KB05111701 Testing Mailtraq

If you already have a mail server installed on your network and would like to see how Mailtraq performs you can follow this simple procedure to run Mailtraq in tandem with your existing mail server.

Naturally there will be some limitations in what you can do, but it will give you as a system Administrator a good idea of how the features work together, and allow you to demonstrate features, such as webmail, calendaring etc to your Users.

Preparation

You will need to get your existing email server to send a copy of all incoming mail to a mailbox on that server.
Call this mailbox  test , for example.
Most email servers have this ability - it may be called 'archiving' or 'journaling'. Microsoft Exchange calls it 'message journaling'.
This function in Mailtraq itself is found in Options | Incoming Mail | Options

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Setting Up

Install Mailtraq on a suitable* machine on your LAN (make a note of the local IP address of the machine e.g. 192.168.2.10), and follow the installation wizard just as if this was a 'real' installation. Follow the instructions to create your Users and assign them passwords. Ideally you will create a User in Mailtraq for each User on your existing mail server, but if that is not practical then at least create the busiest Users.

The Installation wizard will ask you how you wish to send mail. You may want to send some test messages from Mailtraq - say to see how webmail works - so you should set your current mail server as your 'SMTP Server' or 'Smart Host': simply enter the IP address of your current mailserver.

Mail servers normally receive mail using SMTP direct from the Internet. Mailtraq also has the ability to collect mail from a POP3 mail box and route it to local users. This 'Remote POP3 Mailbox' tool is usually used to pull mail in from ISP mailboxes, but for this testing purpose we will use it to bring a copy of your incoming mail into Mailtraq.
'Remote POP3 Mailboxes' is located in the Mailtraq Console, left-pane, tree-view, at the top of the Mail section

Right-click on 'Remote POP3 Mailboxes', select Properties, and then in the dialog that opens click [Add].
Set the 'Account Details' of the 'POP3 Account Properties'

• POP3 Server - enter the local IP address of your existing mail server (e.g. 192.168.2.69)
• Account/Username - enter test or whatever you chose to call your copy email store
• Password - enter the password you created for that mailbox
• Set the '[x] Leave mail on server' dialog - think how this test will work with you main mail flow.

Set it to 'Check mailbox every [3] minutes'.

Then select the 'Message Routing' tab of the  'POP3 Account Properties' and set it to:

Then, [OK], and at the 'Remote POP3 Accounts' ensure that you '[x] Enable POP3 Collection' and the Account you just created - two places.
Then [OK], back to the Console.

Method

Mailtraq will now collect a copy of your mail feed from your existing mail server and route it to the local users you have created in the Mailtraq Console. If you did not create matching Users for all your 'real' email accounts, then those messages will be sent to the 'Postmaster' or 'Admin' mailbox in Mailtraq.

You can now try Mailtraq's feature set, by configuring email clients to collect mail from Mailtraq, experiment with Console controls and generally see how easy Mailtraq will be to Administer.

A very popular test is to try Mailtraq's excellent webmail service. Mailtraq will have installed webmail automatically running on Port 80. Simply open an Internet browser, say Internet Explorer, and browse to the local IP address of the Mailtraq machine, for example http://192.168.2.10 You should then see the webmail log-in screen. Information on how to use webmail is located here.

If you have any questions about setting up this test, or any other aspects of using Mailtraq please email us at support@enstar.net and we will be pleased to help you.

Configuration Tip

*A suitable machine: in order to have a successful test you need to install Mailtraq onto a Windows XP Professional or Home computer, or a Windows 2000 or 2003 server. You can also install onto Windows 2008 or W7, and onto 64-bit machines.

The machine should not have any other mail server software installed on it, and you should check that Microsoft's IIS and default SMTP services are not running.