How to Use Telnet to Verify Basic IMAP Connectivity in Exchange 2007

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

This topic explains how to use Telnet to verify that Internet Message Access Protocol, Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) can be used to connect to a mailbox that is on a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The Exchange server has the Client Access server role installed. At a command prompt, type the Telnet commands that are described in this topic. The IMAP4 connection is verified by the response that you receive to the Telnet commands.

Before You Begin

Configure the IMAP4 virtual server to use the plain text logon type. To do this, start the Exchange Management Shell on the Exchange server. In the Exchange Management Shell, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

Set-ImapSettings -LoginType "plaintextlogin"

To perform this procedure, the account that you use must be delegated the following:

  • Membership in the Enterprise Administrators group

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Procedure

To use Telnet to verify IMAP4 connectivity

  1. To start a Telnet session, open a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    Telnet <IP address of Client Access Server (Exchange)> <Port # 143>.

    For example, type Telnet 127.0.0.1 143.

    If the command is successful, you receive the following response from the server:

    +OK Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 IMAP4 service ready

  2. To log on to the mailbox and start communication, use one of the following commands:

    • Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      ? LOGIN <Domain_Name>/<Log_On_Name> <Password>

      If the command is successful, you receive the following response from the server:

      +OK LOGIN completed

    • Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      ? LOGIN <LogOnName>@<DomainName>.<Top-Level_Domain_Name> <Password>

      If the command is successful, you receive the following response from the server:

      +OK LOGIN completed

  3. To view a list of available folders, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    ? LIST "" "*"

    If the command is successful, you receive the following response from the server:

    ? OK LIST completed

  4. To select the appropriate mailbox, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    ? Select <Mailbox_Folder_Name>

    If the command is successful, you receive a response that resembles the following, depending on the number of messages that are in the mailbox:

    * # EXISTS

    * # RECENT

    * FLAGS (\Seen \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft $MDNSent)

    * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Seen \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft $MDNSent)]

    Permanent flags

    * OK [UNSEEN #] Is the first unseen message

    * OK [UIDVALIDITY 63] UIDVALIDITY value

    * OK [UIDNEXT 7] The next unique identifier value

    ? OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed.

  5. To retrieve specific messages, type one of the following commands and then press ENTER:

    ? FETCH <message number> All

    <message number> is 1, 2, 3, and so on. For example, type ? FETCH 1 All.

    ? FETCH <message number> Body

    <message number> is 1, 2, 3, and so on. For example, type ? FETCH 1 Body.

  6. To log off from the IMAP4 session with the Exchange computer, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    ? LOGOUT

    If the command is successful, you receive the following response from the server:

    * BYE Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 IMAP4 server signing off.

    ? OK LOGOUT completed.

For More Information

For more information about Telnet, see Telnet Operations Guide.