Another alternative is to get an offsite provider to provide just the relay host and mail forwarding to you server via alternative ports.  It's a lot easier to do rather than use the alternatives.  The people at DynDNS.com can do this by domain.   Costs a couple hundred dollars a year or less.  <a href="https://www.dyndns.com/services/pricing/#mailhop" title="https://www.dyndns.com/services/pricing/#mailhop" mce_href="https://www.dyndns.com/services/pricing/#mailhop"> https://www.dyndns.com/services/pricing/#mailhop</a>

<p>Ok I basicly can't send or receive email from the internet, like the title says. I've configured Mercury the best I can from my limited knowledge but to no avail :( I even tried using this tutorial but it did not work. http://www.tech2all.com/2006/03/12/how-to-setup-your-own-e-mail-server/ I even set it up on a different ISP from my laptop for the purpose of just sending mail out but again it didn't work. (I have clearwire for travel and incase landline goes out) So anyway, heres what I have for the setup</p><p><b>Overall Goal:</b> I want to host a mail server at home on a windows xp professional system for my company Press N On (pressnon.com). I want to send/receive through pop3 localy but also for access at remote locations but i'll be managing the server locally only. when I send/receive I want the emails to be use@pressnon.com I don't want user@mail.pressnon.com for my emails. I also run an FTP server with filezilla and I host several websites with Netserver Web Server on the same computer - both work perfectly. </p><p><b>PC/Box Setup:</b> Windows XP Professional - Specs exceed mercury requirements.</p><p>Dlink router with Ports 80, 21, 25, 110 forwarded to server using virtual server instead of Port forwarding (They seem to do the same thing but virtual server doesn't require router reboot)</p><p>ISP: Bellsouth (Now AT&T)</p><p>Domain: pressnon.com through GoDaddy </p><p>Latest Mercury server download</p><p><b>Current Mercury Configuration </b></p><p>Modules: S, E, P, Core (of course [:P] )</p><p>[ Course Module ] ~General Tab~ Internet Name: pressnon.com</p><p>~Local Domans Tab~  pressnon : pressnon pressnon : pressnon.com pressnon : mail.pressnon.com  (i added that just incase) [Module S] ~General Tab~ Announce myself as: pressnon.com</p><p> [Module E] ~no tabs~ Identify myself as: pressnon.com Name servers: 205.152.144.23, 205.152.150.23  (these addresses are explained bellow)</p><p>[Module P] ~General Tab~ IP Interface to use: blank</p><p>I have changed these settings around a lot, usually restarting mercury after saving changes. No relay restrictions on right now. I didn't know what to use or what it would effect so I set to no restrictions until I can get this working. </p><p><b>What I can do:</b> Logon remotely/locally with Firebird pop3 clients to retrieve messages with my turtle user. Address is turtle@pressnon.com and send emails between local users.</p><p>The name server address are what my ISP gives my dsl modem. I snatched those 2 because I didn't know what else to put there and when left blank is just keeps saying trying to resolve name. Since I put those in there, It resolves the domains for my hotmail,yahoo, bellsouth and gmail emails but it keeps getting connection error and attempting alternate IPs. After repeating this for hours, it just sends my turtle@pressnon.com failure to deliver and drops them. I have no idea what I'm supposed to put here other than it should point to DNS tables.</p><p>My other problem is MX records and CNames. GoDaddy is no help here and I haven't found a site that explains properly how to configure these and what each part is for. Godaddy has some MX records and Cnames populated already like smtp@secureserver.net, mail@securserver.net and pop@secureserver.net but I don't know if they do something or if they are dummy fillers. The godaddy website is no help to me. I've read through other sites and these forums about something called "A" record - no idea what that is or what its for. Other than it helps other people find you.</p><p>I'm thinking that my issues reside with MX/CName configuration and possibly needing the correct name servers. It just feels like this is something simple and I'm missing the solution completely [:P] </p><p>Any help would be much appreciated. :) </p><p>If I left out any valuable information let me know. </p><p>Thanks in Advance,</p><p>Dac </p><p>P.S. When it comes to MX/CNames, i'm really new. So be specific please x-D MX record and CName creation requires me to input 2-3 things to add them so saying "Add mx A record that points to your doman" doesn't help me :( </p>

<p>Your port 110 is reachable for POP3, but port 25 times out.</p><p>This is probably because your ISP is blocking traffic on port 25 so you are pretty much screwed for sending and receiving directly.</p><p>You will need a domain mailbox that you can clear via POP3 with MercD, and a smarthost (your ISP's) that you can send all mail through with MercC. </p>

