How to Create an SMTP Connector for Internet Mail Delivery

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After you have thought about the configuration requirements for the SMTP connector and know what your configuration decisions are, you are ready to create and configure an SMTP connector. The first step is to configure the settings on which you have decided. For detailed instructions, see the procedure below. Then you must enable anonymous access for outbound connections because other servers on the Internet expect your SMTP server to connect anonymously. For detailed instructions, see How to Enable Anonymous Access for an SMTP Connector.

After creating and configuring the connector, your SMTP connector is ready to send mail to the Internet. However, these procedures do not cover all the configuration settings for the connector. There are additional configuration settings that control how the connector delivers mail to the Internet. For more information about configuring these additional settings, see Customizing Mail Delivery.

Procedure

To configure a connector for Internet mail delivery

  1. In Exchange System Manager, expand the routing group, right-click Connectors, point to New, and then click SMTP Connector.

    The Properties dialog box for the new connector appears. See the following figure.

    Properties dialog box for a newly created SMTP connector

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  2. On the General tab, select one of the following options:

    • To use the DNS settings configured on the SMTP virtual server that is hosting the connector, select Use DNS to route to each address space on this connector.

      The SMTP connector uses DNS to resolve the IP address of the remote SMTP server, and then it delivers the mail.

      To route mail to a Windows SMTP server or another server in your perimeter network (also known as a screened subnet), select Forward all mail through this connector to the following smart hosts.

      The SMTP connector then routes mail to the selected server, which handles DNS resolution and delivers the mail.

  3. On the General tab, click Add, and add at least one bridgehead server and one SMTP virtual server.

    The servers that you add appear in the Local bridgeheads list on the General tab.

  4. Click the Address Space tab.

  5. On the Address Space tab, click Add.

  6. In the Add Address Space dialog box, in the Select an address type list, click SMTP, and then click OK. See the following figure.

    Add Address Space dialog box

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  7. In the Internet Address Space Properties dialog box (see the following figure), select the following options:

    • In the E-mail domain box, type an e-mail domain for the connector.

      Important

      In the E-mail domain box, there is a default value of * that represents all addresses. At least one connector in your organization must have this address space to make sure that all external domains are routed to the Internet.

    • In the Cost box, assign an appropriate cost. By default, the cost is 1.

      Internet Address Space Properties dialog box

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  8. Click OK to return to the Address Space tab. See the following figure.

    Address Space tab

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  9. On the Address Space tab, under Connector scope, select one of the following options:

    • To allow all servers in your Exchange organization to use this connector, select Entire organization.

    • To allow only servers in the routing group to use this connector to send Internet mail, select Routing group.

      Note

      If you select Routing group, make sure that you have another way for servers in different routing groups to send Internet mail.