SMPT Server for Small Networks

Sometimes you may not be able to send mail because your ISP’s SMTP server may be down. Or, your ISP may not provide SMTP relay services. In such cases, you can install an SMTP server on your machine itself and send mail through that. You can even let other people on your network share your SMTP server. The PostCast server is one of such free SMPT server. It works by running a local SMTP service through which it sends your mail. We will show you how to install and configure it. You’ll find the PostCast Server 2.5.24 on our this month’s CD.

Install the PostCast server on your Windows machine from the CD. Once installed, it sits in your startup tray. To run or configure it on your desktop, either double-click on the PostCast server icon in the startup try or click on ‘PostCast Server’ from Start>Programs>Postcast Server. This will bring up the interface, which looks like any e-mail client. Now click on Tools

from the menu bar and select ‘Setup Wizard’. This will start a wizard to configure the PostCast Server on your desktop. 

Click on ‘Next’ and an ‘Incoming connection’ screen will come up. Here, you can IP addresses to allow other user to share your SMTP server on a LAN. If you are not on the LAN, but connected to the Internet through modem or cable, then tick on ‘Allow Access ONLY for Users With these IP address:’. With this, the button (Add, Edit, Delete) below the text box will get enabled. Here, you can add the IP addresses of the clients who can access your SMTP server. Or, if you are connected to the Internet on a standalone computer, select ‘127.0.0.1’ (this is the local loop back adaptor for standalone computers) and click on Next. Here, you need to set the timing intervals for the mail that has to be send. Select the ‘Immediate’ radio button.

This will send the mail the moment it reaches the PostCast server. Now, click on Next. The wizard will show you the server name and the port number at which the PostCast server will start serving its SMTP services. Note this down and click on the ‘Finish’ button to finish configuration.

To configure your e-mail clients (Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Eudora or any other) go to the settings where you have configured your mail accounts and set the ‘Outgoing mail server’ to the PostCast server name that you noted above. If you are on the LAN, give the IP address of the machine where you are running PostCast server. You can even use the PostCast server interface to send and receive mail. It looks just like Microsoft Outlook mail client.

Now you can send mail anywhere in the world without using your ISP SMTP server. 

Sanjay Majumder