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Email Server Documentation
FAQs
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CapeSoft Email Server
Frequently Asked Questions

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General Questions

A1.   How many users can this program support?

A2.   Is anti-virus software supported?

A3.   Is spam filtering supported?

A4.   How do I upgrade my Email Server?

A5.   When I upgrade the Email Server will I have to reconfigure it with all my settings?

A6.   How do I backup my configuration settings?

A7.  Understanding SMTP error codes (or "What the heck does 550 relay denied mean anyway?")

Product Setup & Configuration

B1.   How do I configure my email client (e.g. Outlook / Outlook Express) to read emails from the Email Server?

B2.   My email client (e.g. Outlook / Outlook Express) won't connect to the email server to get or send email. What's going wrong?

B3.   My Server Can't Listen on a Port. What's happening and how do I fix it?

B3.   I am getting "Error. SMTP Server could not listen on the requested port (25)". How do I fix it?

B3.   I am getting "Error. POP3 Server could not listen on the requested port (110)". How do I fix it?

B4.   How do I change the port number that CapeSoft Email Server runs on?

B5.   I don't know any DNS Servers, are there any I can use in the mean time?

B6.   How do I configure Internal Email?

B7.   How do I configure my machine to Auto Logon?

B8.   Some other email servers are rejecting my email because I don't have reverse DNS working. What should I do?

B9.   I don't seem to be able to send email via the MX method to some domains (including AOL). Sometimes I see -53, -57, 550, 551, 553, 554, 500 or 451 errors. What's going on?

B10. How do I block or reject incoming emails for certain email addresses?

B11. How do I read my mail at home and at work?

B12. What is the difference between a "Relay Server" and an "Open Relay Server"?

B13. What are MX entries?

B14. What is the difference between MX sending and Relay sending?

B15. What should I set my Sending Relay Server settings to?

B16. What's the difference between a dynamic IP and a static IP?

B17. My Dynamic IP address is being blocked by my recipient's server. What can I do?

B18. How do I implement a Dynamic IP Updater, and which one do you recommend?

B19. How do I setup my own domain and receive emails for it?

B20. How do I configure the email server to work on a server with a dynamic IP?

B21. I'm struggling to send emails from the Email Server to my Relay Server. What can I do?

B22. I'm struggling to send emails from my Email Client to the Email Server. What can I do?

B23. Where does Email Server store my mail and settings?

B24. How do I change where Email Server stores its data (mail and settings)?

B25. Secure the POP and SMTP server using sTunnel to provide SSL connections

Running issues, upgrade problems & support related questions

C1)   How do I get help or support for this application?

C2)   How do I generate a LOG file I can email to support?

C3)   What does this error mean "Could not get write access to .\Data\Emails.tps so trying read-only" and/or "File .\Data\Emails.tps could not be opened. Error: Access Denied (5). Press OK to end this application"?

C4) It looks like the Email Server is saving collected emails to the wrong mailbox. What's going on here?

C5) I'm running the Email Server as a Service, and I can't find the Icon in the task tray notification area. What's going on?

C6) How do I delete items from the Outbox or the user mailboxes?

C7)   I'm getting -53 errors - what does this mean?

C8)  When I collect mail my user name or password is rejected, why can't I connect to the email server?

C9) I get an API error when writing the SmtpClientLog.xml file

C10) I upgraded from an older release to 3.80 or 3.81 and had problems and rolled back. When I install the new release I seem to loose my settings.

C11) I am running Email Server as a Service under Windows Vista, but there is no icon in the system tray.

C12) Why is mail "sticking" in the outbox and not sending?

C13) After upgrading to Email Server 4.2.0 the email seems slow and unresponsive (and may be using an excessive amount of CPU time or memory)

C14) After upgrading to Email Server it fails to start and displays an "unable to reload license" error.

Developer Edition

D1)   For all Developer Edition queries please look here

Source Code

E1)  For all Source Code queries please look here

Sending Errors

F1.   553 SMTP Delaying Denied

A1) Question: How many users can this program support?

Answer: CapeSoft Email Server poses no limit on the number of mailboxes, aliases, or domains you wish to configure. In reality the number of users the system can support is determined by a number of factors. Things like speed of the server, speed of the server's hard drive, available memory, network/Internet bandwidth, amount and size of email traffic, and the efficiency of the email server all play a part in the equation. At the end of the day there is no magic number. On a fast machine there should be no problem with several hundred or more users. Although CapeSoft Email Server not originally targeted at replacing large (expensive) enterprise level mail servers, over the years it has increased in speed and efficiency, and we have tested the server on both fast and even slow (486) machines and it has remained very responsive, and scales to handle large volumes well.



A2) Question: Is anti-virus software supported?

Answer: As to be expected, the CapeSoft Email Server in itself contains no virus checking software, however it does work with a number of popular Anti-Virus programs, which you will have to purchase separately. The following information may help you in choosing which anti-virus software to purchase, as well as some configuration tips.

Anti-Virus software detects viruses in emails via two methods:
When you are wanting to install anti-virus software that gives you 100% virus protection to work with this Email Server, you'll need an anti-virus program that uses method 1 (i.e. Detect viruses in .eml files). When the Anti-virus application locks access to the .eml file CapeSoft Email Server detects this, and the emails containing these viruses are deleted and not sent to the POP3 recipients or sent out via SMTP. This means that the sever machine (running CapeSoft Email Server and the Anti-Virus program) will not receive or pass on known viruses in emails to any of the machines in your network.

Anti-virus programs that only use Method 2 only protects the email client transactions (outgoing emails sent via SMTP from the Email Server, and incoming emails from other Email Servers via POP Collect to this Email Server), which is only a subset of all the email server functionality. So this method does not protect the Email Server from receiving virus emails via its SMTP Server and then passing them on to Email Clients via its POP3 Server. The only way to protect your entire system using this method, would be to ensure that each computer on the network is running an anti-virus application that covers method 2, but that's not a server based solution.

