SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the mechanism for trans- ferring
e-mail. Smaller companies or individuals having single Internet accounts usually
use their ISP’s SMTP server to send mail. However, for medium to large
organizations having dedicated connec- tion to the Internet, this solution is
not sufficient. For them, a dedicated SMTP server is needed that can take mail
from all e-mail clients in the company and then forward them. Windows 2000
Server and Professional come with an SMTP server, which is quite easy to
configure.
To install the SMTP Services in Windows 2000, Go to Control
Panel>Add/Remove Programs> Add/Remove Windows Components. This pops up the
Windows Components window. Here, select Internet Information Services and click
the Details button. From the list that follows, click the check box next to SMTP
services. You’ll need your Windows 2000 CD
after this.
To configure SMTP services, run Internet Services Manager from
Start>Programs> Administrative Tools. Select your server name’s icon
from the left-hand pane and click on the + sign next to it to expand and see the
remaining options. You should find an SMTP Server entry here. Right-click it and
select Properties. Click on the General tab and enter a name and IP address of
your SMTP server.
Now click on Connections, and under incoming select the check box Limit
Connection to. You can set the maximum number of incoming connections allowed by
the SMTP server. The default value here is 1,000. In the Time-out Text box, type
the maximum number of minutes for an incoming connection, post which the server
will close the connection.
Likewise set the values under Outgoing. The default value again for Outgoing
connections is 1,000. You can change these defaults to suit your requirement, as
well as customize other settings.