Configuring the Mail Server

I. Overview

As you know, the mail server system consists of three components: POP3 service, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service, and email client. The POP3 service is used together with the SMTP service, POP3 provides the user with a mail download service, and SMTP is used to send mail and mail between the servers. An email client is software for reading, writing, and managing email.

The new POP3 service component of the Windows Server 2003 operating system allows users to build a mail server without any tools. With the email service, you can install the POP3 component on the server computer to configure it as a mail server, and administrators can use the POP3 service to store and manage email accounts on the mail server. The following is for us to discuss the configuration and management of the mail server.

Second, configure POP3 mail server

After the initial installation of Windows Server 2003, the POP3 service component is not installed. Therefore, before configuring the POP3 service, you must first install the corresponding components before you can perform settings such as authentication method settings, mail storage area settings, domain and mailbox management.

The POP3 service provides three different authentication methods to authenticate users connected to the mail server. Before you can create any email domain on your mail server, you must choose an authentication method. The authentication method can only be changed if there is no email domain on the mail server.

1. Local Windows Account Authentication

If the mail server is not a member of the Active Directory domain and you want to store user accounts on the local computer where the mail service is installed, you can use “local Windows account & rdquo; authentication method for user authentication of the mail service. Local Windows account authentication integrates the mail service into the secure account manager (SAM) of the local computer. By using the Security Account Manager, users with a user account on the local computer can use the same username and password as those provided by the POP3 service or authenticated by the local computer.

Local Windows account authentication can support multiple domains on a single server, but the usernames on different domains must be unique. For example, users with the usernames [email protected] and [email protected] cannot exist on one server at the same time.

If a mailbox is created with the corresponding user account, the user account will be added to the “POP3 User" local group. Even if you have the same user account on the server, members of the “POP3 User> group cannot log in to the server locally. Using a computer's local security policy can increase restrictions on local logins, so only authorized users have local login privileges, which can increase server security. In addition, if the user cannot log in to the server locally, it does not affect the use of the POP3 service.

Local Windows account authentication supports both clear text and secure password authentication (SPA) email client authentication. The plaintext transmits user data in an unsecure and non-encrypted format, so plain text authentication is not recommended. The SPA requires email clients to transmit usernames and passwords using secure authentication, so this method is recommended instead of clear text authentication.

2, Active Directory Integrated Authentication

If the server where the POP3 service is installed is a member of an Active Directory domain or an Active Directory domain controller, you can use Active Directory integrated authentication. At the same time, using Active Directory integrated authentication, POP3 services can be integrated into an existing Active Directory domain. If the created mailbox corresponds to an existing Active Directory user account, the user can use the existing Active Directory domain username and password to send and receive email.

Active Directory integrated authentication can be used to support multiple POP3 domains so that the same username can be established in different domains. For example, a user named [email protected] and a user named [email protected] can be used.

When using Active Directory integrated authentication and having multiple POP3 email domains, when creating a mailbox, you should be sure to consider the name of the new mailbox and the name of an existing mailbox in another POP3 email domain. Is it the same? Each mailbox corresponds to an Active Directory user account.

Active Directory integrated authentication supports both clear text and secure password authentication (SPA) email client authentication.

If you are upgrading a mail server that is using local Windows account authentication to a domain controller, you must follow the steps below:

(1) Delete all existing ones in the POP3 service. Email account and domain.

(2) Create an Active Directory.

(3) Change the local Windows account authentication method to the Active Directory integrated authentication method.

(4) Recreate the domain and the corresponding mailbox.

It should be noted that if you do not follow the recommended upgrade process above, it may cause the POP3 service to not work properly. Also, when using Active Directory-integrated authentication, if you want to manage POP3 services at the same time, you must log in to the Active Directory domain instead of logging on to the local computer.