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Configuring the SMTP Server

To configure the SMTP server:

  1. Select the "Services" folder in the left panel and click on SMTP.
  2. Then click on the SMTP tab in the right panel.
  3. Enter the options you want to use to configure the SMTP server. (Each option is described below in "SMTP Options".)
  4. Click Apply to save your changes.
  5. After making changes, stop the SMTP service, wait 5-10 seconds and restart the service. Any changes that you make are saved automatically as soon as you press the Stop/Start Service button.
  6. Click OK to exit the dialog box.

SMTP Options

You can use the following options to configure the SMTP server.

Logging Options

In the Log To box, select the file that you want to use for logging SMTP events.

Debug Messages. When turned on, writes debug messages to the log file.

Note: This option is very resource intensive if you debug messages in IMAP4.

Default Mail Host. The name of the host to send mail to if only a user ID is specified in the mail message and that user ID is not found on the local system. Normally this field should be blank. This field can be useful when multiple systems are required to work as one system.

Domain Name Server address. The IP address of the system that provides domain name service for your network. You can enter multiple name servers here, separated by a space. This setting is required in order to send mail externally.

Tries before returning to sender. Defines the number of times that delivery is attempted before giving up and returning the mail to the sender. Each time the Queue Timer reaches 0, a delivery attempt is made. Thus, if the Queue Timer is set to 30 (minutes) and you want to attempt delivery for up to 3 days, this field should contain 144. The default value of 20 with the default Queue Timer value of 30 will cause the message to be returned after about 10 hours.

Queue Timer. How often, in minutes, the SMTP server will check the outbound queue for queued mail. (See also the Tries before returning to sender option.)

Server Status. A status message to the left of the Start/Stop Service button shows whether or not the service is running.

Start/Stop Service. This button toggles between Start service and Stop service depending on whether the service is running.

Using a Remote Mail Gateway

You can use the Gateway Options to configure your mail server to use a remote mail gateway.

Remote Mail Gateway Host. The name of another host to send mail to for further delivery when that mail cannot be delivered directly to the destination host. This can be used in conjunction with the Send all remote mail through gateway option to force delivery of mail through the gateway host. Since IMail Server should be able to reach all hosts directly, this field should typically be left blank.

Send all remote mail through gateway. Causes IMail Server to send all mail to the Remote Mail Gateway Host, which will forward it on to the addressee's mail host. If this option is not selected, IMail Server will send mail directly to the addressee's mail host.

Tries before sending to gateway. The number of times that delivery directly to a remote host should be attempted before giving up and delivering to the gateway host. Proper function of this value is dependent on the validity of the Remote Mail Gateway Host name and the Send all remote mail through gateway option.

Advanced Options

Several Advanced options that were previously available only through the registry, have been added to the IMail Server interface on the SMTP Advanced tab. The default settings on the Advanced tab should be appropriate for most installations. However, if you need to change these settings, be aware that they can change the operation of the server.

Maximum recipients per message. The maximum number of addresses that can receive a single message. The default setting for this option is 0.

Delay between recipients. Sets a delay (in milliseconds) between the delivery of messages to recipients. The default setting for this option is 0.

Port. The port that the SMTP service listens on. The default port number is 25.

Maximum Processes. This is the number of simultaneous SMTP processes that IMail Server spawns. By default this option is set to 30. If you see heavy mail traffic or run several large list server mailing lists, you may want to increase this number.

Note: If you set this value too high, it can cause your server to malfunction.

Mailbox delimiter. Enter the character that will be used to delimit the mailbox name in a user ID. If nothing is entered here, the default delimiter of - (dash) will be used.

Note: Before changing the mailbox delimiter, you should first check for existing usernames and aliases that contain the new delimiter character. Otherwise, these aliases or usernames will contain delimiters, which will cause their incoming mail to be undeliverable or delivered to another user whose username matches the portion of the address preceding the new delimiter.

Host delimiters. Enter the character or characters that you want to use to delimit the host name. Each character will be seen by IMail Server as equivalent to the @ in e-mail addresses. By default the characters used are: @ % * : $ and &. Any of these can be used between the user ID and the virtual host name in the POP3 or IMAP4 login user ID. To change these characters, enter the string of characters in the Host Delimiters textbox.

Note: The @ character is required by Web Messaging.

Delivery Application. If you wish to replace the delivery application with an external program, enter the full pathname of the file in this textbox.

Hello Message. You can use this box to change the text of the SMTP service welcome message. The text is limited to 400 characters or less. If over 400 characters are entered, the default message is used.


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