My new ISP gives me very bad email service, I cannot send anything most of
the time.
I installed the SMTP thing in win XP but now what?
Where do I dind anything to configure that and can I use that for sending my
emails?
The recieving part from my ISP works OK ( so far )

Thanks for any help

Edmund

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> I  installed  the SMTP thing in win XP but now what? Where do I dind
> anything to configure that and can I use that for sending my emails?

Do  you  really  have "SMTP problems" with IIS SMTP? Doesn't seem like
it.  It  seems you don't have experience with SMTP (and thus with DNS)
in  general.  I  know  this  will come off as harsh, but I daresay you
shouldn't  be  in  charge of a mailserver that's exposed to the public
Net if you don't have those prerequisite skills.

If  you  restrict  your  new  mailserver  to  _only_ allowing outbound
connections,  though,  it's true that you can do little harm to anyone
but  yourself. But you are still going to need to learn quite a lot to
make  sure  that  your  self-administered  mailserver  is  capable  of
successfully  delivering  to the vast majority of remote servers, even
those with strict anti-spam policies.

To approach your question: the default IIS SMTP is essentially capable
of  relaying mail to remote domains right out-of-the-box. You must set
up  your  mail  client to authenticate to the SMTP server. The rest is
out  of  IIS'  hands  --  and the *rest* is in fact the most important
part.

The  rest:

[1]  You  must  ensure  that  your  server  passes  the  HELO-PTR-A-IP
roundtrip test. This means that

- you must have a PTR record for your mailserver's public IP address

- the HELO greeting sent by your mailserver ("FQHN of the Default SMTP
Virtual  Server"  in IIS terms, though this requirement applies to all
mailservers) must match the PTR ("reverse DNS") hostname of the public
IP address

- the PTR hostname must have a corresponding A record that resolves to
the public IP address

The  roundtrip test is very simple, really: all published DNS and SMTP
data  must  be  consistent.  Not  every  remote  server checks _every_
element.  But any inconsistency means one more chunk of remote servers
will refuse your mail.


[2]  Your ISP's routers must allow you to make outbound connections on
TCP port 25.


[3]  Your  ISP's  EULA  must allow you to send mail directly to remote
servers.  It is not enough to "fool" your ISP by using a DDNS service.
That  might  work for inbound HTTP, but not for outbound SMTP. Even if
the  ISP does not block you at the network level ([2]) from connecting
on  TCP  25,  many  remote  servers use complex and generally accurate
heuristics  to  determine whether you are using a consumer-grade (that
is,  server-free) block of IPs. (Since spambots commonly violate EULAs,
better safe than sorry.)


[4]  Self-evident:  all usernames and domains you send from must exist
in  the  public  DNS.  Your submission server (IIS SMTP) will not look
this up for you. Remote servers happily will.


[5]  If  you  are using a domain with an SPF record, your mailserver's
public IP address must appear as an explicitly allowed sending server,
or,  alternately,  an  SPF query must return an "unknown" result for
your server.


--Sandy

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"Sanford Whiteman" <swhitemanlistens-software@cypressintegrated.com> wrote
in message news:op.tuwv0yq16c17zw@gw02.broadleaf.local... 
>
> Do  you  really  have "SMTP problems" with IIS SMTP? Doesn't seem like
> it.  It  seems you don't have experience with SMTP (and thus with DNS)
> in  general.  I  know  this  will come off as harsh, but I daresay you
> shouldn't  be  in  charge of a mailserver that's exposed to the public
> Net if you don't have those prerequisite skills.
>
> If  you  restrict  your  new  mailserver  to  _only_ allowing outbound
> connections,  though,  it's true that you can do little harm to anyone
> but  yourself. But you are still going to need to learn quite a lot to
> make  sure  that  your  self-administered  mailserver  is  capable  of
> successfully  delivering  to the vast majority of remote servers, even
> those with strict anti-spam policies.
>
> To approach your question: the default IIS SMTP is essentially capable
> of  relaying mail to remote domains right out-of-the-box. You must set
> up  your  mail  client to authenticate to the SMTP server.

OK what do have to fill in on the "SMTP" server part?
And where is my IIS SMTP server?


