Microsoft SMTP Service Release Notes

The following sections are included in this document: Welcome to for Microsoft SMTP Service
Hardware and Software Requirements
Installation
Client Software
SSL Support
Active Messaging Object Model
Known Issues
Copyright Information


Welcome to for Microsoft SMTP Service

Thank you for participating in this Microsoft SMTP Service beta release. Before installing this product, review this entire document, and read the Microsoft SMTP Service documentation. It contains helpful information about proper installation and use of the Microsoft Internet Mail Server.

Microsoft SMTP Service is a commercial-grade implementation of SMTP designed to meet the high-traffic loads required by mission-critical applications. Key benefits of Microsoft SMTP Service are:


Hardware and Software Requirements

This version of Microsoft SMTP Service has the same minimum hardware requirements as Windows NT Server version 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0. It is important that you thoroughly plan before you build your mail service.


Installation

WARNING   You cannot use Microsoft SMTP Service to upgrade from previous versions of Microsoft Commmercial Internet System (MCIS) Mail Server. If you are upgrading to , use the following procedure to remove previous versions of MCIS Mail Server before running Setup.

Empty the SMTP queue by pausing the SMTP service and monitoring the Mailroot\Queue directory. When this directory is empty, stop the SMTP service.

  1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  2. Select MCIS Mail Server.
  3. Click the Add/Remove button.
  4. Restart your system before starting Setup.

 

To install :
  1. Install Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 3.
  2. Install IIS 4.0 Bet 3.
  3. During Setup, choose either the Typical or Custom installation to install the Internet Mail Server.

Client Software

You can use any SMTP/POP3-compatible client, such as the Microsoft Internet Mail and News component of Internet Explorer (version 3.02 or 4.0) . To enable security, you must use a client, such as Internet Mail and News, that supports SSL and/or Windows NT Challenge/Response.

You can download Internet Explorer from http://www.microsoft.com/ie. Be sure to download the Typical version, which includes Internet Mail and News. If you already have Internet Explorer but you are missing the Internet Mail and News reader, you can download it separately by following the features and components link.


SSL Support

The SMTP SSL support in is based on the following Internetdraft: http://www.imc.org/draft-hoffman-smtp-ssl. This document describes an extension to the SMTP service that allowsan SMTP server and client to use transport-layer security (often referred to as STARTLS) to provide private, authenticated communication over the Internet. This gives SMTP agents the capability to protect some or all of their communications from eavesdroppers and attackers.


Active Messaging Object Model

There have been changes to the object model that are not included in the library that is installed with . The documentation provided reflects the changes that have been made to library. Therefore, the documentation maybe inconsistent with the library. Applications that are developed with this library will require some modification when the next version is available.

This document highlights the differences to help you understand what changes must be made. In addition, you can use the Object Browser to see the objects that are available in this version of the library. For additional documentation, you can download Active Messaging 1.1 from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/appfarm/.

Documentation

The Active Messaging Documentation is found by opening the Product Documentation link in the IIS program group, and then click on Internet Information Server, Scripter's Reference, Installable Components for ASP, and Active Messaging/SMTP Component.

The following properties on the Attachment object are not supported in this release.

Samples

The following two samples demonstrate how to send and receive mail using Active Messaging for SMTP.

The first sample demonstrates how to send mail. The sample creates an application object, creates a SMTP session and calls the logon method to set the user name. Next, a new message is created by opening the outbox and adding a message. Recipients are then added and calling the Send method sends the message. Finally, the objects created are released.

The second sample again creates an application and session object. Next, the outbox is opened and Items.Count is called to check the number of messages. If the number of messages is greater than 1then the first message is retrieved using GetFirst. Then, the properties of the first message are stored in variables. Finally, the objects created are released.

Simple Send Mail sample

  Start of Send Mail Sample

  Dim App As Application

  Dim Session As Session

  Dim Outbox As Folder

  Dim MailItem As MailItem

  

  create application object

  Set App = CreateObject("AMExchange.Application")

  

  create Smtp session object

  Set Session = App.Sessions.Add(mapiSMTPSession)

  

  logon, logon name is used as from address

  Session.Logon "Friendly Name", "someone@microsoft.com"

  

  open outbox

  Set Outbox = Session.GetDefaultFolder(ActMsgFolderOutbox)

  

  create message

  Set MailItem = Outbox.Items.Add("Subject", "Message Text", ActMsgHigh)

   

  create To recipient

  MailItem.Recipients.Add "Friendly Name", "someone@microsoft.com", ActMsgTo

  

  send message

  MailItem.Send

  

  release objects

  Set MailItem = Nothing

  Set Outbox = Nothing

  Set Session = Nothing

  Set App = Nothing

  end of Send Mail Sample


Simple Read Mail Sample

  Start of Read Mail Sample

  Dim App As Application

  Dim Session As Session

  Dim Inbox As Folder

  Dim MailItem As MailItem

  

  create application object

  Set App = CreateObject("AMExchange.Application")