Note: Another consideration when choosing an anti-virus program is that many of the standard versions of anti-virus programs do not run on Server Operating Systems (for example Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT 4 Server). Anti-virus programs that can run on Server machines are often more expensive. (Incidentally there is also no reason from the Email Server software, why you can't run your Email Server on Desktop Operating Systems like Windows Vista, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home, Windows 2000 Pro, Windows 98 etc.)

Note: We've added an Anti-Virus Testing Tool to the Email Server, which you can use to test whether your anti-virus application is working correctly with method 1, and therefore protecting your system. This checking tool is available from the Tools menu in the Email Server.

Note: It's often best to turn off Method 2 from your Anti-Virus software (sometimes called something like Email Scanning in the Anti-Virus Configuration), for the following reasons:
Here's a list of Anti-Virus software that we have tried out with the Email Server:
A3) Question: Is spam filtering supported?

Answer:
SPAM pesters people on two fronts:

1) Spammers send loads of spam to email addresses in your domain, which don't actually map to anyone in particular. For example they may send emails to andrew@example.com even though you don't have an Andrew in your office. Spammers in fact are actually sending emails to a whole list of names (e.g. Aaron, Abbi, Abby, Adam, Allan, Allen, Alec, Alex, Alexa, Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis, Alicia, Allison, Alyssa, Amanda etc.) in the hope of hitting some real addresses that do exist in your domain. This becomes a real problem because although these emails are delivered to anyone meaningful, they are using your bandwidth, and may be clogging an email account that you are collecting email from.


2) Spammers also hit real addresses. This is very frustrating as your Email Client's Inbox fills up with loads of junk.


A4) Question: How do I upgrade my Email Server?

Answer: Upgrades for this product are free. To upgrade this Email Server:
  1. Download the latest version
  2. Exit the Email Server
  3. Run the new install file. This will install the latest version, and it will keep your current settings.
          (Incidentally if you wanted to backup your configuration settings see FAQ A6 - Backing up your configuration settings)

Important Note regarding Version 3.80 and later
 This release build in Microsoft Vista compatibility and hence the data is no longer stored in the \CapeSoft Email Server\Data\ directory.


A5) Question: When I upgrade the Email Server will I have to reconfigure it with all my settings?

Answer: Fortunately not. The upgrades will keep your current Email Server settings.



A6) Question: How do I backup my configuration settings?

Answer: All your configuration settings are found in your Data folder (see below for the location of this folder). They are stored in the various .xml files. Simply make copy of these xml files or make a zip archive of them. Email Server creates a Backup directory in the Data folder and makes periodic backups of the XML configuration files.
To restore your settings, first exit the Email Server, then restore the xml files and then restart the email server.


A7. Understanding SMTP error codes (or "What the heck does 550 relay denied mean anyway?")

SMTP error codes are made of three digits:

The first generally tells whether the server accepted the command and if it could handle it. The five possible values are:
The second number gives more information. Its six possible values are:
The last number is even more specific and shows more graduations of the mail transfer status. This leads us to the detailed list of ESMTP server response codes, as laid down in RFC 821 and later extensions:
The following error messages (500-504) usually generally indicate a conflict between the two sides of the conversation, generally indicating that one side is broken, or issuing invalid commands.
The 550 range of errors are quite common and essentially indicate that a requested action was not allowed, often because of an authentication error (incorrect user name and password etc.). They can also mean that the server thinks that you are a spammer, or that you are blocklisted.

B1) Question: How do I setup my email client (e.g. Outlook / Outlook Express) to read emails from the Email Server?

Answer: We've build an Email Client Wizard into the Email Server application. It's in the Help menu. Fundamentally in Outlook or Outlook Express (or whatever Email Client you are using) you need to tell Outlook that it must now get it's mail from the CapeSoft Email Server, rather than directly from the ISP.

a) Load up the Email Client Wizard and choose the Mailbox (User) you want to setup. Make a note of the various settings it is telling you about. i.e. the Outgoing and Incoming mail IP numbers (for example 192.168.2.2 - but it may be different on your machine) - also make a note of the Account Name and Password.

b) Then run:

B2) Question: My email client (e.g. Outlook / Outlook Express) won't connect to the email server to get or send email. What's going wrong?
Email ClientError Type 1Error Type 2
Outlook ExpressThe connection to the server has failed. Account: 'My Email', Server: '192.168.2.1', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10061, Error Number: 0x800CCC0EYour server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. Account: 'My Email', Server: '192.168.2.1', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10054, Error Number: 0x800CCC0F
Netscape 7Could not connect to server <server details>; the connection was refused.(no error displayed)
Opera 7POP3 server unavailable. Network problems?[(null)](no error displayed)
Answer: The error occurs because the email client can not connect to the email server. This can be caused by a number of reasons, and the following list may help you find the problem:
  1. Make sure the email server is running. (Seems silly, but it can be easily overlooked)
  2. Please make sure you are running the latest version of the Email Server. There was a small glitch with Outlook in v2.00 of the CapeSoft Email Server, so it's worth upgrading.
  3. Look in the "POP3 Server Log" & the "SMTP Server Log" tabs on the main Email Server window, if you see an entry like the following:

    20:46:31 ------------------
    20:46:31 Warning. IP Disallowed. Closing new connection from 192.168.2.1 as it fails the IP check.
    20:46:31 Warning: Address [192.168.2.1] disallowed.
    20:46:31 New connection from 192.168.2.1 to this POP Server received. On SockID = 4
    20:46:10 ------------------

    then the IP Filtering is stopping a connection. If the connection that was barred was a from a legitimate address then you need to adjust the following, to allow that address to be able to talk with this server:

    Look in the Tools-Options in the IP Address Filter tab. It should be setup to allow connections from the machine you are running the email client on. If you are getting Error Type 2 in the above table - this is almost certainly the problem. Here's a screen shot of the default settings. Remember if your email client is on 198.14.20.20 then you need to add an entry for this machine.

