AVIRA MANAGED EMAIL SECURITY User manual

Avira Managed Email Security
-AMES -
User Guide
Version 1.0
www.avira.com

Avira GmbH Avira Managed Email Security - User Guide 2
1 Product information ...............................................................................................................3
1.1 Functionality........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Licensing AMES .................................................................................................................3
2 Getting started with AMES ...................................................................................................4
2.1 Adding a new domain to AMES .........................................................................................4
2.2 Configuring the DNS server................................................................................................4
2.3 Configuring security and firewall .......................................................................................5
2.4 Scanning outbound emails (optional)..................................................................................5
3 Changing settings for your AMES domains.........................................................................6
3.1 Logging in to AMES ...........................................................................................................6
3.2 Adding a new user to a domain...........................................................................................6
3.3 Adding a user alias ..............................................................................................................7
3.4 Configuring LDAP..............................................................................................................8
3.5 Changing mail delivery-options ..........................................................................................9
3.6 Customizing banners ...........................................................................................................9
3.7 Email filtering and statistics..............................................................................................11
4 Statistics and Reports ...........................................................................................................14
4.1 Looking at statistics...........................................................................................................14
4.2 Creating reports .................................................................................................................15
5 Support ..................................................................................................................................16

1 Product information
Avira GmbH Avira Managed Email Security - User Guide 3
1 Product information
Thank you for taking a look at the Avira Managed Email Security (AMES) manual.
This manual will help you get started with AMES, as well as customizing AMES to
your specific needs. You will have peace in your inbox in no time.
1.1 Functionality
Avira Managed Email Security (AMES) is a service dedicated to stopping spam or
viruses before they reach your company’s network. This is achieved by routing the
emails to our AMES server cluster. AMES then scans and delivers the malware-free
emails to your server.
The most accurate spam scanning technology
For intercepting spam, we use a combination of technologies proven to be
extremely effective. Since spammers and virus makers become more skilled every
day, we constantly test and implement new methods to keep our lead position in
email scanning, and you enjoy the benefits of this without any extra effort.
Configuring AMES
Because we stop spam and viruses "in the cloud", that is also the place where the
configuration is done.
You can log in to the AMES interface at https://ames.avira.com.
1.2 Licensing AMES
When you let your Avira Partner purchase a license for AMES, you need to choose
the number of users. These users correspond to the total number of people in your
organization, that are going to use AMES to filter emails.
AMES gives you total freedom to distribute these users across multiple domains,
create aliases for them, set filtering rules, etc. but always keep your license up to
date with the actual users. For more information, see the AMES terms and
conditions on our website.

2 Getting started with AMES
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2 Getting started with AMES
You'll find that once your Avira Partner has set up a license for your domain, the
rest of the configuration is surprisingly easy.
If you don't have an Avira Partner yet, please take a look at the Avira Partner
Locator on our website.
2.1 Adding a new domain to AMES
To add a new domain to AMES, please call your Avira Partner. He or she will then
register your details, request a license and add the domain to AMES. You will
receive an order confirmation email with details such as MX records.
One user will be created (see catch-all user) and the mail delivery will be set to
the currently used mail server. This means, you could go to the next step
without any further configuration and your mail flow will not be interrupted.
2.2 Configuring the DNS server
Normally this is something your partner does for you, but if for some reason you
need to do this yourself, we'll guide you in the process.
To activate the scanning and filtering of incoming emails, you have to change the
MX-settings in the DNS server for the domain. The correct records are in the
order confirmation, emailed to your partner.
Example of an email to your domain registrar:
Dear Registrar,
Please change the MX records of our domain www.demo.domain to:
10 mx1.c01.avira.com
20 mx2.c01.avira.com
Please make sure that our old MX records are completely removed.
Thanks in advance.
Kind regards,
Demo Customer
NOTE: Make sure there is no MX-record with a priority below 10; otherwise emails from
your organization will not be scanned and filtered by AMES.
NOTE: Depending on the Time-To-Live (TTL) settings of your MX records, it might take
up to 24 hours before DNS changes become active.
After directing the MX record to Avira, the managed service is active and will scan
and filter the emails. The filtered and scanned emails will be delivered to the
regular mailbox.

