Mapping between X.400(1984/1988) and Mail-11 (DECnet mail)
RFC 1405

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Network Working Group                                       C. Allocchio
Request for Comments: 1405                              I.N.F.N. - Italy
                                                            January 1993

       Mapping between X.400(1984/1988) and Mail-11 (DECnet mail)

Status of this Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
   Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This document describes a set of mappings which will enable inter
   working between systems operating the CCITT X.400 ( 1984 / 1988 )
   Recommendations on Message Handling Systems, and systems running the
   Mail-11 (also known as DECnet mail) protocol. The specifications are
   valid within DECnet Phase IV addressing and routing scheme.

   The complete scenario of X.400 / RFC822 / Mail-11 is also considered,
   in order to cover the possible complex cases arising in multiple
   gateway translations.

   This document covers mainly the O/R address to DECnet from/to address
   mapping (and vice versa); other mappings are based on RFC 1327 and
   its eventual future updates.

   This is a combined effort of COSINE S2.2, the RARE MSG Working Group,
   and the IETF X.400 Ops Working Group.

Chapter 1 - Introduction

1.1. X.400

   The standard referred shortly into this document as "X.400" relates
   to the CCITT 1984 and 1988 X.400 Series Recommendations covering the
   Message Oriented Text Interchange Service (MOTIS). This document
   covers the Inter Personal Messaging System (IPMS) only.

1.2. Mail-11

   Mail-11, also known as DECnet mail and often improperly referred as
   VMSmail, is the proprietary protocol implemented by Digital Equipment
   Corporation (DEC) to establish a real-time text messaging system

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RFC 1405                    Mail-11 Mapping                 January 1993

   among systems implementing the DECnet Phase IV networking protocols.

1.3. RFC822

   RFC822 was defined as a standard for personal messaging systems
   within the DARPA Internet and is now diffused on top of many
   different message transfer protocols, like SMTP, UUCP, BITNET, JNT
   Grey Book, CSnet. Its mapping with X.400 is fully described in
   RFC1327. In this document we will try to consider its relations with
   Mail-11, too.

1.4. The user community

   The community using X.400 messaging system is currently growing in
   the whole world, but there is still a number of very large
   communities using Mail-11 based messaging systems willing to
   communicate easily with X.400 based Message Handling Systems. Among
   these large DECnet based networks we can include the High Energy
   Physics network (HEPnet) and the Space Physics Analysis Network
   (SPAN).

   These DECnet communities will in the future possibly migrate to
   DECnet Phase V (DECnet-OSI) protocols, converting thus their
   messaging systems to OSI specifications, i.e., merging into the X.400
   MHS; however the transition period could be long, and there could
   always be some DECnet Phase IV communities around.

   For these reasons a set of mapping rules covering conversion between
   Mail-11 and X.400 is described in this document.

   This document also covers the case of Mail-11 systems implementing
   the "foreign mail protocol" allowing Mail-11 to interface other mail
   systems, including RFC822 based system.

Chapter 2 - Message Elements

2.1. Service Elements

   Mail-11 protocol offers a very restricted set of elements composing a
   Inter Personal Message (IPM), whereas X.400 specifications support a
   complex and large amount of service elements. Considering the case
   where a message is relayed between two X.400 MHS via a DECnet network
   this could result in a nearly complete loss of information. To
   minimise this inconvenience most of X.400 service elements will be
   mapped into Mail-11 text body parts. To consider also the case when a
   message originates from a network implementing RFC822 protocols and
   is relayed via Mail-11 to and X.400 MHS, the applied mapping from
   X.400 service elements into Mail-11 text body part the rules

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RFC 1405                    Mail-11 Mapping                 January 1993

   specified in RFC1327 and their updates will be used, producing an
   RFC822-like header.

2.2. Mail-11 service elements

   All envelope (P1) and header (P2) Mail-11 service elements are
   supported in the conversion to X.400. Note that Mail-11 P1 is solely
   composed by P1.From and P1.To, and any other Mail-11 element belongs
   to Mail-11 P2:

        - P1.From
                maps to P1.Originator

        - P1.To
                maps to P1.Primary Recipient