    Note: You can also choose to allow foreign IP addresses to use your SMTP server if you turn on the Allow SMTP Authentication option and they specify a correct Username (mailbox name) and Password.



    TIP: If you are really unsure if this is the problem un-tick the "By default allow access to all" checkboxes for both the SMTP and the POP server. (Remember to add the correct IP Filter entries and re-tick this option later).
  4. Make sure (in the SMTP Server Log tab and the POP Server Log tab) that the SMTP Server and POP Server started up correctly. If they have started correctly then you will see something like:

    14:18:18 SMTP Server listening on port 25
    or
    14:18:18 POP Server listening on port 112

    If you don't see this or you see some errors about being unable to listen on the port, then look at the My Server Can't Listen on a Port FAQ section.
  5. Are sure the you've entered the correct IP address into the email account settings in your email client.
  6. Try running the email client on the same machine as the email server. If this works but it doesn't work when the email client is on another machine. Make sure you have the same settings in both email clients. If you do there may be a problem with the network.
  7. If while running email client and server on same machine you change (in the Servers Tab in Outlook Express) the server info to
    localhost
    instead of something like 192.168.2.1
    If this fixes the problem then the IP address you entered into the email client is incorrect.
  8. If all else fails, please generate a log file and send it to


B3) Question: My Server Can't Listen on a Port. What's happening and how do I fix it? You may see errors like this in the on-screen logs:
Error. POP Server could not listen on the requested port (110)
Error. SMTP Server could not listen on the requested port (25)

Answer: This error is caused by some other application already using this port.
Typically this will be either an anti-virus application or another email server application (like IIS's SMTP Service).

Solution 1:
Go to www.sysinternals.com and download TCPView.
After running this application (and turning on the Options|Show Unconnected Endpoints option) look to see which application is LISTENING on the local address SMTP port (25) or pop3 port (110).
This is the application that you'll need to close down.
If it's IIS's SMTP Service - you can close this from Computer Manager | Services and Applications | Internet Information Service.
If it's your Anti-Virus application you should be able to configure this from your Anti-Virus' Control Panel or Options.

Solution 2:
If you shutdown the email server and run
netstat -an
from a command (DOS) prompt you should see an entry like this:
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 0.0.0.0:110 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING

This means some other program on your machine is listening on port 110.

Do you have other mail programs/virus checkers installed? You can find the process by elimination. i.e. close down one process at a time until the listening port disappears.

Solution 3
If you are really stumped you can change the port on which the CapeSoft Email Server runs but this is not recommended if you are managing a whole domain. As your incoming emails should always be on port 25.


B4) Question: How do I change the port number that CapeSoft Email Server runs on?

Answer:

Note, please don't change the SMTP port if you are permanently connected and are running the email server for a whole domain as other email servers won't know you've changed the port number, and your incoming mail won't work.

You can do this by going to Tools | Options | Extra | Advanced,

or if you are still running an older version ...



B5) Question: I don't know any DNS Servers, are there any I can use in the mean time?

Answer: Your ISP are the best people to ask if you are trying to find out what DNS Server you should be using, but in the mean time you could use one of the following (remember just to use just the numbers - and not the text description):
B6) Question: How do I configure Internal Email?

Answer: The mail server configuration is described in the Configuration Section, but the following may also be helpful.
You can setup internal email via three ways:

(In points 2 and 3 you could also use ourOffice instead of ourOffice.com or in fact any domain of your choice, but try and avoid using domains that do exist (e.g. microsoft.com))

B7) Question: How do I configure my machine to Auto Logon?

Answer: There are two ways to do this. You can either make changes to your registry, or you can download the Microsoft TweakUI program for your operating system. This application has an option to turn on AutoLogon, which means that you don't have to select a user and enter a password, this is done automatically when you computer boots up.

Windows Server 2003 & Windows XP: www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 98 & 95: www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp

Note: In v3.00 and later you can install your Email Server as a Service. Use the Service commands in the Tools menu to do this.


B8) Question: Some other email servers are rejecting my email because I don't have reverse DNS working. What should I do??

Answer: Unfortunately some email severs are configured to bounce back email that comes from another server that does not have a valid reverse DNS entry. This tragically, is a lame method for trying to stop spam, and usually results in allowing spam and blocking legitimate emails. (See this article on anti-spam techniques that are not useful).

What you can do:
  1. Ignore it and hopefully sooner (or later) people will work out that reverse DNS is an invalid technique to stop spam. [Since writing this FAQ (a couple of years ago) Reverse DNS has become less and less popular and so you probably won't be too bothered by this]
  2. Or, set up reverse DNS for your email server. This normally needs to be done via your ISP, unless you have your own class C network (i.e. All 256 IP addresses, in which case you can do this yourself).

B9) Question: I don't seem to be able to send email via the MX method to some domains (including AOL). Sometimes I see -53, -57, 550, 551, 553, 554, 500 or 451 errors. What's going on?

Answer: If you are able to send email to most people, but not to a few addresses (AOL and American Express being the largest culprits - but there are others), then what's probably happening here is that your ISP has blacklisted it's dynamic IP addresses on a public IP blacklist. Some companies (AOL included) in a desperate (yet insane) attempt to reduce spam use these lists to prevent folk on dynamic IP machines from sending emails directly. Understandably this will prevent a large amount of spam, but the baby is thrown out with the bath water and many legitimate emails are also blocked. This is a really feeble method to try and prevent spam, as spammers are well aware of this and will work around it, meanwhile legitimate email is unable to reach the recipients. (See this article on anti-spam techniques that are not useful).

