Manually Configuring Your Exchange Server for Internet Mail Delivery

  • Article

 

If your messaging environment is large or complex, you cannot use Internet Mail Wizard to configure Exchange to send and receive Internet mail. Instead, you must manually configure Exchange for Internet mail delivery. The following sections explain:

  • Setting up your Exchange Server to receive Internet mail

  • Setting up your Exchange server to send Internet mail

  • Configuring advanced settings

Setting Up Your Exchange Server to Receive Internet Mail

This section explains how to set up your Exchange server to receive Internet mail. Specifically, you will learn how to:

  • Configure recipient policies.

  • Configure inbound SMTP virtual server settings.

Use the checklist in the following table to ensure that you complete all the configuration steps.

Configuration steps to set up an Exchange server to receive Internet mail

Step Task Notes

1

Verify SMTP is loaded properly on your Exchange server.

See "Verifying SMTP Is Installed Properly."

2

Verify that an MX record exists on an Internet DNS server that references your server and the IP address of the SMTP virtual server accepting inbound Internet mail.

See "Configuring DNS for Outbound Mail" in Verifying DNS Design and Configuration.

3

Verify that your mail server is accessible from the Internet.

For external DNS servers to resolve your mail server's MX record and contact your mail server, your mail server must be accessible from the Internet. See "Configuring DNS for Outbound Mail" in Verifying DNS Design and Configuration.

4

Verify that no recipient policies match the fully qualified domain name of an Exchange server.

See "Configuring Recipient Policies."

5

Verify that each domain for which you want to receive inbound Internet mail is listed on a recipient policy and Exchange is authoritative for that domain, or, if nonauthoritative, Exchange has a connector configured for the domain and allows relaying to it.

See "Configuring Recipient Policies."

6

Verify that your inbound SMTP virtual server uses port 25 and is assigned to the proper IP addresses.

Other SMTP servers expect to connect to your SMTP virtual server on port 25. See How to Configure the Inbound Port and IP Addresses on the SMTP Virtual Server.

7

Verify that your inbound SMTP virtual server allows anonymous access.

Other SMTP servers expect to connect anonymously to your SMTP virtual server. See How to Verify that Your SMTP Virtual Server Allows Anonymous Access.

8

Verify that the default relay restrictions are configured on your inbound SMTP virtual server.

The default restrictions on an SMTP virtual server prevent open relaying. With open relaying, external users can use your server to send spam, which may result in other legitimate servers blocking mail from your Exchange server.

For detailed instructions, see the following topics: