Installing E-Mail Servers
In a Nutshell - CIW Course Section 3, Part B2, Chapter 7
MX Records
Mail Exchange (MX) records are DNS entries. Each of which comprises five fields as follows:
- Domain Name Specifies the domain to which the MX record will be associated.
- IN (Intelligent Network) indicates that the DNS record is for a host running TCP/IP.
- MX indicates that the host is an email server.
- Numerical Value indicates the server's priority. The lower the number, the higher the priority. Email will always be delivered to the highest priority server, provided it is available.
- Server Name provides the DNS name of the email server. In my experience this is not always required.
Interdomain Email
When the MTA has to deliver mail to a remote host, it will perform a DNS query for an MX record to identify the remote email server. This information can be used to transfer the email message to the remote server where it will be delivered to the recipient.
Intradomain Email
Intradomain email stays within one DNS domain. However, the delivery process is much the same as for remote email. I believe that there may be exceptions to this. If the email server is Microsoft Exchange, for example, and the email is from one Exchange user to another, then Exchange knows it is a local user and doesn't require a DNS lookup.
Installing MDaemon
Alt-N MDaemon Pro for Windows is an email server software package. A free 30 day evaluation copy may be downloaded from here. The basic installation is fairly straightforward, with the minimum of input required. You are asked for the domain name, and are prompted to create an initial user account which will be the administrative account.
NOTE: If accessing the MDaemon server via a Terminal Services session or a Remote Desktop Connection you need to run the program Ghost MDaemon.
Configuring MDaemon
According to the course notes, the first thing you need to configure is the domain name that the server will use. In v8.1.3, which is the version I am evaluating, this information is input as part of the install procedure. To change the domain click Setup | Primary Domain to display the following dialog:
If you change the domain, then a dialog will prompt for confirmation of the change. DNS may be configured to use a specified DNS Server or to use the settings from Windows. Settings can be enabled to return email when the server is unknown or if the user account does not exist.
Account Settings
The default account settings use the first initial of the first name (or first names) and the entire lastname to form the account mailbox and password.
I'm not sure how this works in practice, as when I tried, it it sets the mailbox name to the default, but it doesn't set the password. In this version it insists on a strong password - one which contains both upper and lower case letters and numeric characters.
Creating User Accounts
Click Accounts | Account Manager to display a dialog with a list of the current users. Click the "New" button to create a new account and mailbox. As far as I can see there is no way to link MDaemon account to Windows accounts or Active Directory accounts.
Creating Aliases
Click Accounts | Address aliases to display the dialog with currently defined aliases. Adding an alias is fairly self-explanatory, you type a full email address you wish to be the alias and then type the actual email address of the account the alias will apply to, and click "Add". Interestingly, it doesn't appear to validate the actual email address the alias applies to. Soecifying an unknown account still allows the alias to be created.
Enabling Web Access
My version of MDaemon differs from the version used in the course notes. The process of enabling WorldClient, which is the MDaemon Web Access module, is much the same, but the option wording is different. Click Setup | WrldClient and where the course version says "Enable WorldClient server", this version has "Start & stop WorldClient when MDaemon starts & stops". It also has "WorldClient is running under IIS" which I didn't appear to need. Once it has been enabled, fire up Internet Explorer and enter the URL http://localhost:3000 and the following screen should be displayed. Note: the port number specified.
The CIW course also covers Content Filter Rules and Limiting Access to the server, but I have run out of space here so I calling a halt.