NTMAIL Installation

This document explains how to install the mail services for NT. It also discusses how to use the services with a diap-up connection. If you have any problems, please look at our FAQ page. before emailing us. This document contains the following sections: There are also two examples of how NTMAIL has been set up including registry entries. The first is a small company with one NTMAIL server while the second illustrates cascading mail servers.

1. First time installation

1.1 What you need to start

To install your services, you will need to:

1.2 Installation

At this point you should have a selection of executables in a directory on your machine. You will need to install the three services called SMTP, POP and POST. Do this with the "-i" flag: C:\mail>smtp -i SMTP Server by Internet Shopper Ltd (ntmail@net-shopper.co.uk) Installating SMTP Server into Service Control Manager The executable at C:\mail\smtp.exe will be used No previous version found. Installing version 1.00 Updating to version 2.01 Updating to version 2.02 Updating to version 2.05 Updating to version 2.06 Updating to version 2.07 Updating to version 2.08 Updating to version 2.10 Installed SMTP Server successfully This tells you the the executable has been installed as a service (called "SMTP Server") and that there was no version of NTMAIL found in the Registry. The defulat values for a new version were installed and updated to version 2.10.

Next you need to install the other two services - POP and POST:

C:\mail>pop -i POP Server by Internet Shopper Ltd (ntmail@net-shopper.co.uk) Installating POP Server into Service Control Manager The executable at C:\mail\pop.exe will be used You have registry version 2.10 installed Already updated to version 2.10 Installed POP Server successfully C:\mail>post -i POST Server by Internet Shopper Ltd (ntmail@net-shopper.co.uk) Installating POST Server into Service Control Manager The executable at C:\mail\post.exe will be used You have registry version 2.10 installed Already updated to version 2.10 Installed POST Server successfully Now the services and default parameters have been set up. Full details of all the commands that the services will accept may be found on the
Reference Page.

1.3 Adding users

There are two ways to add new users to your mail system. First use
REGEDT32 and secondly to use the MAIL utility. In the future, when you add more users you will have to tell the POP and SMTP services by entering "MAIL -u".

It is wise to have the user "root" defined in your setup. NTMAIL will send looping mail to this user and occasionally people who have problems with mail to your location will use "root" as a last resort to contact someone in your organisation.

Manually adding new users

To manually add new users to your mail server you will need to add a registry entry for each mail box and update a counter so that the mail software knows how many users there are.

Start REGEDT32 and select "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE". Select Software, InternetShopper and Mail. Here you will see a set of entries that have already be installed. You can see an entry for "M0" (Mail user 0) which has the following string:

Proot,hostmaster,postmaster,administrator root,root,mail This entry means that any mail sent to root, hostmaster, postmaster or administrator will be stored in a mail box called root. The person who can access this mail box is root with a password of mail. If we wanted a mail box for david (also known as dave) with a password of "cowslip" we would create the following entry for "M1": Pdave,david box0000,david,cowslip You will see we have given the mail box the name "box0000". You may use any mail box name as long as it is all character or digits and does not start with AA.

Once you have entered all your users, you need to specify how many users you have on the system. This stage is necessary so that the automatic configuration routines run smoothly and will save you having to have contiguous mail box numbers. Select the entry called "Version" and change the last digit to the number of users. In this case Version would become:

2 10 2 An example of more mail boxes is available to help you set them up.

Adding users with MAIL

This is a program that has been written to allow you to quickly update the registry entries. All you need to do is prepare a script of users, passwords and mailboxes and this program will do the rest. MAIL will read through the script adding entries to the registry after carrying out a few checks. The script will have the a line for each mailbox with the white-space seperated parameters: mailbox name, user name, password, aliases. There will always be atleast one alias (otherwise the user will never get any mail). A typical script file might look like: MB0000 brian password brian hostmaster MB0001 david password david dave MB0002 mark cheddar mark When the prgram is run with: C:\mail>mail -lfile.txt these entries will be copied into the registry.

Full details of how to use MAIL can be found on the Reference Page.

1.4 Setting the Domain Name

There is one other parameter you have to set up to get a complete and working mail system. This is your domain name. If you have never used the registry, now is going to be your first time! There is a page about REGEDT32 to give you a quick over view on how REGEDT32 works.

Double click on the entry called SmtpData. Change the first parameter from "net-shopper.co.uk" to your domain name. If you fail to do this, the mail system will assume you are "net-shopper.co.uk" and return all incoming mail messages.

You can also change the message that is added to all your out going mail. Find the string "I love my NT computer" and change the portion in quotes to your message - you only have 60 characters so keep it snappy (and don't remove the quotes)! If you don't want a message replace the message with a dash and none will be added.

1.5 Entering the key

The key is the final thing you must enter. Any of the services will allow you to enter the key and they will all check it and fail if you enter an incorrect key. Take your key (either from the Key Page or one you have been issued) and enter: C:\mail>smtp -k sdjkfhhjjhjh SMTP Server by Internet Shopper Ltd (ntmail@net-shopper.co.uk) Failed to validate key - Key failed validity check, please check it again As you can see, this random key failed the validity check and has been rejected. Once you have enter a correct key, you will get the following message: SMTP Server by Internet Shopper Ltd (ntmail@net-shopper.co.uk) Key validated OK

1.6 Starting the services

This is where you actually start the three services and will have a running mail system. You can do this from the control panel or console.

If there are any problems with the resgistry values, the SMTP Service will tell you by displaying a message when it start up. If you do get a message - you must correct the problem indiacted before proceeding otherwise no mail can be delivered.

Control Panel

Start the Control Panel and double click on the Services icon. In the list of services you will find three new entries, "SMTP Server", "POP Server" and "POST Server". Select each service and press the "START" button and the service will start. Now is a good time to set the startup options as well.

Console

To start the 3 services: C:\mail>net start "SMTP Server" The SMTP Server service is starting. The SMTP Server service was started successfully. C:\mail>net start "POST Server" The POST Server service is starting. The POST Server service was started successfully. C:\mail>net start "POP Server" The POP Server service is starting. The POP Server service was started successfully.

2. Upgrading

The procedure to upgrade is straight forward (we beleive in the no hassle approach to computing!) Backup all data that will be altered, stop the services, unpack the new executables on top of the old ones, run one of the new executables with the "-i" option and finally re-start all three services.

If you wish to move the home directory for the executables, you must stop each service, run each service with the "-u" option, with the executable in its new home, run each service with the "-i" option again.

3. Removing NTMAIL

Stop the services and run each service with the "-u" option. This will remove the service from the Service Control Manager. Now use REGEDT32 to remove the key "InternetShopper".

The last stage is manual to allow the executables to be moved.

4. Using NTMAIL with dialup links

We are currently testing this functioinality to verify that it works in all situations. If you have problems, please let us know. Example 3 gives one example of a dialup connection.

What you will need to do:


webmaster@net-shopper.co.uk (12th May 1995)