IMail™ Server – FAQ
SMTP / POP3 Mail Server for Windows NT 

There are no set limits. You can have thousands of users on a single IMail Server for NT machine.

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There are no programmed limits. Hardware imposes the limitations, not the operating system. The theoretical limit is 65535 concurrent connections as long as you have the memory (the server needs around 400K per connected user plus the NT OS requirements). Giant mailboxes (over 2 meg) will slow concurrent access but will not restrict access. CPU loading is not a problem. Bottlenecks include the amount of physical memory, the speed of disk access, the bus speed, and the network adapter speed.

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Yes. Although IMail Server provides system administrators with the ability to create their own, unique IMail user registration databases, they now also have the option of using the Windows NT user authentication database or a specified subset. This option is available for each virtual host defined. When selected, IMail Server will automatically create a user mail account the first time a registered NT user receives mail or accesses his or her mailbox through a POP3 client. Some system administrators like the simplicity of using this common mechanism for registering users.

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Yes. You may download a 45 day evaluation version by returning to the IMail Server product page and clicking Download on the menu bar. This is a full version that includes an IMail client for the server. You can install IMail Server in just a few minutes, and within a couple more minutes, your server will be up and running. Once installed, add yourself as a user, start up the IMail client, and send yourself a message. Now that you know that it is working, shut down the IMail client, go to your PC and start your favorite e-mail program and login.

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You are trying to configure IMail Server for Windows NT after installation but the IMail Server icon does not appear in the Control Panel even though the IMail Common group is present. To resolve the problem, close the Control Panel and copy the imail.cpl file from disk1 to the windows\system32 directory. The icon will appear the next time you open the Control Panel.

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No. You can use the NT command 'at.exe' to start your RAS connection, have a third-party scheduling package start your RAS connection, or you can start up your RAS connection manually.

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IMail Server for Windows NT includes the IMail User Utility (IMUTIL), which the system administrator can make available to any user. IMUTIL allows users to change their passwords, setup vacation messages and setup rules for incoming mail. Make sure you have not marked the box ‘User Cannot change password’ for these users (unchecked is the default). IMUTIL is a Winsock program that can run on any TCP/IP stack that has a Winsock DLL.

With Version 3.0 of IMail Server, users can also change their individual passwords, Finger plans, and vacation messages remotely via the World-Wide Web.

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Yes, you can do this! If you use the IMAIL1.exe program that's part of the IMail Server for Windows NT and supply it with parameters, it will provide this kind of function. The command and its options are shown below:

IMAIL1.EXE

Options

-f filename
-i filename (pops up a create mail window - Interactive!)
-s subject
-t recipient1, recipient2,....
-c recipient3, recipient4,....
-b recipient5, recipient6,....
-u user (specifies the registered user to which to send the message)
-r (Add an Army "Registered:" header)

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This problem shows up occasionally in early versions of IMail Server for Windows NT. Your best solution is to get the latest version from us. The latest release is available for evaluation purposes in our download area.

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Not only possible, but also fairly easy! For incoming mail, you should have the email sent to an alias, which in turn sends to the real destination (the actual user) and your "copy" user. It is also possible to use lists to do the copying.

For outgoing mail, the easiest way is to have the users set the BCC (blind carbon copy) option on and send the BCC to your "copy" user. The incoming and outgoing "copy" user may be the same or different, depending on what you require.

Warning: Do not have a user name and an alias of the same name as this will cause mail to "loop" around the system. Also, do not forget to maintain the "copy" user(s), since the mailbox could become large very quickly!

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IMail Server for Windows NT does work with Microsoft's MS SMTP Gateway. You must setup IMail to have real IP addresses of the gateways in its \winnt35\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS file as in:

111.111.111.110 IMAIL.DOMAIN0
111.111.111.111 msgate1.domain1
111.111.111.112 msgate2.domain2
111.111.111.113 msgate3.domain3

or if all domains are on one gateway:

111.111.111.111 msgate1.domain1 msgate2.domain2 msgate3.domain3

In the MX records on your DNS server:

IMAIL.DOMAIN0 IN A 111.111.111.110
MSGATE1.DOMAIN1 IN MX 10 IMAIL.DOMAIN
MSGATE2.DOMAIN2 IN MX 10 IMAIL.DOMAIN
MSGATE3.DOMAIN3 IN MX 10 IMAIL.DOMAIN

IMail's "Accept Mail For Other Hosts" option MUST be enabled and the "Send All Remote Mail Through Gateway" MUST be turned OFF so that mail sent to user1@msgate1.domain1 will be sent to IMAIL.DOMAIN0, and mail sent from user1 will be sent to MSGATE1.DOMAIN1. There is no need to alias the users unless you want the mail to be addressed to user1@DOMAIN0.

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Yes, there is a utility program called "adduser.exe" that can help you. Below is the help information that results if you type adduser alone or with /? at the DOS prompt.

adduser -u userid [-n "full name"] [-p password] [-d directory]

where:

-u userid is the IMail user name (e.g., Maggie)
-n "full name" is the users full name (e.g., Margaret Smith)
-p password is the users password (e.g., magmail)
-d directory is the path \directory for this user

This utility may be used on the command line, in a batch file or in a script file.

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Yes. The user's mail account apparently had a problem while doing a POP3 transfer and was left is a state of flux. What you need to do is rename a file in the user's directory. Assume that user joe is having this problem. Then in the \imail\users\joe directory, you will see a file with the extension ~OP (main.~OP). Rename this file to main.mbx and the user will be able to login and get his mail again.

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This is usually due to the DNS configuration on the NT machine. IMail Server for Windows NT uses the Microsoft TCP/IP stack for sending and receiving mail on the Internet or internal TCP/IP networks. DNS configuration is a function of the TCP/IP stack and not IMail Server for Windows NT. However, the manner in which you configure DNS on the NT machine can cause performance problems with IMail Server for Windows NT

If you go to the Control Panel click on Network and click on TCP/IP. Then press on the DNS button. In here you will see an area with the title "Domain Suffix Search Order". If there is any entry in here. This will slow down any TCP/IP program including IMail Server for Windows NT. If there are multiple entries. Try changing the order of the suffixes. A lot of times this will increase DNS lookup times.

If this does not work delete all suffixes and see if this increases performance. If it does you know what is causing the problem. If you need the suffixes there. Then place back the suffixes and increase the network time-out on your POP3 clients so they will not time-out waiting for an answer from the NT machine.

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Last updated: August 21, 1997