Source: Freepik
Recently, we told you about mailing lists and how to request them. In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to the difference with distribution groups and describe how to create and manage them.
What are distribution groups?
Sometimes the terms mailing list and distribution group can be confusing and they are often used interchangeably. Before we get into the differences, it’s important to clarify what distribution groups are.
Distribution groups are used for group communication and allow e-mail to be sent to multiple people within a domain at the same time. If an e-mail is sent to the address of the distribution group, all members of this distribution group will receive the mail.
The difference to mailing lists
But what is the difference to mailing lists now?
Unlike mailing lists, it is not possible to add non-domain email addresses to the distribution group.
Example: You are interested in the Coscine mailing list and want to receive information about updates and new features. Then you can easily subscribe to this mailing list. It is irrelevant whether you enter your business or private e-mail address. In the case of a departmental distribution group, on the other hand, such as all-employees@itc.rwth-aachen.de, only the employees of the department or IT center can be added, as the mail domain is aimed exclusively at the IT center. This means that only those whose mail domain is @itc.rwth-aachen.de can be added to this distribution group. (*)
How can distribution groups be created and managed?
Distribution groups are created and managed via MailAdm by the corresponding mail administrators of the respective domain. The distribution groups and their members are managed via OWA and by the registered owners.
Detailed instructions can be found on our documentation portal IT Center Help.
Summary at a glance (**)
Mailing lists
Create: IT Center specialist department (LBA)
Manage: Registered list administrators
Access: Mailman
Add members: By list administrators or self-registration
Characteristics: @lists.rwth-aachen.de
Distribution groups
Create: Mail administrators of the domain via MailAdm
Manage: Registered owners
Access: OWA
Add members: By owners
Characteristics: @institute.rwth-aachen.de
Responsible for the content of this article is Arlinda Ujkani.
