The 20 Minute E-mail Solution!
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Testing Your IMail Server Installation

This section provides some quick tests to ensure that you have a working IMail Server configuration. See "Mail Servers and DNS" for detailed DNS information.

Step 1: Confirm your DNS Settings

To check the DNS records for your IMail Server, you can use either of the following tools:

To check your DNS settings using WS_Ping ProPack:

  1. From the Start menu, select Programs->WS_Ping ProPack-> WS_Ping ProPack, and then click the LookUp tab.
  2. View the MX record to verify that the domain name is pointing to the correct host name. To do this, enter the following:
    • Name or IP address: Enter the domain name (for example, domain.com).
    • DNS Server: Enter the host name or IP address of the domain name server you want to use or, select stack from the drop-down list to use your operating system's network stack.
    • Query Type: Select MX from the list.
    • Click Start. You will get information like the following: 
      >domain.com  
 10,imailbox.domain.com
  3. View the A record and verify that host name is pointing to the correct IP address. To do this, enter the following:
    • Name or IP address: Enter the Official Host Name of the IMail Server host (for example, imailbox.domain.com).
    • DNS Server: Enter the host name or IP address of the domain name server you want to use; or, select stack from the drop-down list to use your operating systems's network stack.
    • Query Type: Select A from the list.
    • Click Start. You will get information like the following: 
      >imailbox.domain.com 
 156.21.50.10
  4. View the PTR Record and verify that the IP Address points to the official host name. To do this, enter the following:
    • Name or IP address: Enter the IP address of the IMail Server host (for example, 156.21.50.10).
    • DNS Server: Enter the host name or IP address of the domain name server you want to use; or, select stack from the drop-down list to use your operating system's network stack.
    • Query Type: Select PTR from the list.
    • Click Start. You will get information like the following: 
      >10.50.21.156.in-addr.arpa. 
    host = imailbox.domain.com.
  5. Record any errors. If you host your own DNS server, correct the entries. If your DNS service is hosted by an ISP, contact them and request the changes.

To check your DNS settings using the "nslookup" tool:

  1. Run the Windows "nslookup" command to view the MX record. View the MX record to verify that the domain name is pointing to the correct host name. For example, enter: 
    nslookup
>ls -t MX domain.com
The command returns information like the following: 
>domain     MX 10   imailbox.domain.com
  1. Under the Windows "nslookup" command, view the A record and verify that host name is pointing to the correct IP address. 
    nslookup
>ls -t A imailbox.domain.com
The command returns information like the following: 
>imailbox.domain.com  A  156.21.50.10
  1. Under the Windows "nslookup" command, view the PTR Record and verify that the IP Address points to the official host name. 
    nslookup
>ls -t PTR 156.21.50.10
The command should return information like the following: 
>imailbox.domain.com  PTR  156.21.50.10
  1. Record any errors and, if you host your own DNS server, correct the entries. If your DNS service is hosted by an ISP, contact them and request the changes.

Step 2: Confirm Your IMail Server Installation

To confirm your IMail Server installation, do the following:

  1. From the Start menu, select Programs > IMail > IMail Administrator.
The IMail Administrator appears. The left panel provides access to system defaults, services, and to primary and virtual host settings. For each host, there is access to users, aliases, and list-server mailing lists.

  1. In IMail Administrator, expand the localhost folder, and then select the primary host. The right panel shows the General properties for your primary host. Check the following:
    • Official Host Name. Make sure this matches the host name, as entered in the Windows TCP settings, for the machine on which you installed IMail Server.
    • Host Aliases. If you want users on the primary host to get messages addressed to the domain name, create an alias for the host. For example, mail to the user elena is addressed as elena@emmitt.company1.com. If you create a host alias of company1.com, the user (elena) can also receive mail addressed to elena@company1.com.

For more information about configuring IMail Server, see "Chapter 2: Configuration" in the IMail Server User's Guide.

Step 3: Confirm User Database Setup

To verify that you can send and receive mail, you should have at least one user for your primary host.

If your primary host uses the IMail user database, you may have created a user during the installation. Check whether users were created: in the left panel of IMail Administrator, expand the localhost folder, select the primary host, and then expand the Users folder. If you see only the "root" user, perform these steps to add a test user:

  1. Select the primary host and click the General tab.
  2. In the right panel, click Add User, and then follow the instructions. A user ID must be 3 to 30 characters with no hyphens or spaces. For now, leave Show Advanced Settings turned off.
  3. Click Next and then Finish to add the user. The user ID is added to the list of registered users for the primary host. When the user ID is selected in the left panel, the user's properties appear in the right panel.

If your primary host uses the Windows NT or Windows 2000 user database, you should have two default accounts: Administrator and Guest. If you need to add a user for test purposes, add the account in the appropriate Windows administrative tool.

If your primary host is based on an external database and the external database is not populated, perform these steps:

  1. In IMail Administrator, in the left panel, expand the primary host and the Users folder.
  2. Select the user named root.
  3. On the General tab, turn off Account Access Disabled.
  4. Add a few users.

Any users you have added can now receive mail through IMail Server at the host name specified in your Windows TCP/IP parameters. For example, if you added the user elena, and the host name is emmitt.company1. com, the user can now receive mail addressed to elena@emmitt.company1.com.
Note: If you want users on the primary host to get messages addressed to just the domain name, create an alias for the virtual host. For example, if you want the user shown above to get mail addressed to elena@company1.com, create a host alias of company1.com for jemmit.company.com. For more information, see the "Configuration" chapter in the IMail Server User's Guide.

Step 4: Sending and Receiving Mail in a Test Account

To send and receive mail in a test account, complete the following steps:

  1. Check to make sure the mail servers are running. To do this, from the left panel, expand the localhost folder and select the Services folder to see if the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4 servers are running. The status of SMTP should be "running;" this is automatically started. If the POP3 and IMAP4 are not "running," you must start them.
  2. Start your e-mail client.
If you are using IMail Client (Start > Programs > IMail > IMail Client), the users you added will appear in a drop-down list. Log on using one of the user accounts you created, and send mail to another user. Then check that the mail appears in the second user's Main mailbox.
Note: A version of IMail Client is automatically installed on the IMail system. This is provided for those who are administering IMail Server on the NT workstation on which IMail Server is installed. It is useful for reading the "root" mailbox, working with seldom-used accounts, and testing. The IMail Client application should not be used on the IMail Server system to view end-user mailboxes, as this may cause problems with remote access to the same mailboxes (depending on the remote clients being used).
  1. Send a test message to test mail service to remote systems. To do this, if you are connected to the Internet, send mail to imailtest@ipswitch.com. We will reply to your mail. You can also test by sending mail to a user on another host and ask them to reply.
  2. When you are satisfied that the mail server works properly, you can add more hosts and users.

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http://www.ipswitch.com
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