Total newbie frustated with SMTP mail and IIS

[robinsdale]

Hi,

Here's the background: I am somewhat of a novice at networking. We have a small home LAN, peer-to-peer, with most systems running Windows98se. We have a broadband connection using cable. We were using Allegrosurf proxy server to do ICS, but it had no mail handling capabilities to speak of - everyone was getting everyone else's mail. Not good.

I invested in a new 'internet gateway' system with two NICs: one connected to the cable modem, the other to the hub. This system is running Windows 2000 Professional, with IIS and TmSoft's POP3Server 'sharing' the task of e-mail management. The domain is called 'netserver', which is also what this system is called. All of the Win98 boxes run TCP/IP only, have static IP addresses, and in the DNS Config tab of the TCP/IP properties have 'netserver' as host and '192.168.0.1' in the DNS search order as well as under the Gateway tab Installed Gateways list. Internet Explorer works fine now that I un-ticked the proxy server tick box in the Connections tab in the Internet Options dialog. I have ZoneAlarm Pro (which supports ICS) installed on the Win2000 Pro system, as well as Norton Antivirus 2002. From a browser standpoint, we're in great shape. (I think) :/

It's my lack of understanding of how mail works that makes this setting up of IIS SMTP mail so frustrating. TmSoft's POP3Server was a breeze to set up. Everything seems to be working alright - the mail sent from OE disappears with no error messages - just not sure where these messages are going. I'm just not sure whether I've got the SMTP server set up properly - no mail, including the test mail I've been sending since I set it up - has come in, which makes me very suspicious of my settings.

I have a website account with addr.com as host called

http://www.tightbytes.com

with e-mail. It appears that addr.com pretty much routs my mail to jbuckley@bigpond.net.au - I think. I was never very clear on that. Before this setup we would connect to Bigpond (our ISP), bring up Outlook Express and retrieved our mail - all of it, including all our 'TightBytes' mail. In the Servers tab of Accounts... -> Mail -> Properties, the Incoming Mail Server Account name entry was 'jbuckley' with the accompanying password to get on to 'pop-server' and 'mail-hub', which our ISP's mail service is set up for users to connect to POP3 using 'pop-server' in the POP3 server text box and 'mail-hub' in the SMTP server text box.

I wish to have a 'post office' of sorts, where each person would his or her own mail. I have set up a mailbox in TmSoft POP3Server for each user. The service starts automatically, as does SMTP server. So far so good.
My question is about the Internet Services Manager settings. I have re-named the "Default SMTP Server" name to 'NETSERVER' - same as the box it's in, and the domain. Under Properties for that server, in the General tab the name is as I mentioned, the IP address is 192.168.0.1 in the combobox. the other entries in that box are:
(All unassigned)
144.136.147.234
Not sure what that second IP address is, although it kinda resembles the IP address for my ISP I have in ZoneAlarm's trusted zone. I don't know which entry is appropriate in this combobox, and none of my reading - all of which has served to confuse me to no end! - is able to suggest which entry is right.

Then there's the access tab. I really don't want this box to act as a web server - which would void our account with our ISP, strictly forbidden, here is Oz! - so I don't want anonymous access. Now, does 'access' mean from users on my LAN or remote access (like from the internet)? Nothing I've read seems to give any indication what this is about.

In the connection control, I have specified which of the home network's users can 'access this virtual server' by entering their IP addresses and ticking the 'Only the list below' radio button. Same for relay restrictions.

I would thoroughly appreciate 'For Dummies' E-Mail 101 pointers to how I can set this all up to receive e-mail. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Robyn

 

[Gupone]

I am not sure if you have gotten the answers you wanted yet. Lets see if I can try to help you. First, I have a couple questions. 1st. Explain to me in simple terms what you are trying to accomplish.. are you wanting to just set up a LAN in order to communicate with the different computers in your home? Or are you wanting to also set up a network in order to share a internet connection? Do you have a broadband service? If so, do you have a static IP or a dynamic?

Setting up a basic home/small office network is very simple and alot easier then what you are describing above. Also the same thing for the WAN type network. Please let me know if you still need some help,

Gup

 

[robinsdale]

Hi Gupone,
Thanks for your response. I have found, in the meantime, that what I am trying to accomplish - having each person received her mail, and only her mail - was not possible within the parameters of our current situation.
I have a small LAN, about 8 or so PCs, with a broadband (cable) connection to the internet: dynamic IP address. What I was envisoning was an electronic 'Post Office' on the gateway PC - the one actually connected to the cable modem - that would be accessible via the LAN by the other PCs (2nd NIC from the 'gateway PC to a 8-port hub). Misconceptions about what came with Windows 2000 Professional fueled this fantasy, but reality has since shuddered it's way home in the form of a fair-dinkum network guru who cleared a lot of this stuff up for me. Funny, never found *any* of what he told me anywhere on the web. He recommended that I use the mailboxes that my web host provides, thus having the 'Post Office' offsite, but just as effective. addr.com, who host my site, support email forwarding into virtual mailboxes. I then set up the clients POP3 server entry to be "mail.mycoolsite.com" and the SMTP server entry to be the default ISP outgoing mail server. All is now right as rain. Everyone in the house is happy and I'm a tiny bit better informed but still needing to learn a lot!
Cheers,
Robyn