Creating Additional SMTP Virtual Servers

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

In most cases, you should need only one Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server. However, if you are hosting multiple domains and want to have more than one default domain, for example, you can create multiple SMTP virtual servers. To an end user, each SMTP virtual server appears as a separate server with a unique IP address/TCP port combination.

When you create an SMTP virtual server, you are prompted to enter a path to your home directory. This directory must be local to the computer on which the SMTP service runs.

Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to perform the following procedure or procedures. As a security best practice, log on to your computer by using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the runas command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. At a command prompt, type runas /User:Administrative_AccountName "mmc systemroot\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc".

Procedures

To create a new SMTP virtual server

  1. If the SMTP virtual server will be using a new IP address, configure an IP address. From the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network Connections. See Windows Server 2003 family Help for more information about Network Connections.

  2. After you configure the IP address, in IIS Manager, right-click an existing SMTP virtual server, point to New, and then click Virtual Server.

  3. Follow the steps in the New SMTP Virtual Server Wizard. Be sure to select an IP address/TCP port combination that is not being used by another SMTP virtual server. The recommended TCP port is 25, which is the SMTP standard TCP port. More than one virtual server can use the same TCP port provided they are configured with different IP addresses.

  4. If the default startup setting for SMTP Service is set to Automatic, the new SMTP virtual server will start automatically. If it doesn't start, it is because you selected an IP address/TCP port combination that is already in use.

  5. Configure the new SMTP virtual server.