domain names. James defines an API and has
one implementation that relies on
+dnsjava (http://www.dnsjava.org/) for this task. You can find the code under
**dns-service** directory.
+
+This service does not depend on other services.
+
+FetchMail Service
+=================
+
+
+Queue Service
+=============
+
+
+User and domain (data) repository Service
+=========================================
+
+
+Mail store Service
+==================
+
+
+Mailet container Service
+========================
+
+Protocol services
+=================
+
+
+JMX monitoring Service
+======================
+
+
+
+
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