Fortunately we've implemented a work around so that you can specify that emails that are blocked in this manner are sent through your relay server settings. Your email delivery is then in the hands of your ISP, but there's still a chance that your email can be delivered by your ISP (as long as your ISP hasn't ended up on someone's spam-was-sent-by-there-IP-addresses list)..

What you can do:
Go to Tools | Options | Sending Tab and turn on the two "If MX Fails pass email onto Relay Server" options.

Important: See also the FAQ articles B14 to B17.

SMTP Reply Codes
211 system status, or system help reply
214 help message
220 <domain> service ready
221 <domain> service closing transmission channel
250 request mail action okay, completed
251 user not local, will forward to <forward-path>
354 start mail input; and with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
421 <domain> servers not available, closing transmission channel
450 requested mail action not taken: mailbox unavailable
451 requested action aborted: local error in processing
452 requested action not taken: insufficient system storage
500 syntax error, command unrecognized
501 syntax error in parameters or arguments
502 command not implemented
503 bad sequence of commands
504 command parameter not implemented
550 requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
551 user not local; please try <forward-path>
552 requested mail action aborted: exceeded storage allocation
553 requested action not taken: mailbox name not allowed
554 transaction failed

B10) Question: How do I block or reject incoming emails for certain email addresses?


Answer: This can be a really useful thing to do. For example if one of your staff leaves your company, or you have an email address that is being spammed, but it is never used for legitimate emails (e.g. paul@yourcompany.com).

Reject options for Mailboxes

In Tools-Options you can set one of two rejection options on a mailbox. You can choose to either simply reject the email or you can allow emails to be downloaded and be thrown away in the background.
If you are managing your own domain(s) and this email server is configured to be the incoming SMTP Server, then choosing the first option will reject any emails before they are sent to your server.

Tip
You may also want to reject all emails that do not match a valid email alias.
Warning. Make sure you get your alias list set up correctly before using this option.
Here's how to do this:
Create a mailbox called Reject or Dumpster and set the reject option on. Then add an alias of *@yourcompany.com and map this to the Reject mailbox.
(The * at the front of the alias means match all combinations of the alias, that are not specifically defined in the alias list. e.g. if you have a mailbox for john@yourcompany.com, then john will still continue to receive his email.)

Note:
On your network you are able to send an email to multiple people in one go. Make sure none of these recipients are in the rejected state, otherwise your email will get stuck in your outbox.


B11) Question: How can I get my mail at work and at home?

Situation One: You want all emails at home and at work
Let's first look at the question in a little more detail. Here's the typical question: I have a client that has two computers in her office networked together. One is her main computer and she usually reads her email from that computer. At night she uses her home computer [or maybe a laptop] to do work and occasionally needs to refer to an email that she has already seen at work. Currently she has no way to do this and I thought your email server might be a good solution for her.

Can the email server hold all messages as a giant storage facility? If you're at computer A and you do a send/receive will the email server give you all messages not seen by that machine and then if you do the same thing on the other machine get all messages not seen by THAT machine.

The idea is suppose there are three new messages grabbed by the email server. When Computer A does a send/receive it would get the three messages and when at a later time Computer B does a send/receive it will get those same three messages plus any other new ones. Finally, the next day when Computer A again does a send/receive it should get any new messages after those original three.

Answer: Take for example jane@example.com

Create two mailboxes jane@example.com and jane2@example.com

Then create an alias for jane@examples.com to mailbox jane2@example.com

That way when an email comes in for jane@example.com it will get put into both mailboxes.

Configure computer A to read emails from mailbox jane@example.com and computer B from jane2@example.com

Aside: If you wanted to map say info@example.com to both mailboxes too, then add two aliases:
info@example.com to jane@example.com and
info@example.com to jane2@example.com

Situation Two: You want all emails at work, but you also want to be able to read emails - that arrive after you leave work - at home in the evenings.

This is fairly easy to do.
  1. At work configure your email client to read and delete emails (the normal behaviour of most email clients - like Outlook and Outlook Express)
  2. At home configure your email client to read emails from the same mailbox, but not to delete the emails until they are 30 days old.
  3. Then configure the Email Server's IP address Filter so that you can access the Email Server from your home IP address.

B12) Question: What is the difference between a "Relay Server" and an "Open Relay Server"?

Answer: To answer this question it's probably worth looking at a couple definitions:

A "Relay Server" simply means an email server that you are able to pass an email onto. Your ISP's email server is a relay server. You can send it emails, and it will deliver them.

An "Open Relay Server" means a Relay Server that is open to anyone. This is a bad thing, as it allows anyone to use the email server, which costs someone bandwidth and is often used for sending spam.

The CapeSoft Email Server allows you to configure itself (using IP filters) so that it is not an Open Relay Server. The default settings prevent it from being an open relay server.

Incidentally, these IP filters allow you to allow "friendly" IP addresses to send emails through your server should you wish to. Alternatively the CapeSoft Email Server supports SMTP Authentication, which means that for someone (outside of your safe IP list) to send email through the server they must supply a correct username and password. This option is particularly useful when you have folk who travel away from your office, but still want to be able to send emails via say a laptop.

You can test your email server to see if it is operating as an open relay from this site: www.abuse.net/relay.html



B13) Question: What are MX entries?

Answer: Maybe we should first step back and explain DNS. DNS stands for Domain Name Server, and it is used to map Domain Names with IP addresses. For example www.google.com maps to IP address 207.196.25.11. (In fact this is actually a DNS A record.)

