Components

Like other IIS services such as FTP, Microsoft SMTP Service is administered through Internet Service Manager. It has a similar look and feel to the other IIS services and is managed in the same manner. It can also be administered through Internet Service Manager (HTML).

This section describes the components of Microsoft SMTP Service, what they do, and how they work together. It contains:

Components and Internet Service Manager Display Settings: Describes the components of Microsoft SMTP Service and the nodes displayed in Internet Service Manager related to the service.
Relationship Between the Components: Describes how the pieces fit together to carry out the functions of Microsoft SMTP Service.
Mailroot Directory and Default Directories: Describes the default directories installed during Setup.

Components and Internet Service Manager Display Settings

All the IIS services that are set for your computer are displayed in Internet Service Manager. Microsoft SMTP Service is represented by a node in the left pane of Internet Service Manager. When you select a node, detailed information about it is displayed in the right pane. The following table provides descriptions of the computer and Microsoft SMTP Service nodes.

Node Icon Description

Computer This is the main administrative component of IIS. It displays information about each IIS service, including its operational status, the IP address, and the port.

SMTP Site This is the main administrative component of Microsoft SMTP Service. It provides access to the property sheets for configuring the site. When you double-click the node, a list of domains and current sessions is displayed.

Domains These are organizational components of Microsoft SMTP Service. The node provides access to the Domain Properties property sheet for creating and configuring domains, and displays information about all domains set up on the site.

Current Sessions This provides status information about the use of Microsoft SMTP Service. It provides access to a display that lists the user, source location, and connection time for each connected session.

Relationship Between the Components

You use the SMTP site in Internet Service Manager to run Microsoft SMTP Service and IIS. It includes a default domain, which is used to stamp messages from addresses that do not have a domain. The default domain cannot be deleted. You can, however, create an alias domain. All alias domains use the default domain to stamp messages.

For more information on domains, see Domain Overview.

Mailroot Directory and Default Directories

Setup installs five default subdirectories in the Mailroot directory so that Microsoft SMTP Service can process messages. Four of the directories are described in the following table. The SortTemp directory, also created during Setup, stores temporary files. The default location of the Mailroot directory is root:\Inetpub\Mailroot, but you can designate a different location during setup. The Mailroot subdirectories and their contents are described in the following table.

Folder Description

Badmail Stores undeliverable messages that cannot be returned to the sender.

Drop Receives all incoming messages for all of the domains hosted on the computer. You can assign any directory to be the Drop directory, except one that has already been designated as the Pickup directory.

Pickup Processes outgoing messages that are created as text files and copied to the directory. As soon as a text message is copied to the Pickup directory, Microsoft SMTP Service collects it and initiates delivery.

Queue Holds messages for delivery. If a message cannot be delivered because the connection is busy or down, the message is stored in the queue and sent again at designated intervals.

Node	Icon	Description
Computer		This is the main administrative component of IIS. It displays information about each IIS service, including its operational status, the IP address, and the port.
SMTP Site		This is the main administrative component of Microsoft SMTP Service. It provides access to the property sheets for configuring the site. When you double-click the node, a list of domains and current sessions is displayed.
Domains		These are organizational components of Microsoft SMTP Service. The node provides access to the Domain Properties property sheet for creating and configuring domains, and displays information about all domains set up on the site.
Current Sessions		This provides status information about the use of Microsoft SMTP Service. It provides access to a display that lists the user, source location, and connection time for each connected session.

Folder	Description
Badmail	Stores undeliverable messages that cannot be returned to the sender.
Drop	Receives all incoming messages for all of the domains hosted on the computer. You can assign any directory to be the Drop directory, except one that has already been designated as the Pickup directory.
Pickup	Processes outgoing messages that are created as text files and copied to the directory. As soon as a text message is copied to the Pickup directory, Microsoft SMTP Service collects it and initiates delivery.
Queue	Holds messages for delivery. If a message cannot be delivered because the connection is busy or down, the message is stored in the queue and sent again at designated intervals.