2 Getting started with AMES
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2.3 Configuring security and firewall
After DNS changes are complete and propagated correctly, make sure the receiving
mail server only accepts emails from the AMES server cluster mentioned in the
order confirmation. This can be done through settings in the firewall or mail
server itself.
2.4 Scanning outbound emails (optional)
You can also scan your domains’ outbound emails: point your outbound mail
server, or the mail client(s), to send through the mail server(s) mentioned in the
order confirmation.
NOTE: Depending on your network setup, you might also need to change your firewall
settings, to allow outbound traffic to the AMES SMTP server.

3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
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3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
3.1 Logging in to AMES
Please visit https://ames.avira.com, where you'll find the login screen:
Fill in your Login name, the Domain you want to access, and your Password.
These can all be found in the order confirmation your partner received. Then click
Login. You will see the AMES Service License Agreement (SLA), which you will
need to read and agree with, to continue.
3.2 Adding a new user to a domain
When AMES is configured for your domain, the users you provide have to operate
properly. If an email is sent to the email address [email protected], the user
test has to exist, or the email will bounce back to the sender.
catch-all user By default, AMES has one catch-all user. A catch-all user is convenient because it
receives emails for all users on your domain.
NOTE: Avira discourages the use of a "catch-all" setting. The best approach is to create a
separate user account in AMES for every user you have. The LDAP feature can reduce the
time spent on this task. See 3.4 Configuring LDAP.

3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
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You can add a new user manually, in the Users tab.
Click Add to open the Add user to domain dialog:
Type the User name and Password for your new user.
If you'd like this user to be able to manage his/ her own domain settings trough
https://ames.avira.com, enable the Domain admin option.
You can apply the settings from an existing user, by selecting it from the drop-
down list Copy settings from.
When finished, click Save. You will be warned that the user is disabled by default.
This is done so you can review the settings before they take effect.
3.3 Adding a user alias
An alias can be used to assign multiple email addresses to one user.
If you'd like to create an alias, select the user from the User tab. The Services tab

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for the selected user opens:
Add one or more email addresses in the alias field (e.g. *@domain.demo). Insert
each of them on a new line, not separated by other characters.
Click Save on the bottom of the page when done.
WARNING: If you'd like to use a catch-all address, use the form mentioned in the image
above: *@domain.demo, but please note:
The use of a so-called catch-all setting, where every combination of characters in front of
the domain name is accepted as an email address (*@example.com), makes your
domain extra vulnerable to spam and viruses. This is why AMES enables advanced
greylisting for all catch-all users. This technique bounces emails from unknown senders
the first time, and will accept only the second or later attempt. Because a lot of spam
servers will not try to resend emails, greylisting significantly reduces the amount of
emails that must be filtered and scanned.
NOTE: Since the time it takes for the emails to be re-delivered depends on the sender's
mail server, thus delaying the email delivery, Avira discourages the use of a "catch-all"
setting. The best approach is to create a separate user account in AMES for every user you
have. The LDAP feature can really cut the time spent on this task.
3.4 Configuring LDAP
This setting is only available to Avira Partners, because of the possible
consequences of misconfiguration. Please contact your Avira partner for more
information.

3 Changing settings for your AMES domains
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3.5 Changing mail delivery-options
To change mail delivery settings, select a User and go to the Services tab.
Under Mail deliver options, you can choose between two methods:
• Activate SMTP Deliver.
Under SMTP Deliver server(s), you can add one or more servers to which
AMES will deliver the emails.
• Activate Mail forward.
Under Forward your e-mail to this address, you can type one or more email
addresses to which AMES will deliver emails.
Press Save when done.
3.6 Customizing banners
AMES allows you to append a custom message to the bottom of an outgoing or
incoming email.

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Adding a banner to incoming emails
You can add a user-specific banner to incoming emails. Select the User you'd like
to add a banner for and go to the Banner tab.
Then select a banner option under Mail banner/footer, write the banner text in
the text area if you chose Custom banner, and click Save.
Adding a banner to outgoing emails
You can add a domain-specific banner to outgoing emails. Select the Domain
you'd like to add a banner for and go to the Banner tab.
Then select a banner option under Mail banner, write the banner text in the text
area if you chose Custom banner, and click Save.