DNS MX records do a similar thing, they map the Domain to the responsible Mail Servers. So for example the MX records for google.com are:

smtp1.google.com - preference 10
smtp2.google.com - preference 10
smtp5.google.com - preference 10
smtp3.google.com - preference 40
smtp4.google.com - preference 40


This means that emails to anybody@google.com will be mapped to one of those mail servers.

Incidentally to list these MX records you can use either of two approaches:
  1. You can examine the MX entries of a domain by using one of the following online DNS tools:
    here (Type in Domain (e.g example.com) and set Query Type to MX),
    here (Type in Domain (e.g. example.com) and set Query Type to MX) or
    here (Type in Domain (e.g. example.com) and set Query Type to MX - Mail Exchange Server).
    (Remember it can take up to 2 days to get updated around the Internet).
  2. in a DOS prompt type (you must be online too):
    nslookup
    set type=mx
    google.com
    [Ctrl-C] (to break)

MX Entries have two implications when configuring a Mail Server:
  1. If you administer your own domain, then you will need to configure the MX records for your domain to point to your Email Server, so that other people can send your email.
  2. In the Email Server's Sending configuration you can choose whether to send email to another Relay Server or rather to send it directly (via MX). The difference between these two approaches is discussed in FAQ Article B14.
Here's an example DNS setup for example.com

A Records:

    www.example.com - to be pointed to the web server IP address

    mail.example.com - to be pointed to the mail server IP address

MX Records:

    mail.example.com preference 5



B14) Question: What is the difference between MX sending and Relay sending?

Answer: Email Servers can send emails via two methods:
  1. Relay Sending - this approach is where your Email Server passes on the emails to another Email Server, who is then responsible for delivering the emails. This approach is like one post office passing on all their letters for delivery to another post office.

    This approach is normally used for dial-up connections as it's a bit faster, but provides you with less control and slower (or no) feedback of failed messages.
  2. This approach uses the recipient's domain MX entries to deliver the email directly to the recipients email server. (See FAQ B13 - What is an MX Entry). For example if you were to send an email to anybody@google.com this approach would result in the email being delivered directly to one of the Google email servers.

    This approach is the preferred choice for permanent connections, as it provides you with more control and better feedback in terms of failed messages.

    See also FAQ Article B9 and FAQ Article B17 on using MX Sending and Relay Sending together.


B15) Question: What should I set my Relay Server settings in the Email Server's Sending Configuration Settings to?

Answer: Your Relay Server (in Tools | Options | Sending Tab | Relay Server) should be set to the Relay Server that your ISP provides you with. This will be different for each ISP, although it will typically be something like mail.yourISP.com or smtp.yourISP.com. If you are unsure, please look on your ISP's website, as it's often available there, or give them a ring.


B16) Question: What's the difference between a dynamic IP and a static IP?

Answer: A static IP is an IP address that is assigned to your server (or router) that does not change from day-to-day and week-to-week, in fact it typically does not change from year-to-year. A dynamic IP address is however an IP address that typically changes reasonably often (typically everyday) to a new address.

ISPs may implement dynamic IP allocation to broadband (ADSL / DSL / Cable) routers/servers. I suppose they do this to discourage people from running server applications, but in reality people still do, it just takes a little program called a Dynamic IP updater to keep your DNS Entries up-to-date with your ever changing IP address.

See also:
FAQ Article B17 - My Dynamic IP address is being blocked by my recipient's server. What can I do?

FAQ Article B18 - How do I implement a Dynamic IP Updater, and which one do you recommend?



B17) Question: My Dynamic IP address is being blocked by my recipient's server. What can I do?

Answer:

Using both MX and Relaying

Modern day spam filtering has really made it hard for the users of dynamic IP addresses. Many prominent companies have deployed spam filtering techniques that prevent email servers running on dynamic IP addresses from sending emails to their servers. As a result a large quantity of legitimate email is barred or lost in the process. This Email Server allows you to use MX sending by default, but when it encounters a domain that refuses email from a dynamic IP it will switch to sending that email via your Relay Server. You can enable this option in Tools | Options | Sending Tab | MX Settings Tab | If MX Fails pass email onto Relay Server (Intelligently or Always).

See also FAQ Article B9.



B18) Question: How do I implement a Dynamic IP Updater, and which one do you recommend?

Solution One:

For a typical domain you'll want to set up the following DNS Entries:

A Records:

    www.example.com - to be pointed to the web server IP address

    mail.example.com - to be pointed to the mail server IP address

MX Records:

    mail.example.com preference 5

Presuming that you are running your web server and mail server on a server that has a Dynamic IP address you would need to configure a dynamic IP updater to update the following entries:

www.example.com

mail.example.com

I would recommend DirectUpdate (www.directupdate.net price: $15 or $20) which allows you to update your DNS Server entries stored at www.zoneedit.com (which allows you to administer 5 domains for free).

Solution Two:

Another approach is to mix in two Dynamic IP updaters. This gives you the benefit of having a backup system. Here's how you would need to configure your DNS Entries:

A Records:

    www.example.com - to be pointed to the web server IP address

    mail.example.com - to be pointed to the mail server IP address

MX Records:

    mail.example.com preference 5

    examplecompany.no-ip.com preference 10

You would then need to configure the following entries in DirectUpdate

www.example.com

mail.example.com

And then configure a No-IP entry for examplecompany.no-ip.com. (www.no-ip.com - have a free dynamic service and a small application that you need to run).



B19) Question: How do I setup my own domain and receive emails for it?