> The rest is
> out  of  IIS'  hands  --  and the *rest* is in fact the most important
> part.
>
> The  rest:
>
> [1]  You  must  ensure  that  your  server  passes  the  HELO-PTR-A-IP
> roundtrip test. This means that
>
> - you must have a PTR record for your mailserver's public IP address
>
> - the HELO greeting sent by your mailserver ("FQHN of the Default SMTP
> Virtual  Server"  in IIS terms, though this requirement applies to all
> mailservers) must match the PTR ("reverse DNS") hostname of the public
> IP address
>
> - the PTR hostname must have a corresponding A record that resolves to
> the public IP address
>
> The  roundtrip test is very simple, really: all published DNS and SMTP
> data  must  be  consistent.  Not  every  remote  server checks _every_
> element.  But any inconsistency means one more chunk of remote servers
> will refuse your mail.
>
>
> [2]  Your ISP's routers must allow you to make outbound connections on
> TCP port 25.
>
>
> [3]  Your  ISP's  EULA  must allow you to send mail directly to remote
> servers.  It is not enough to "fool" your ISP by using a DDNS service.
> That  might  work for inbound HTTP, but not for outbound SMTP. Even if
> the  ISP does not block you at the network level ([2]) from connecting
> on  TCP  25,  many  remote  servers use complex and generally accurate
> heuristics  to  determine whether you are using a consumer-grade (that
> is,  server-free) block of IPs. (Since spambots commonly violate EULAs,
> better safe than sorry.)
>
>
> [4]  Self-evident:  all usernames and domains you send from must exist
> in  the  public  DNS.  Your submission server (IIS SMTP) will not look
> this up for you. Remote servers happily will.
>
>
> [5]  If  you  are using a domain with an SPF record, your mailserver's
> public IP address must appear as an explicitly allowed sending server,
> or,  alternately,  an  SPF query must return an "unknown" result for
> your server.
>
>
> --Sandy

Thank you,

I will try it step by step
>
>
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> OK  what  do have to fill in on the "SMTP" server part?

This  question doesn't make all that much sense as-is, but if you mean
"What  do  I  have  to  configure  within IIS Manager for the IIS SMTP
service?" the answer is that you configure your outbound HELO hostname
in

Default SMTP Virtual Server-Properties-Delivery-Advanced-FQDN

> And where is my IIS SMTP server?

It's on the XP machine where you installed the IIS SMTP service.

I'm trying to help, but are you sure you're ready for this project?

--Sandy

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Sanford,

If I understand you correctly... Even though I have a dedicated public IP on
my Linksys Router that relays to my XP Pro machine and a valid DNS that goes
to my IP and I have IIS SMTP installed it still does not mean that I can use
my ASP email forms. Even though I do have the proper ports open.  What if I
install Win2k Advanced Server? I'd still have problems wouldn't I?

"Sanford Whiteman" wrote:
 
>
> This  question doesn't make all that much sense as-is, but if you mean
> "What  do  I  have  to  configure  within IIS Manager for the IIS SMTP
> service?" the answer is that you configure your outbound HELO hostname
> in
>
>       Default SMTP Virtual Server-Properties-Delivery-Advanced-FQDN
> 
>
> It's on the XP machine where you installed the IIS SMTP service.
>
> I'm trying to help, but are you sure you're ready for this project?
>
> --Sandy
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> If  I  understand  you  correctly...  Even though I have a dedicated
> public  IP on my Linksys Router that relays to my XP Pro machine and
> a  valid  DNS  that  goes  to my IP and I have IIS SMTP installed it
> still does not mean that I can use my ASP email forms.

I'm  advising  you  that  running  even  an  outbound-only  mailserver
requires  that  you have a command of DNS and SMTP and can control how
your  server  is  seen by the rest of the Net. If you want to reliably
deliver  mail,  being  able  to  connect  outbound on port 25, while a
prerequisite, is not enough.

> What  if  I  install  Win2k Advanced Server? I'd still have problems
> wouldn't I?

The  OS  you  use will have no effect on your ability to deliver mail.
The  MTA  vendor  you  use will also have no effect, save for the fact
that  some  MTAs  have  a  better  default configuration and/or easier
configuration interface than others.

--Sandy

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]