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The purpose of this page is for information sharing about using IBM's implementation of SMTP

Getting started with SMTP

 SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, is a standard for sending e-mail over the Internet using TCP/IP. For more information, see RFC 821

IBM's TCP/IP for MVS comes with a very primitive line-mode TSO command called SMTPNOTE that allows you to send text-only notes from TSO to any connected Internet or Intranet mail host that supports SMTP. Once you've used the SMTPNOTE TSO command once, you'll want to use something more user-friendly. All the SMTPNOTE command does is put a note in SMTP note format on the JES2 SPOOL. Your TCP/IP SMTP task will pull this item off the spool and send it to the TCP/IP IP or host destination.

To demonstrate that they didn't put "Simple" in the name SMTP for nothing, here is an example of creating a SMTP note via a batch job using the IEBGENER utility:

//SENDNOTE EXEC PGM=IEBGENER //SYSIN DD DUMMY //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //SYSUT2 DD SYSOUT=(B,SMTP) //SYSUT1 DD * helo MVSHOST mail from:<MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com> rcpt to:<unixuser@pop3.xyz.com> data From: MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com To: unixuser@pop3.xyz.com Subject: Test message from MVS using SMTP This is a line in the body of the note.


You will need to change:
  • "MVSHOST" (on the "helo MVSHOST" line) must match the JES Node name for your system as defined in your 'SYS1.PARMLIB(IEFSSNxx)' for the VMCF subsystem. If you are a JES2 site, look at any JES2 job log for the node name at the top after "N O D E".
  • "unixuser@pop3.xyz.com" to valid destination SMTP e-mail address
  • "MVSuser@MVSHost.xyz.com" to a valid TSO user and host

    Note: Although you can spoof e-mail by putting anything here, your installation has the ability to go back and track when you do this. Do not use this ability to spoof e-mail and think you can't get caught! SMF records are written and with a little research, the mail spoofer will be found out.

  • I intentionally leave the Date: SMTP command off. When IBM's SMTP task processes your note, it will add the date and time information if not found. I've seen that if the date SMTP command was not of the right format that MS-Exchange reports the wrong time.


Typically you won't use IEBGENER to send SMTP notes. This is just used for demonstration purposes. You would usually use a program of some type to send mail from an application that would fill in the email destination, sender, etc. and then put the item on the JES2 SPOOL.

SMTP links:

SMTPNOTE modification

The SMTPNOTE Rexx exec (found in DSN=TCPIP.SEZAINST) as delivered with the TCP/IP for MVS product, has to be customized by every installation because the hostname and smtpnode variables are set to an arbitrary value of "YKTVS". TSO/E at version 2.5 and higher has a function that will get the JES2/3 nodename. If you are at TSO/E 2.5 and higher, you could modify these two variable settings with this code: 
   hostname = sysvar(sysnode)
   smtpnode = sysvar(sysnode)
I opened an ETR with IBM about the hostname/smtpnode settings and suggested the sysvar(sysnode) solution. They have created Requirement number REQ00069620 to fix this in a future version of the product.

Getting started with MIME

 MIME, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, is the standard for sending multipart, multimedia, and binary data using the world-wide Internet e-mail system. MIME is documented in RFC 1341.

To get you started sending simple MIME attachments from MVS, I've taken the simple MIME example from Mark Grand's MIME Overview and created the following batch job that uses IEBGENER to send a SMTP note with a MIME text attachment:

//SENDNOTE EXEC PGM=IEBGENER
//SYSIN    DD DUMMY
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUT2   DD SYSOUT=(B,SMTP)
//SYSUT1   DD *
helo MVSHOST
mail from:
rcpt to:
data
From:     MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com
To:       unixuser@pop3.xyz.com
Subject:  Test message from MVS using SMTP (with MIME)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/mixed;
              boundary="simple boundary"

This is the preamble.  It is to be ignored, though it is
a handy place for mail composers to include an
explanatory note to non-MIME compliant readers.
--simple boundary

This is implicitly typed plain ASCII text.
--simple boundary
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

This is explicitly typed plain ASCII text. It DOES end
with a line break.
--simple boundary--
This is the epilogue.  It is also to be ignored.


See the text following the first IEBGENER example for the things you will need to change.

MIME resource links:

Sending binary files from MVS in a MIME attachment

 SMTP has restrictions that e-mail only consist of valid ASCII characters and can't handle binary values embedded in an e-mail. To get past this problem, an Internet standard called RFC 1521 - 5.2. Base64 Content-Transfer-Encoding was developed. To get MVS in the business of sending binary MIME attachments, we need a program that will encode binary files into the Base 64 encoding scheme.

I found a Rexx exec called ENBASE64 written by James L. Dean (no relation) that is available in numerous places on the Internet including in the OS/2 section of shareware.com in a file called BASE64.ZIP. Here is a local copy of BASE64.ZIP. This ZIP file consists of a few Rexx execs that do BASE64 processing including one that encodes a file into BASE64 called ENBASE64.CMD

Since ENBASE64.CMD was written using I/O functions that Rexx on MVS doesn't support, it needed a few modifications to run on MVS. I have created a modified one called enbase64.txt that works on MVS, VM and also runs on PCs.