Answer: You'll need to do the following:
  1. You'll need to register yourself a domain. You have to do this using a Domain Registrar. I've used a number of them, but have been very happy with www.aplus.net. This will typically cost somewhere around $6 to $30 a year, depending on which company you use.
  2. If you are going to be hosting your email server on a dynamic IP address (as is often the case with Broadband ADSL / DSL connections), then you'll need to setup a dynamic IP updater. This is fairly easy to do, see FAQ B18.
  3. Once your domain has been registered (can take a day or two), you'll need to configure your Domain's Name Servers so that you can configure your own DNS entries for your domain. You could get your ISP to do this, but it's probably easier to use www.zoneedit.com. You'll need to create yourself a new zone here, and configure the following (assuming your domain is example.com):
    4. Just follow the following example, choosing the correct options (in italics)

    IP Addresses:
    example.com (IP Address of where your web page will be hosted)
    www.example.com (IP Address of where your web page will be hosted)
    (1) For your Email Server's static IP address:
        mail.example.com (IP Address of where your Email Server is running. Make sure this is not a 192.168.x.x or 127.0.0.1 or 169.254.x.x)
    (2) For your Email Server's dynamic IP address where you just use no-ip.com dynamic updater:
        yourdomain.no-ip.com (IP Address of where your Email Server is running. You'll need to be using the no-ip.com program to keep this up-to-date)
    (3) For your Email Server's dynamic IP address where you use both no-ip.com and mail.example.com as a dynamic updated entry on zoneedit:
        yourdomain.no-ip.com (IP Address of where your Email Server is running. You'll need to be using the no-ip.com program to keep this up-to-date)
        mail.example.com (IP Address of where your Email Server is running. You'll need to be using a program like xxx to keep this up-to-date at zoneedit)

    Mail Servers (MX):
    (1) For your Email Server's static IP address:
        mail.example.com handling mail 1st
    (2) For your Email Server's dynamic IP address where you just use no-ip.com dynamic updater:
        yourdomain.no-ip.com handling mail 1st
    (3) For your Email Server's dynamic IP address where you use both no-ip.com and mail.example.com as a dynamic updated entry on zoneedit:
        yourdomain.no-ip.com handling mail 1st
        mail.example.com handling mail 2nd

    Mail Forwards:
    Make sure these are off. You don't want these on.

    Alternate options:
    TIP : You can have multiple MX addresses for your email.  In other words you might want to set it so that _your_ machine is the "primary mail server" - but your ISP is the "secondary (or tertiary) mail server" - that way if your server goes offline your mail still goes to your ISP and doesn't get lost. (You would then collect email from your ISP's mailbox too).
  4. Now you'll need to enter the Nameservers that zoneedit provides you with into your Domain configuration (setup at your Domain Registrar).
    This can take up to 2 days to propagate around the Internet, so please be patient.
  5. Now you just need to make sure you have your Email Server running on that machine and you will start receiving emails for that domain.
  6. You can check your settings by typing in your domain (and doing an MX lookup online):
    here (Type in Domain (e.g example.com) and set Query Type to MX),
    here (Type in Domain (e.g. example.com) and set Query Type to MX) or
    here (Type in Domain (e.g. example.com) and set Query Type to MX - Mail Exchange Server).
    (Remember it can take up to 2 days to get updated around the Internet).
    If your domain is setup correctly you should see something like this:

    Server: tethys.ringofsaturn.com
    Address: 64.81.112.182#53

    Non-authoritative answer:
    beachpalm.com mail exchanger = 0 mail.beachpalm.com.

    Authoritative answers can be found from:
    beachpalm.com nameserver = ns14.zoneedit.com.
    beachpalm.com nameserver = ns19.zoneedit.com.
    mail.beachpalm.com internet address = 203.146.145.194
    ns14.zoneedit.com internet address = 209.126.137.108
    ns19.zoneedit.com internet address = 69.10.134.196
  7. Another TIP : Ironically about the only machines that can't get to your server via the No-IP address are machines on your LAN. This is because you are "inside" your router - everyone outside the router can see your router, but you can't. This makes testing a lot of fun because you can't just send yourself an email to see if it works :)
    In this case try sending from a web email system - like hotmail.


B20) Question: How do I configure the Email Server to work on a server with a dynamic IP?

Answer: This is all explained in FAQ Article B18.



B21) Question: I'm struggling to send emails from the Email Server to my Relay Server. What can I do?

Answer:
  1. Please check which version of the Email Server are you using? It's always worth running the latest version when trying to diagnose problems, as your problem may well have been fixed in the latest version.
  2. Do you have a valid HELO field in Tools | Options in the Send Tab? The best thing is to leave this blank.
  3. Make sure you don't have a RelayServer Login and Password (in Tools | Options | Sending Tab), unless your server requires it.
  4. Failing all else, please generate a LOG file and send it to us.



B22) Question: I'm struggling to send emails from my Email Client to the Email Server. What can I do?

Answer:
  1. Please check which version of the Email Server are you using? It's always worth running the latest version when trying to diagnose problems, as your problem may well have been fixed in the latest version.
  2. Is your Email Server is not running on one of the following IP addresses, then you'll need to add the relevant IP address range to the IP Filter in Tools|Options:
        192.168.x.x
        10.x.x.x
        169.x.x.x  <- this indicates you are trying to use DHCP, but your DHCP server is not running
  3. Please make sure the machine running the CapeSoft Email Server, has this application unblocked in your firewall (or Windows Firewall) software. Try disabling your Windows Firewall and any other Firewall you have. Then restart the Email Server, if this fixes the problem, then you have identified it. Don't forget to start your Firewall again, after you have added the Email Server to its exclude/allow list.
  4. Did you see anything on the SMTP Server Log on the main screen of the email server This will sometimes tell you what's wrong.
  5. Double check you have used the correct IP address / hostname settings so that your Email Client knows which Email Server to send the email to. You can use the Help | Wizards | Email Client Setup wizard to do this. Use the IP address of your server and not a hostname, as if there is a DNS problem, your hostname will not be available.
  6. Some AntiVirus applications interfere with Email Servers by running Email Checking Proxies on the same port numbers than Email Servers use. So it may be worth temporality disabling any Anti-Virus software.
  7. Failing all else, please generate a LOG file and send it to us.

