Isode M-Switch MIXER

M-Switch MIXER is a high performance message switch, providing conversion between X.400 and Internet email according to the MIXER specifications.

M-Switch MIXER is one of the M-Switch family of products. Its X.400 capabilities are based on M-Switch X.400 and its Internet Email capabilities are based on M-Switch SMTP.

The core product architecture is set out in these two product overviews. As well as the full MIXER product, M-Switch MIXER Departmental is available for low-volume deployments. This document describes the MIXER capabilities of M-Switch MIXER.

Deployment Target

M-Switch MIXER is suitable for any situation where conversion between X.400 and Internet mail is needed.

Key Benefits

M-Switch MIXER is a high functionality product with many benefits.

The MIXER capabilities are central to the product. M-Switch MIXER is based on the core M-Switch multi-protocol message switch system. The architecture of this product is described in M-Switch X.400 and M-Switch SMTP.
Includes the full X.400 capabilities of M-Switch X.400.
Includes the full Internet Email capabilities of M-Switch SMTP.
Standards Conformance. M-Switch MIXER is a full and conformant implementation.
Full support for the configurable address mappings defined in MIXER.
M-Switch MIXER supports Off Site Hot Standby (Disaster Recovery).
Table based configuration option, which is a good choice for a simple MIXER Gateway.
LDAP/X.500 directory based configuration. This gives high flexibility, and is recommended for most deployments.
Configurable management GUI. The Isode management GUIs use the Tcl scripting language. This approach gives highly flexible and extensible management tools.
Management Features. The product has a wide range of management features, including configuration, SNMP monitoring, distribution lists, content conversion and address mapping control.

What is MIXER?

MIXER (MIME X.400 Enhanced Relay) is the Internet Standard approach for conversion between X.400 and Internet Mail. This is the industry standard for this function. Isode has been closely connected with MIXER, as Steve Kille, (Isode CEO) led the development and architecture of MIXER since the mid 1980s.

MIXER Core Function

Channels to convert between RFC 822 and X.400 P2 according to the rules of RFC 2156 are provided. Conversion of body parts is performed according to RFC 2157 and RFC 1496. Channels are provided for the conversion of the message body-part types of X.400 and those of MIME (RFC 2045).

M-Switch MIXER supports address translation using both encapsulated addressing flexible address mapping using the standard MIXER address mapping mechanisms.

File Transfer Body Part (FTBP)

File Transfer Body Part (FTBP) is an X.400 extension designed to handle transfer of generic information over X.400. The EMA Message Attachment Working Group (MAWG) has defined a specific mode of using FTBP and most X.400 client vendors have adopted this mechanism. The M-Switch supports this format, and enables conversion between this and the corresponding MIME functionality. This enables straightforward exchange of attachments, such as Microsoft Word documents, between Internet Mail and X.400 users.

X400WRAP

M-Switch MIXER can map X.400 messages to Internet, by wrapping the X.400 Content as a MIME Body Part according to the X400WRAP specification. This mapping is used by default for X.400 messages which are not InterPersonal Messages, including Military P772 Messages.

M-Switch MIXER Management

M-Switch MIXER provides the core M-Switch Configuration Management and Operational Management. The following screen shots show directory based configuration using EMMA. The first screen shows configuration of a message switch (timbers.isode.net) with both X.400 and Internet connection and addressing information.

The second screen shows routing trees, used to configure both X.400 and Internet routing, with the right hand screen showing routing for X.400 connectivity, and routing all addresses in C=GB, ADMD=Demo, PRMD=Demo, O=Isode, OU=Sales to the MTA "timbers.isode.net".

The third screen shows configuration of address mapping rules. The specific screen shows mapping from a part of the X.400 O/R Address space to an Internet domain.

M-Switch MIXER Configurations

M-Switch MIXER is a flexible MIXER implementation that can be used for high volume gateway deployments. M-Switch MIXER can be evaluated here.

Interoperability

The Isode MIXER implementation is full featured, and works well with a wide range of clients. This contrasts with many implementations which claim to be MIXER, but in practice only implement a restricted subset.

MIXER Conformance

RFC 2156	MIXER (Mime Internet X.400 Enhanced Relay): Mapping Between X.400 and RFC 822/MIME, S. Kille, January 1998

RFC 2157	Mapping between X.400 and RFC-822/MIME Message bodies, H. Alvestrand, January 1998

RFC 1496	Rules for downgrading messages from X.400/88 to X.400/84 when MIME content-types are present in the messages, H. Alvestrand, J. Romaguera, K.Jordan, August 1993

RFC 2253	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names, M. Wahl, S. Kille, T. Howes, December 1997

RFC 2164	Use of an X.500/LDAP directory to support MIXER address mapping, S. Kille, January 1998

X400WRAP Conformance

RFC 3854	Securing X.400 Content with Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), P Hoffman, C Bonatti, A Eggen, July 2004

X.400 File Transfer Body Part Mapping conformance

Electronic Messaging Association Interoperability Committee, Message Attachment Working Group (MAWG), File Transfer Body Part Feasibility Project Guide Version 1.5.2 June 1996, Editor: Neil Koorland, Microsoft Corporation.

Availability

M-Switch MIXER is available on Solaris, Windows, Linux and HP-UX. More details on supported platforms and versions can be found here.

Isode Products

X.400 Messaging Products

Messaging Management

X.400 Messaging Evaluations

Products