To show how we would send binary data from MVS as a MIME attachment, look at the following job stream that sends a small zip file from MVS to a SMTP mail host.

//* //** Encode the ZIP file using the ENBASE64 Rexx exec //* //B64 EXEC PGM=IRXJCL, // PARM='ENBASE64' //SYSEXEC DD DISP=SHR,DSN=ibmuser.SYSEXEC //* //SYSUT1 DD DISP=SHR,DSN=ibmuser.A.ZIP //SYSUT2 DD DSN=&&BASE64, // DISP=(,PASS),UNIT=SYSDA, // DCB=(LRECL=80,BLKSIZE=8800,RECFM=FB), // SPACE=(CYL,(5,0),RLSE) //SYSTSIN DD DUMMY //SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=* //* //** Send the note via SMTP (with MIME attachment) //* //SENDNOTE EXEC PGM=IEBGENER //SYSIN DD DUMMY //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //SYSUT2 DD SYSOUT=(B,SMTP) //SYSUT1 DD * helo MVSHOST mail from:<MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com> rcpt to:<unixuser@pop3.xyz.com> data From: MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com To: unixuser@pop3.xyz.com Subject: Test message from MVS using SMTP (with ZIP MIME att.) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="---- =_NextPart_000_01BD3BAF.A762FD80" This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3BAF.A762FD80 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Attached is a zip file ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3BAF.A762FD80 Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="a.zip" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 /* // DD DISP=(OLD,PASS),DSN=&&BASE64 // DD * ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3BAF.A762FD80-- /*


See the text following the first IEBGENER example for the things you will need to change.



You should be able to take the jobstream above, modify the header lines for your shop, send it to a mail server, process it with a mail reader that can handle MIME and then get the ZIP attached file. The A.ZIP is a PKZIP file consisting of one file called "A.TXT" which has one line with this value: "A LINE". If you want to test out the job stream on your system, upload the A.ZIP to your MVS mainframe in binary form.

You are now ready to send other Binary MIME attachments. See the MIME GIF jobstream that creates a GIF file with SAS, encodes it and then sends it via a SMTP w/MIME e-mail. For more information on creating GIF files with SAS, see my SAS GIF page.

XMITB64 - better Base64 MVS (OS/390) program

Although the ENBASE64 Rexx exec is easy to use, it does not handle large files very well. Lionel Dyck has made available a program called XMITB64 written by Mark Feldman which does the Base 64 conversion. It can be downloaded from from Lionel Dyck's OS/390 freeware page in file name XMITB64. There are instructions to get the source code and executable in this ZIP file (which contains an XMIT MVS file). To use this, change the jobstream above to use this batch step for the Base 64 encoding: 
//*
//** Encode the ZIP file using the ENBASE64 Rexx exec
//*
//B64     EXEC PGM=XMITB64
//STEPLIB  DD DISP=SHR,DSN=load.library.with.XMITB64 <-Modify!
//*
//ENCODIN  DD DISP=SHR,DSN=ibmuser.A.ZIP
//ENCODOUT DD DSN=&&BASE64,
//            DISP=(,PASS),UNIT=SYSDA,
//            DCB=(LRECL=80,BLKSIZE=8800,RECFM=FB),
//            SPACE=(CYL,(5,0),RLSE)
//SYSOUT   DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
  • Submit and verify.

    Sending mail to MS-Exchange servers with fonts and colors

    Background

    Microsoft Exchange clients (Exchange, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.) use a proprietary formatting scheme called MS-TNET, Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format. They have not released full specs on it. The following SMTP e-mail shows a sample note sent from a MS-Exchange server to a non-MS Exchange host with "Rich-Text" format turned on the mail client:

    From: "Alcock, David" <DAlcock@.xyz.com> To: 'VMDAVE' <username@PROFS.xyz.com> Subject: test message in ms ex rtf X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.995.52 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="---- =_NextPart_000_01BD3616.D408F860" This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3616.D408F860 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit THIS IS IN RED (ARIAL) THIS IS IN BLUE (COURIER) Plain Courier text ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3616.D408F860 Content-Type: application/ms-tnef Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 eJ8+IgwRAQaQCAAEAAAAAAABAAEAAQeQBgAIAAAA5AQAAAAAAADoAAEIgAcAGAAAAElQTS5NaWNy lKHAKX8QG6WHCAArKiUXHgA9AAEAAAABAAAAAAAAAAsAKQAAAAAACwAjAAAAAAACAX8AAQAAADwA ...many data lines deleted... AAA8Yz1VUyVhPV8lcD1DU1clbD1EQVMxMTMtOTgwMjEwMTcyNzA5Wi01Njk1QGRhczExMy5jc3cu Y29tPgAiVA== ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD3616.D408F860--


    Now What?

    Since we would rather not reverse-engineer the MS-TNEF MIME type, we do have an alternative: using HTML (the standard used in web pages). See the next section.
    Note: MS-Exchange 5.0 and higher servers support HTML MIME e-mail attachments.