B23) Question: Where does Email Server store my mail and settings?

In versions prior to 3.80 Email Server stored all mail and settings in the Email Server program directory in a subdirectory called Data. In Email Server 3.80 and above the data is stored in the standard application data location according to the Microsoft Windows specifications to ensure compatibility with Windows Vista and new versions of Windows. From version 3.80 onwards the data is stored in %ProgramData%\CapeSoft\Email Server\.

 B24) Question: How do I change where Email Server stores my mail and settings (Advanced)?

We recommend that you do not change the standard locations unless you have to, and that you only do so if you are comfortable moving files and changing registry keys.
  1. Shut down CapeSoft Email Server.
  2. Run RegEdit (Press the Windows Key + R, type "regedit" and press enter)
  3. Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CapeSoft\Email Server\
  4. Edit the DataPath value and change the contents to the full path of directory that you wish to store the data in.
  5. Close RegEdit.
  6. Move the data from the default directory (see Question B23) to the new location that you specified.
  7. Restart Email Server

B25 Securing the POP and SMTP server using sTunnel (Advanced)

This allows you to use secure connections for mail clients (and other server) connecting to Email Server to send and receive mail.

Your can download the binaries from: http://www.stunnel.org/download/binaries.html

You will need an SSL certificate on the server establish a secure SSL connection. You then need to edit the stunnel.conf configuration file so that sTunnel knows who ports to listen on, so the stunnel.conf file looks like this:

cert = stunnel.pem
key = stunnel.pem

# Service POP
[stunnel.pop]
accept = <ip-address of server>:465
connect = 127.0.0.1:110
protocol = smtp

# Service SMTP
[stunnel.smtp]
accept = <ip-address of server>:995
connect = 127.0.0.1:25
protocol = smtp


Now when you run sTunnel it will listen on ports 465 and 995 on the IP address that you specify and redirect any traffic to the local SMTP and POP servers, allowing for a secure external connection. The connect= statements in the example above actually don't need an IP address, if you just use the port then it assume that the connection is to the localhost. The IP addresses above are simply for clarity.

See http://www.stunnel.org/faq/stunnel.html#configuration_file for a full description of all available options.



C1) Question: How do I get help or support for this application?

Answer: There's a section in this document all about getting support and help.



C2) Question: How do I generate a LOG file I can email to support?

Answer:
  1. If you download the Debug build of the CapeSoft Email Server it contains more logging information (but it's also a slightly larger download and will run slightly slower).
  2. Please download SysInternal's DebugView (from www.microsoft.com) it's a small (170K) download
    DebugView: Information
    DebugView: Download
  3. Shutdown your CapeSoft Email Server
  4. Run DebugView
  5. Click on the Windows Start button, then Programs, then CapeSoft Email Server, then Special Debug Version
    This will log all the behind the scenes communication to the DebugView application.
  6. Once your problem has been logged to DebugView, then in DebugView in the File menu choose the Save option. Save the file, then zip it and then email it to . Please also note the standard version of the Email Server will also generate a summary log to DebugView. This can be toggled on and off in the Tools-Options Advanced tab.



C3) What does this error mean:
"Could not get write access to .\Data\Emails.tps so trying read-only" and/or
"File .\Data\Emails.tps could not be opened. Error: Access Denied (5). Press OK to end this application"?

Answer: This means two things:
1) You are using an older version of the CapeSoft Email Server, and
2) You are running the application twice.
When you run the application it runs as a small white email icon next to the clock (in the Notification area). Just click on this icon to open the application.

If you still can't see the icon but are getting the error messages, then press Ctrl-Alt-Del and End Task the EmailServer.exe application and start it again from the Start menu.
(It's probably also worth making sure you are running the latest version from www.capesoft.com)



C4) It looks like the Email Server is saving collected emails to the wrong mailbox. What's going on here?

Answer: Emails have a real recipient address, which may not be listed in the To or CC field.

For example it's possible to send an email to fred@example.com while setting the To field in the Email to bob@example.com.
You can check this by looking in the Email Full Header, and you'll see something like the following, where this email was actually sent to fred@example.com:

From v2.20 onwards, this real recipient is listed in the Email Server logs:
11:12:31 Collected email 12 of 20 (3KB) for [fred@example.com] from ["Bruce" <bruce@example.com>] to ["Bob" <example.com>]



C5) I'm running the Email Server as a Service, and I can't find the Icon in the task tray notification area. What's going on?

Answer: When you run the CapeSoft Email Server as a service, only one person who is logged into the computer can see the task-tray icon at a time. This is a result of the Service binding itself to the Desktop of the first person who logs in.

Also, if you use Remote Desktop to access your server, you will not be able to see the task bar icon. This is because a service can't interact with a remote desktop's session.

To display the CapeSoft Email Server window you can do either of the following:
1) Logout your session, and log in to the session (user) that has the Email Server bound to it, or
2) Kill the service (either via Task Manager or via the Windows Service Manager (type services.msc in the Start | Run window)), and then restart the application in EXE mode (by choosing the CapeSoft Email Server icon from the Start | Programs Menu.

We may implement a Web Admin interface that may make this process easier too.



C6) How do I delete items from the Outbox or the user mailboxes?

Answer: You can view, edit or delete emails for the Outbox and all the other user Mailboxes, by choosing the Tools | View or Edit the Outbox (or MailBox) Emails.
This opens up the Windows folder in which the .eml files are stored. To view items simply double click on them, and they will open up in your Email Client (typically Outlook Express).

