How to configure Microsoft Exchange 2003 to use an SMTP Outbound package

Getting Started

Once you have purchased your SMTP Outbound package you can follow the instructions below to setup your Exchange server to relay mail through our servers.

• Using Exchange System Manager navigate to the Servers container. Now drop down the Protocols' container. Next find the SMTP' protocol and select Default SMTP Virtual Server. Right click on the default smtp virtual server and choose Properties.

• Click on the Outbound Security... button. This is where you will enter the User ID and password of the SMTP Outbound package that you've setup on our system. Choose Basic authentication. Exchange 2003 uses the term Basic Authentication, whereas it really is SMTP AUTH to the rest of the internet community. The user name and password are case sensitive and will be confirmed in your welcome email. You may check 'TLS encryption' if you wish, but it is not required.

• Click on 'Outbound connections...' on the delivery tab. This will show you what outgoing SMTP port number you are configured to use, as well as some connection limits. If your ISP is blocking port 25 and you need to get around it you can enter port 225. This is Gradwell's alternate SMTP port that should not be blocked by any ISP. Port 225 functions exactly the same as port 25, except that it's not blocked by your ISP. We recommend leaving the outbound port to 25 unless you experience this blocked port by your ISP. The other connection limits are changed from the defaults to protect your connection from being flooded by too much mail flowing outbound.

• Click on 'Advanced' on the main delivery options tab. Your fully qualified domain name should be the domain that is appended to all of your outgoing mail. In order to get mail to relay through our servers you will need to setup the 'Smart host' . This is what tells Exchange to deliver all mail destined for the internet though our servers. Use relay.gradwell.net for your smart host. All mail being delivered to the internet will be handed off to this smart host server. Click OK when completed.

After you've completed the above steps you will need to restart your SMTP service for all changes to take effect.

Any mail that is currently in the queue might not take these new settings so you might need to send a new piece of mail to test it.

After sending a test email you will want to check the outbound queue on Exchange to make sure that the mail did not get stuck in your outbound queue because of authentication errors.

Navigate to the Server queue and click on any line that has pending messages and you will see error status at the bottom. You can see that this mail failed because of SMTP AUTH on the remote server.

This means that the username and password that you've entered for relaying is not valid. Double check the user ID and password that you've configured and try again.