Mailtraq - the Complete Email Server
   

Enstar for Mailtraq email server sales & support
Making world-class Internet technology affordable  

Search for:

Advanced search

POP3 - Account Details

This facility is used to collect messages by connecting to another mail server - typically your ISP or other corporate mail server - for distribution by Mailtraq to your local users.
See Configuration Tips below.


The dialog is accessed in the Mailtraq Console,
in the left column, Mail section - Remote POP3 Mailboxes, or at Options | Remote POP3

Right-click to access the Properties dialog shown to the right.
 

 Either select an existing account Properties or Add a new one to see the following: 

Account Details tab

This tab appears on the POP3 Account Properties dialog and is used to configure the general properties of an account.

POP3 Server
Enter the name of the POP3 Server used for mail collection from the POP3 account.  The standard port for POP3 is 110.
If a non-standard port is specified by the ISP it may be entered in the box provided.

POP3 Account
Enter the user name of the POP3 account.

Note:
For example, Fred Bloggs might have a POP3 account with an address of fred.bloggs@myisp.com. The user name of this account, therefore, is fred.bloggs and that should be entered into the POP3 Account edit box. The address, fred.bloggs@myisp.com, is the address which Fred would give out to other email users so that they could send messages to him. The server address of a POP3 account is usually different, however, and Fred must collect his mail from the server address not from myisp.com. In this hypothetical case, the POP3 server address is pop3.myisp.com which is the address which should be entered into the POP3 Server edit box. The correct server address is usually provided separately by the service provider and is not always obviously related to the address to which mail is sent.

Tip:
...but, when connecting to some ISP mail servers you need to enter your full Account name,
not just the Username. Say: example@hotmail.com  not just example

When Mailtraq contacts the remote POP3 server the POP3 Account and POP3 Server entries are combined to create the correct address from which to collect waiting messages.
In the above example that would be:
fred.bloggs@pop3.myisp.com  or fred.bloggs@hotmail.com@pop3.live.com  
That address is also displayed by Mailtraq in the object listing in the console.

Password
The password for the remote POP3 account should be entered here.

SSL Collection
Enable the SSL checkbox to provide support for SSL/TLS connections where specified by the remote mail server or ISP (eg Gmail collections). Change the default Port:110 to 995, or as specified by your ISP.

Mailtraq does not provide TLS 1.2 support on the Remote POP3 Collector, although it does on the primary POP3 Service.

Older Mailtraq Consoles
Enter the POP3/S port specified by the ISP with a colon, for example:
secure.myisp.com:995 or pop3.gmail.com:995

Leave Mail on Server
Check this option in order to:-

  • Share the account with others
  • Collect mail from the account at different sites (e.g. both at home and work).
  • Or simply as a safety precaution

In each of those cases it is then the service provider's responsibility to expire mail in the account but mail can still be deleted on that account from the console.

The Leave Mail On Server option works effectively only if the remote POP3 server supports the UIDL command. If in doubt, the appropriate service provider should be consulted. The Leave Mail On Server option may still be enabled but it is possible that some messages might not be downloaded whilst others might be duplicated.

Automatically delete after...
If this option is selected Mailtraq deletes any mail left on the remote POP3 server as a result of the Leave Mail on Server option automatically after the number of days set in the edit box.

Mirror Mailbox
This feature will keep track of deleted emails locally with the selected mailbox and on the remote POP3 server.  Deletion of files on the local Mailtraq mailbox will propagate to the remote POP3 server and deletions on the remote POP3 server will propagate to the local Mailtraq account. 

Local Area Network
If this option is checked Mailtraq assumes that an online connection need not take place in order to connect to the remote POP3 account.

Download Smallest First
This option is enabled by default. Mailtraq will download messages in size order - smallest first. This is to allow the delivery of small messages without waiting for large messages to be delivered first. If this option is deselected the messages will be downloaded in the natural order (unsorted) of the remote mail server. This is often the date and time order, but is not necessarily so. This option was introduced in build 2118

Check mailbox every...
Enter the time in minutes after which Mailtraq should connect to the remote POP3 server and check for new mail

Last Collection
This information-only field displays the last date and time of mail collection.
 


Configuration Tips

 

This facility makes it very quick and easy to move from an existing ISP based email system to one under your own control. The Collector works in a similar way to an ordinary email client - collecting the messages from your ISP and distributing them to mailboxes within Mailtraq, from which the messages are collected by your local Users' email clients.

However, wherever it is possible, you will have a much more efficient email system if you configure your domain records so that Mailtraq receives mail for your domain direct from the Internet by SMTP. Please read more about this here: www.mailtraq.com/guide

You will have more options available to you for spam control and will avoid possible problems with multiple copies of CC and BCC mail that can occur when you distribute mail collected by POP3.