To delete emails:
  1. Identify which email it is that you want to delete.
  2. Delete the email off the disk
  3. Choose the Tools | Advanced | ReRead EML files (when next idle)
When the Email Server next has no active incoming or outgoing connections, it will re-read the EML files off the disk.



C7) I'm getting -53 errors - what does this mean?

Answer: -53 errors occur because a connection could not be established to the remote server and port. It's very easy to test:

Supposing you were getting -53 errors to smtp.example.com on port 25, then type the following in DOS:

telnet smtp.example.com 25

If this succeeds you should see something like this:
220 SMTP Server Ready

If you don't see something like this, then one of two things is the case:
  1. Firstly this could indicate that the remote server and port are not actually there., or
  2. Something has gone wrong with your network configuration, network hardware, DNS server, routers, ISP, firewall, internet security, dial-up/ADSL etc., or possibly even your anti-virus program (e.g. Try turning off Norton) and this results in your computer being unable to connect to this remote server and port. In this case, you will need your network administrator to fix the situation, so that you can connect to this remote machine.
See also FAQ B9.

C8)When I collect mail my user name or password is rejected, why can't I connect to the email server?

This is actually not an uncommon issue. There are only two reasons that this occurs:

1) The user name or password is incorrect. Make sure that if the username is not the entire email address you only specify the user name in the mail client. The name and password are case sensitive.

2) The server that you are connecting to is not the CapeSoft Email Server. This is actually the most common cause of this problem. To verify this open a command prompt:

  1. Click on the Start menu, choose Run and type  "cmd" and press enter.
  2. Type the following in the command prompt window that opens:
    Telnet 127.0.0.1 110
  3. Press enter and the email server will display:
    +OK CapeSoft Email Server v3.50 Beta build 114 www.capesoft.com POP Server Ready [353]

    If you do not get the CapeSoft Email Server displaying a welcome message then there is another application running on port 110.

The Telnet command lets you connect to an IP address and a port and is a great tool for checking the connection to an email server. From any machine on the LAN (or anywhere else) you can type "Telnet 192.168.x.x 110" where 192.168.x.x is the IP address, and 110 is the port that Email Server is running on. If the machine can connect to Email Server you will get the CapeSoft Email Server welcome message. If you get no response, or a response that is not like the one above then you cannot connect, or there is a different application running on port 110. This may be another email server, or an anti virus/firewall solution that runs as a proxy.

C9)  I get an API error when writing the SmtpClientLog.xml file, which displays a message and stops the Email Server from working.
Please upgrade to Email Server 3.83, which resolves this issue. This only occurred in Email Server 3.80 to 3.82.

C10) I upgraded from an older release to 3.80 or 3.81 and had problems and rolled back. When I install the new release I seem to loose my settings.

C11) I am running Email Server as a Service under Windows Vista, but there is no icon in the system tray.

Under Windows Vista services may not interact with the Desktop. This means that when run as a service, Email Server cannot display a user interface. To configure Email Server under Vista stop the service, run Email Server normally, configure it, and then either choose the Install and Start service option from the Tool->Services menu, or close Email Server and manually start the service.

C12) Why is email "sticking" in the outbox and not sending?
One of the more common technical queries for Email Server relates to mail failing to send, or the outbox "locking up" and not seeming to send mail. In these cases the logs allow you to diagnose the reason that Email Server is failing to send mail, usually it is a combination of various intermittent network problems:
  1. Tip: If mail appears to be "sticking" in the outbox check the sending log, it will show the failures, and indicate which mail sent and which mail failed. If some mail is being sent, then mail that is not being sent is failing for a reason, and Email Server return the mail to the sender for permanent failures and retry for temporary failures for up to 48 hours before returning the mail to sender.
  2. Tip: If no mail is being sent at all check your sending settings. If you are sending mail via MX sending ensure that have specified a relay for sending via when MX sending fails. If you are sending via a relay server then check that your authentication details are correct.

C13) After upgrading to Email Server 4.2.0 the email seems slow and unresponsive (and may be using an excessive amount of CPU time or memory)
 Email server slowdowns and non responsive interface as a result of the log files not being migrated correctly, causing the old XML entries to be imported repeatedly. If this occurs it can be resolved as follows:
C14) After upgrading to Email Server it fails to start and displays an "unable to reload license" error.

The license file is corrupt. Please delete the DSSW4.TPS file from the Data directory:

Under Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 this is:
       C:\Document and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Capesoft\Email Server\

   Under Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 this is:
       C:\ProgramData\Capesoft\Email Server\

You will then need to restart and re-register Email Server. If you do not have a current activation code please email Capesoft Support and a new activation code will be provided.

Sending Errors

F1. 553 SMTP Relay Denied

This error is caused for one of two reasons:
  1. You are attempting to send email to a domain that is not recognized by this server
  2. You are attempting to relay email through this server, and have not authenticated
Most likely you are seeing this message because you have not authenticated. To use this server as a relay (to send email to an outside address using your domain name), you must authenticate first.

You can do this in one of two ways:
  1. SMTP Authentication - SMTP AUTH is a method for verifying a user's login and password before allowing Mail to be sent to other Mail Servers on the Internet. Email Server is required to login before sending mail. This method allows you to simply enter your Username and Password (the same ones you use for POP or IMAP) in the Send settings.

  2. POP before Send - This method allows Email Server to authenticate by logging into a POP mail account. Once authenticated you are allowed to relay for the next 15 minutes from your current IP address without further authentication.

Glossary

Domain: A Domain is just a fancy name for the last part of an email address. For example: microsoft.com is the domain for the email address bill@microsoft.com.

ISP: Internet Service Provider. It's the company that you get your Internet Connection from. This may either be a dial-up service or a permanent connection. If you don't know who this is try asking your network administrator. There are a lot of ISPs, they are companies like AOL, Juno, ComCast, IAfrica, MWeb etc.

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