    MS-Exchange, MS-TNEF and RTF links:

    Sending mail from MVS with fonts and colors using HTML

     Many email clients such as Netscape and MS Outlook Express can properly handle HTML (Hyper Text Markup Langauge) formated email. HTML is the language used in web pages. Here is an example of a jobstream that sends a SMTP note with a HTML MIME extension:

    //SENDNOTE EXEC PGM=IEBGENER //SYSIN DD DUMMY //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* //SYSUT2 DD SYSOUT=(B,SMTP) //SYSUT1 DD * helo MVSHOST mail from:<MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com> rcpt to:<unixuser@pop3.xyz.com> data From: MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com To: unixuser@pop3.xyz.com Subject: Test message from MVS using SMTP (with HTML MIME) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="simple boundary" You have received mail whose body is in the HTML Format. --simple boundary Content-type: text/html <font face="Courier" size="+2" color=blue> This is Courier font in blue</font> <br><br> <font face="Arial" size="+3" color=red> This is the Arial font in red</font> --simple boundary-- /*


    See the text following the first IEBGENER example for the things you will need to change.

    The note above would look something like this:

    From:     MVSUser@MVSHost.xyz.com
To:       unixuser@pop3.xyz.com
Subject:  Test message from MVS using SMTP (with HTML MIME)
    This is Courier font in blue

    This is the Arial font in red


    sendmail on z/OS

     IBM has made available sendmail on z/OS although I have no experience with using it.

    PGP on OS/390

     Likewise there are freeware and commercial implementations of PGP that run on z/OS but I have no experience using them.

    TSO XMIT/RECEIVE

     IBM provides a couple of commands on TSO that allow you to send notes between MVS and VM systems called the TSO TRANSMIT (XMIT) and RECEIVE commands. I have a small write up on XMIT on my Terms page.
    If you use XMIT and RECEIVE a lot for email, you will want to get a copy of Lionel Dycks TSOEMAIL application. It is available on his OS/390 freeware page. This is a ISPF application that uses XMIT and RECEIVE and puts your notes in a nice table display.

    Simple XMIT/RECEIVE instructions:

    Pretty simple stuff...

    XMIT links and technical information:

    MVS MAIL FAQ

    I can't get the IEBGENER SMTP job to send mail. Can you help me?

    You should ensure that the SMTP task is correctly configured and operational at your site. If IBM's SMTPNOTE command doesn't send mail, the IEBGENER examples probably won't work either.


    How do I direct all SMTP mail processed by the IBM MVS SMTP server to one mail server?

    This is taken verbatim from Lionel Dyck's XMITIP package (available on his OS/390 freeware page):

    1. Find the dataset pointed to by the SYSTCPD DD in the TCPIP started task JCL and make a copy for use in the SMTP started task JCL.

    2. In the copy of (1) comment out the NSINTERADDR statements. These statements are used to define the domain name servers that will be used to resolve host names.

    3. In the SMTP CONFIG data add the IPMAILERADDRESS statement. The syntax is IPMAILERADDRESS xx.xx.xx.xx where the xx.xx.xx.xx is the numeric IP address of the target mail server.

    SMTP will now forward all mail for which it is unable to resolve the target host name to the server defined in the IPMAILERADDRESS.


    How do I see what mail is being processed by the SMTP task?

    Turn on the DEBUG option in the SMTP config file


    How do I see the queues being processed by the SMTP task?

    One way is to TELNET into your MVS system to port 25. In Windows 9x, type in "TELNET mvshost 25" in your MS/DOS prompt and type in QUEU to get: 
    220 mvshost.mydomain running IBM MVS SMTP CS V2R6 on Sat, 21 Oct 00 17:00:52 CDT
250-Queues on mvshost.mydomain at 17:00:59 CDT on 10/21/00
250-Spool Queue: Empty
250-Undeliverable Queue: Empty
250-Resolution Queues:
250-Resolver Process Queue: Empty
250-Resolver Send Queue: Empty
250-Resolver Wait Queue: Empty
250-Resolver Retry Queue: Empty
250-Resolver Completed Queue: Empty
250-Resolver Error Pending Queue: Empty
250 OK
    Then type QUIT to end.

    Note: I've personally never seen any useful information here but that's how you are suppose to do it.


    How do I send mail to VM with TSO's XMIT command with valid subject lines?

    Older OfficeVision versions don't process the "Subject:" lines for e-mail received from MVS systems sent with IBM's XMIT command. OfficeVision requires that email send in NETDATA format (used by XMIT) have a trailer record that has the Subject information.
    Lionel Dyck has written a rexx exec called XMITVM (available on his OS/390 freeware page) which will send a TSO XMIT file to VM with the proper trailer record that OfficeVision and PROFs needs so it will display a subject line in the mail list.
    Later versions of OfficeVision may include support to NETDATA e-mail and capture the subject line from the body of the e-mail and not the trailing subject line.


    Disclaimers

     The code samples and advice on this page are presented asis and without warranty. Please research any advice given here and ensure that it will work in your environment.

    MVS, OS/390, z/OS and possibly other copyrights are owned by IBM. Other terms are owned by their respective copyright owners.


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    Last Updated: 2006-01-01
    This web page is © 1997-2006+ by David Alcock. All Rights Reserved.