  

  create Smtp session object

  Set Session = App.Sessions.Add(mapiSMTPSession)

  

  logon, logon name is used as from address

  Session.Logon "Friendly Name", "someone@microsoft.com"

  

  open outbox

  Set Inbox = Session.GetDefaultFolder(ActMsgFolderInbox)

  

  open first message

  If 0 < Inbox.Items.Count Then

    Set oMailItem = Inbox.Items.GetFirst

    strSubject = MailItem.Subject

    strText = MailItem.Text

    strSender = MailItem.Sender.Name

  End If

    

  release objects

  Set MailItem = Nothing

  Set Inbox = Nothing

  Set Session = Nothing

  Set App = Nothing

  end of Read Mail Sample

Application Object

The Application object is not available with this library. In this version, the Session object is the top of the hierarchy. The following is an example of how to create a new session, logon, and create new message item using Visual Basic.

  1. create the session object Set objSession = CreateObject("ActiveMessaging.Session")
  2. logon

    objSession.Logon SmtpName:="Logon Name", SmtpAddress:="Logon Addres"

  3. create a message and fill in its properties
  4. Set objMessage = objSession.Outbox.Messages.Add

Session Object

This version of Active Messaging supports Inbox and Outbox properties.To create a new message in the Outbox, use the following:

NOTE The next version will not support Inbox and Outbox properties.

Documentation

The following objects are described in the documentation but are not supported in this library.


Known Issues

The following is the list of known issues for .

Virtual Directories Terminology

Windows NT Server event logs make reference to "virtual roots," which are in fact virtual directories. The correct term is "virtual directories." This terminology will be corrected in a future release.

Using WINS and Host Tables for Intranet Service

Although DNS is required for Internet deployment of Microsoft NNTP Service, WINS or host tables can be substituted for DNS when using News Server on an intranet.

Naming Newsgroups

It is recommended that you use seven-bit (lower ASCII) characters for newsgroup names.

Broken Documentation Link

After first launching Web Admin, you will see three icons on the top line of Web Admin screen. The book icon does not function for this release.

Message corruption under low disk conditions.

Message corruption can occur when available disk space is low or exhausted on the Mailroot directory. Place the Mailroot directory on drives with plenty of free disk space.

Drop directory message not included in Performance Monitor %Local Recipients counter.

The Performance Monitor counter %Local Recipients does not include messages placed in the drop directory.

Cannot selectively bind multiple IP addresses to a single SMTP site.

Does not support selective binding of multiple IP addresses to a single SMTP site. The choices are either a single IP address or all unassigned IP addresses in this beta.

Missing event logs when service is running.

Not all configuration changes (for example, default domain changes, instance start/stop, smart host changes, and so forth) are logged to the event log when the service is running. All configuration changes made while the SMTP service is not running are not logged to the event log.

Changing SMTP BadMail directory.

The administration interface does not validate that the Badmail directory is on a local drive. You must always specify a local drive for the Badmail directory.

Master properties not supported for SMTP.

In the MMC, SMTP doesnot appear in the Computer Properties Master Properties box. does not support setting master properties.

Imprecise NDR on some looping cases.

In cases when the SMTP server tries to connect to itself, the non-delivery report (NDR) displays the message "Connection to host <hostname> failed." The correct message is "Cannot connect to self."

Incorrect Default and Max values in MMC.

Several controls in the MMC have incorrect maximum and default values. It is strongly recommended that you review these settings before making extensive use of .

SMTP adds extra blank lines to mail put in drop directory.

SMTP adds an extra blank line to the end of messages placed in a drop directory.

Active Messaging

The following methods/properties are not supported in and should not be used:

Active Messaging: Inbox support requires a drop directory.

Active Messaging support for Inbox functionality requires you to configure the default domain with a drop directory.

Active Messaging: Attachment.ReadFromFile errors.

Calling Attachment.ReadFromFile more than once per attachment can cause unpredictable results.

Active Messaging: Attachment.Source not supported.

The Attachment object does not support the Source property for the attachment type 'ActMsgFileData'. To set the file to attach, use the ReadFromFile method. To get the name of the attached file use the Name property.

Active Messaging: Deleting messaging in Outbox not supported.

Do not attempt to delete a message newly created using Outbox.Items.Add(). Release the MailItem (by clearing MailItem) and the object is deleted.

Active Messaging: Time properties on MailItem return E_UNEXPECTED.

The CreationTime, LastModificationTime, TimeRecieved, and TimeSent properties return E_UNEXPECTED when used on a MailItem that has not been sent.


Copyright Information

© 1997 Microsoft Corporation

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