Use the built-in Windows service to set up a free email server

Windows Server 2003 comes with the complete SMTP and POP3 services, and supports two environments: domain-free and non-Domain-free, which is very easy for small and medium enterprises to implement. Today, we will take Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition as an example to build a free email Server. We hope to help you learn about the email Server.

1. Install SMTP and POP3 services

1. Double-click "Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Manage Your server". The displayed window displays the service functions installed on the local machine (I have set the host name to server.tangshan.com in advance, as the domain controller in the tangshan.com domain), click "add and delete role.

2. the system automatically scans the currently installed services. When a window is displayed, select the mail server POP3 and SMTP services and click Next to install the mail server.

3. In the displayed window, you must enter the authentication method and email domain name.

Authentication method: the authentication method indicates where the server checks the account and password used by the user to download emails. If you have already set up a domain in your LAN and have a large number of user accounts, we recommend that you select "Active Directory integrated ", in this way, the user can use the original Logon account and password to process the email. If you have not set up the domain mode, you can also select "local Windows Account" here ", the system will verify the permissions from the local SAM security account.

Email domain name: Enter the suffix after the email account @ to be registered to the user. In this example, because a domain has been created for the unified domain name, fill in "tangshan.com ". Click "Next" to complete the installation of the email server.

2. register an email account

1. Double-click "Control Panel> Management Tools> Manage Your server", and add "Mail Server (POP3, SMTP)" to the window )", click "manage this email server" To Go To The POP3 management interface.

2. Click "add mailbox". The "add mailbox" window appears. Enter the character before the email account @ to be registered to the user in the mailbox name. It and the email domain name form the user's email account. If you want to create a Windows user while creating an email account, select the "Create associated user for this mailbox" check box and click OK to create the user account. So we created a mail account named hongwei@tangshan.com. Other user accounts are also created using this method.

Note: If a user with the same name has been created in the domain, you should not select "create associated user for this mailbox ". Otherwise, a conflict prompt is displayed.

3. Set Basic mailbox attributes (optional)

Click "Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Internet Information Service (IIS) manager", open the SMTP server console, right-click the properties of the SMTP server, open the window, and select the "mail" tab.

1. limit the size of each email: You can set the maximum size (in KB) of each external mail on the "restricted mail size" tab ).

2. Set a Fault Notification account: If the email cannot be sent when the email is being sent due to an out-of-size limit or a server fault of the other party, in addition to automatically sending a non-arrival instruction email called NDR to the sender, SMTP can also send an NDR copy to another address. We recommend that you set the email address as the administrator to analyze the cause of the failure.

Iv. Set security attributes of a mailbox (optional)

1. POP3 Server Security Settings

As you know, the mail client will use the user's account name and password to log on to the POP3 server during receiving. After "checking the identity", the Mail list can be downloaded. In this process, by default, accounts and passwords are transmitted in plain text, which is easily stolen by the listener. The POP3 Server that comes with Windows Server 2003 allows you to deploy the SPA security password verification on the Server and client, and encrypt the transferred account and password to ensure the security of your account and password.

Double-click "Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Manage Your server" and click "manage this email server" to open the POP3 server console.

1) server: Open the POP3 server Properties window and select the "require security password authentication (SPA) for all client connections" check box to complete server-side SPA security verification.

2) client: the Outlook Express client supports SPA security verification. Go to the attributes setting window of this account in Outlook Express, and select the check box "Log on with security password verification, this completes client security verification.

2. SMTP Server Security Settings

By default, the SMTP server enables "Anonymous Access" authentication. That is to say, anyone can connect to the SMTP server to send emails without the user name and password, which is also the cause of many spam. The SMTP server can be used to verify the connection between the client and the password when sending the mail. It can also verify the connection through the IP address, or use the Certificate for higher-level authentication before sending the mail.

Double-click "Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Internet Information Service (IIS) manager" to open the SMTP server console.

Account and password verification: click the "authentication" button under the "access" tab of the SMTP console to enter the Authentication Window.

1) after the "Anonymous Access" check box is selected, the user can connect to the SMTP server without providing a valid account and password.

2) After the "basic identity authentication" check box is selected, the user must provide the user name and password to connect to the SMTP server, but the account and password are transmitted in plaintext, which is less secure.

3) after the "require TLS encryption" check box is selected, the system performs TLS encryption on the transmitted account name, password, and information data, but must be used with the client. Outlook Express supports TLS encryption.

4) fields entered in the "default domain" will be used for user verification.
5) After selecting the integrated Windows Authentication check box, only users with valid Microsoft Windows accounts can connect to the SMTP server. At the same time, both the account and password will use NTLM for encryption, but the information data will not be encrypted.

IP address authentication: click "Connect" under the "access" tab of the SMTP console to display the IP address Authentication Window.

You can use the "add" button to add some IP addresses and subnet masks. If only computers with the added IP addresses are allowed to connect to the server, select "only the following table" for a single region, if you want to exclude these IP addresses, select "only the following list" single region. This method is simple and suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Certificate authentication: You can also use a certificate for higher-level encrypted transmission. Because the Certificate Service uses a non-symmetric key, it has extremely high security. However, the certificate service is cumbersome to deploy or use, and is not suitable for small enterprises. Therefore, this article will not detail it, interested friends can refer to the relevant information.

V. Client settings

After the server is configured, the client software is set up. I chose Foxmail and Outlook Express, which are widely used for explanation.

1. Outlook Express client settings

Account and password: Enter the user's account name and password in "account name" and "password. Note that if SPA verification is not used, the account format is xxx@xxx.xxx, hongwei@tangshan.com in this case; and if SPA verification is used, the account format is xxx, hongwei in this case. Because the format of the account generated without SPA verification is inconsistent with our habits, the client can easily set errors, resulting in incorrect password prompt during email reception.

Server Information: Enter server.tangshan.com or its IP address 192.168.1.3 in the "receive mail POP3" and "send mail SMTP" columns.

SMTP authentication: if an account password is required for access is set on the SMTP server, select the "my servers require authentication" check box, click "set" to enter the authentication username and password according to the server settings.

Security code verification: if security code SPA verification is set on the POP3 server, select the "verify login with security password" check box.

2. Foxmail client settings

Account Password: Enter the account name and password of the user in "POP3 account name" and "password. Foxmail does not support SPA security verification.

Server Information: Enter server.tangshan.com or its IP address 192.168.1.3 in the SMTP and POP3 servers column.

SMTP authentication: If you need to set the account password access in the SMTP server, select the "SMTP server requires authentication" check box, click "set" to enter the authentication username and password according to the server settings.

After the preceding simple settings, you have successfully built a free internal email system using Windows Server 2003. Of course, as a basic set of email servers, its functions are still very limited, such as no WEB interface management, automatic reply, and client control. Therefore, if you think this mail system is not functional enough, you may have to purchase a more powerful post office software.