Installing the SMTP Service and Creating an SMTP Virtual Server

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

The IIS SMTP service is not installed by default. Use Control Panel to install the SMTP service, and use IIS Manager to change the default SMTP configuration. For step-by-step instructions for installing the SMTP service, see SMTP Server Setup.

When you install the SMTP service, IIS creates the default SMTP virtual server automatically. In most cases, you need only one SMTP virtual server so that you can modify the default SMTP virtual server to work in your environment. However, if you are hosting multiple domains and want to have more than one default domain, for example, then 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. To create a new virtual server, right-click Default SMTP Virtual Server, point to New, and click Virtual Server.

Default Settings

The default SMTP virtual server has the following default settings.

Name: The name of the virtual server that appears in IIS Manager. You can change the name of the virtual server to anything that you want by right-clicking the virtual server in IIS Manager and then clicking Rename.

IP address/TCP port: All unassigned/25. You can use the General tab in the SMTP virtual server properties dialog box to change this setting. If you change this setting, you must specify an IP address/TCP port combination that is not being used by another SMTP virtual server. TCP port 25 is both the default TCP port and the recommended TCP port. More than one virtual server can use the same TCP port, provided that they are configured with different IP addresses. If you do not set a unique IP address/TCP port combination, the SMTP virtual server will not start.

Default domain: The domain name that is listed on the Computer Name tab in System Properties. The default domain is used to stamp messages from addresses that do not have a domain. An SMTP virtual server can have only one default domain, and it cannot be deleted. To change the name of the default domain, double-click the virtual server, and double-click Domains. Right-click the local (default) domain, and click Rename. For more information about domains, see Organizing Messages Using SMTP Domains.

Home directory: LocalDrive:\Inetpub\Mailroot. The home directory is the root of your SMTP content directories, and it must be local to the computer on which the SMTP service runs.

If you create a new virtual server, you can configure default settings using the New Virtual Server Wizard.