Serving Clients

The SMTP module can act as a SMTP server for POP- and IMAP-based mailer applications running on any platform. These applications use the SMTP protocol to submit ("send") messages to your Server.

If your LAN has a dial-up TCP/IP connectivity to the Internet, you need a TCP/IP router to serve your LAN clients, since the CommuniGate Server should have access to both the Internet and your LAN via the TCP/IP.

Configuring the SMTP Module for TCP/IP Clients

To allow mailer applications to use your CommuniGate SMTP module as an SMTP server, open the CommuniGate SMTP Service Settings, and specify a non-zero number of TCP/IP Channels in the Receiving Options.

If your CommuniGate Server receives messages from the Internet via SMTP, configure the rest of Receiving Options as specified in the Receiving section of this Guide. If you do not plan to receive Internet messages via the SMTP module, select the Wait for Connections option.

Select the Always Keep Ready option. This option tells the SMTP module to keep a TCP/IP "listener" open all the time, allowing client mailer applications to submit messages to the CommuniGate Server via SMTP at any time.

Note: you cannot use this set-up if you use a single-user dial-up software such as FreePPP or OT/PPP. Opening the TCP "listener"will cause your dial-up software to dial out immediately. But even when a connection is established, it is useless: your CommuniGate Server and the SMTP module will be able to talk TCP/IP over the Internet, but they will not be able to talk TCP/IP and accept TCP/IP connections via your LAN.

See the Serving POP and IMAP Clients document to learn how to configure your SMTP server and mailer applications.

Configuring the SMTP Module for AppleTalk Clients

The SMTP module used under OpenTransport can process incoming connections via AppleTalk (ADSP). Some mailers (such as Claris® Emailer) can use the POP and SMTP protocols on top of the AppleTalk protocol instead of the the TCP/IP protocol.

To serve AppleTalk POP/SMTP clients, open the SMTP Service Settings and specify a non-zero number of AppleTalk Channels in the Receiving Options. In this case, the SMTP module is always kept ready to receive incoming SMTP connections via the AppleTalk.

If your server is equipped with a single-user PPP software (as OT/PPP), this feature allows AppleTalk-based mailers to connect to your server, eliminating the need to use the TCP/IP protocol on your LAN: clients submit messages to the server via AppleTalk, as they do with the native CommuniGator client appliaction.

See the Serving POP and IMAP Clients document to learn how to configure your SMTP server and mailer applications.