Collector Tasks

You can select a message-line in the Collector window, then right click the All Tasks control.

Messages may be marked for Download, Deletion, or the action reversed.

Note: These message-lines are simply records of the transaction. Messages are not stored in the POP3 Collector: they will be stored in the destination Mailbox.

How to reset a POP3 Collector
Once messages have been downloaded by Mailtraq they will not be downloaded again even if the option 'Leave Mail on Server' has been selected. This is normally the desired action (to avoid receiving multiple copies of the same message).
In some circumstances - say, a downstream data loss - you may wish to 're-download' previously collected mail. There are two ways to force this action:

1.) you can either mark the individual files for download again (select, right click, "Download")

2.) with Mailtraq shut-down remove the database\mail\pop3\<mailbox>.* files (there will be an .afv &.idx pair for each collector) and then restart Mailtraq.

Note: Resetting the Remote POP3 Collector may result in the collection of all messages in the remote POP3 mailbox. This could be many thousands of messages if 'Leave mail on server' has been selected and there has been no maintenance performed on the remote mailbox. The downstream clients of this collector would then receive apparent duplicates of previously received messages. You should remove unwanted messages from the remote POP3 mailbox, or take other management measures (such as temporarily diverting the flow of received messages).

Windows Connection Limits

The Windows TCP/IP stack can limit the number of simultaneous incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts (half-open connections) as a security measure.
After the limit has been reached, subsequent connection attempts are dropped and an error noted. This change helps to limit the speed at which malicious programs, such as viruses and worms, spread to uninfected computers. Malicious programs often attempt to reach uninfected computers by opening simultaneous connections to random IP addresses.

This means that Windows can prevent more than a set number of Remote POP3 Connections at any time. It acts as an external limit on how many Remote POP3 collectors can be successfully run at the same time. Mailtraq will work with the queued connections to try to ensure that all accounts are collected from in as timely a manner as possible, however with too many POP3 connections you can enter a state where the maximum limit is constantly being reached and so the queue is stalled. 

The actual limit varies by the edition of Windows - most Windows 10 editions are limited to a maximum of 20. Also, keep in mind that if your machine is not a dedicated mail server then other applications may be using TCP connections so reducing the number available to Mailtraq.

This does not affect ordinary POP3 Clients (like Outlook) collecting from Mailtraq.

Workarounds

Wherever possible receive mail direct by SMTP rather than collecting by POP3

Staggering connection times

Adjust the frequency of the collection times so that they are not all collecting every 6 minutes, or whatever. Prioritize important accounts so they collect more frequently than less important accounts. Set the collection timing so they are not multiples of each other, so don't do 3mins - 6 mins - 9 mins but rather do 5 mins - 7 mins - 9 mins to reduce collisions.

Adjust Simultaneous POP3 Collections

In some environments it may be necessary to adjust the number of simultaneous connections to the remote POP3 server. You may modify the 'system.cfg' file to control the number of connections. From Mailtraq build 2382  

Backup your Configuration - see how...
Shut down Mailtraq.
Locate the system.cfg file The default location is:
     C:\Program Files\Mailtraq\database\configuration
Modify the entry: MaxPop3Clients=10 to your desired number.
Save, and then restart Mailtraq.

NOTE: Mailtraq must be shut down when manually modifying the system.cfg file, to avoid configuration corruption. Ensure you have a valid backup before making any modifications. A corrupt configuration can only be restored from a valid backup.

Split the load

In some special situations where you must collect from many remote POP3 accounts you may need to configure another instance of Mailtraq on a separate machine to collect messages and then route them to the primary Mailtraq. KB19061701


 

Download Trial
Buy now
Screenshots
Requirements
Feature Tree
FAQs
What's new
Print this pagePrint this Page  
Mailtraq 2.12 PDFDatasheet  
Send a friend an email about MailtraqShareMailtraq - Email Server at Delicious Mailtraq - Mail Server at digg Mailtraq - Mail Server at FacebookMailtraq - Email Server at stumbleupon Tweet about Mailtraq 

 

 

 
Mailtraq Highlights...
 SMTP Server     Mailtraq SMTP email server video IMAP Server     Mailtraq IMAP email Server video
 POP3 Server     Mailtraq POP3 email server video Proxy Server     Mailtraq proxy email server video
 Webmail Server     Mailtraq webmail email server video Mailing-list Server     Mailing list email server video
 Groupware Services     Mailtraq groupware email services video Spam and Virus control     Spam and virus control email server video

 

   Copyright © 2003 - 2011 Enstar Ltd, Enstar LLC & Fastraq Ltd. All rights reserved. Privacy policy.
   Mailtraq® is a registered trademark of Fastraq Limited.