<P>well dang, That sucks. So I'ld have to call my ISP and hope AT&T plays nice and opens port 25. If that fail's then i'll look into your suggestion. Thanks.</P> <P>I was wondering if it was blocking port 25 because when I did the small setup on my laptop, I made connection with hotmail but got rejected by their spam filter because its not a fixed IP. So clearwire isn't blocking. I might be able to set something up on there. I'll go over this tonight and post back what I come up with.</P> <P>Thank you :)</P> <P>Dan</P> <P>P.S. how did you test my ports? [:D] telnet command doesn't work in my command prompt for some reason (know how i can fix this?) and as far as i know you can't ping ports use "ping" </P>

<p>> Overall Goal: I want to host a mail server at home on a windows xp > professional system for my company Press N On (pressnon.com). I want > to send/receive through pop3 localy but also for access at remote > locations but i'll be managing the server locally only. when I > send/receive I want the emails to be use@pressnon.com I don't want > user@mail.pressnon.com for my emails. I also run an FTP server with > filezilla and I host several websites with Netserver Web Server on > the same computer - both work perfectly. pressnon.com, A, 68.214.85.16 Can't connect to port 25 on either the host name or IP address. > > > PC/Box Setup: Windows XP Professional - Specs exceed mercury requirements. > > Dlink router with Ports 80, 21, 25, 110 forwarded to server using virtual server instead of Port forwarding (They seem to do the same > thing but virtual server doesn't require router reboot) Not sure if it does or at least there is no server on port 25.  Might be ISP blocking inbound but I doubt it.  Personally I'd check the settings since a lot of firewall software will block port 25.  I've never seen AT&T block inbound port 25. </p><p>> > ISP: Bellsouth (Now AT&T) > > Domain: pressnon.com through GoDaddy > > Latest Mercury server download > > Current Mercury Configuration > > Modules: S, E, P, Core (of course  ) > > [ Course Module ] > ~General Tab~ > Internet Name: pressnon.com > > ~Local Domans Tab~ >  pressnon : pressnon > pressnon : pressnon.com > pressnon : mail.pressnon.com  (i added that just incase) Should also add pressnon : [68.214.85.16] to support literal addressing.   > > [Module S] > ~General Tab~ > Announce myself as: pressnon.com > > > [Module E] > ~no tabs~ > Identify myself as: pressnon.com > Name servers: 205.152.144.23, 205.152.150.23  (these addresses are explained bellow) See below for authoritive DNS hosts > > [Module P] > ~General Tab~ > IP Interface to use: blank > > I have changed these settings around a lot, usually restarting mercury after saving changes. No relay restrictions on right now. I > didn't know what to use or what it would effect so I set to no restrictions until I can get this working. > > > What I can do: Logon remotely/locally with Firebird pop3 clients to retrieve messages with my turtle user. Address is > turtle@pressnon.com and send emails between local users. > > The name server address are what my ISP gives my dsl modem. I snatched those 2 because I didn't know what else to put there and > when left blank is just keeps saying trying to resolve name. Since I put those in there, It resolves the domains for my hotmail,yahoo, > bellsouth and gmail emails but it keeps getting connection error and attempting alternate IPs. After repeating this for hours, it just > sends my turtle@pressnon.com failure to deliver and drops them. I have no idea what I'm supposed to put here other than it should > point to DNS tables. From http://www.checkdns.net/quickcheck.aspx?domain=pressnon.com&detailed=1 CheckDNS.NET is testing pressnon.com CheckDNS.NET is asking root servers about authoritative NS for domain           Got DNS list for 'pressnon.com' from H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET           Found NS record: ns29.domaincontrol.com[216.69.185.15], was resolved to IP address by H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET           Found NS record: ns30.domaincontrol.com[208.109.255.15], was resolved to IP address by H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET           Domain has 2 DNS server(s) CheckDNS.NET is verifying if NS are alive           DNS server ns29.domaincontrol.com[216.69.185.15] is alive and authoritative for domain pressnon.com           DNS server ns30.domaincontrol.com[208.109.255.15] is alive and authoritative for domain pressnon.com           2 server(s) are alive CheckDNS.NET checks if all NS have the same version           All 2 your servers have the same zone version 2006061200 CheckDNS.NET verifies www servers           Checking HTTP server www.pressnon.com [68.214.85.16]           HTTP server www.pressnon.com[68.214.85.16] answers on port 80           Received: HTTP/1.1 200 OK (Server: NetServe/1.0.58) . SWiSH Movie - index.swi - www.swishzone.com. . . . . . CheckDNS.NET tests mail-servers           Domain pressnon.com has 3 mail-servers.           Checking mail server (PRI=0) <b>pressnon.com</b> [68.214.85.16]           Error connecting to mail server pressnon.com [68.214.85.16] port 25 : timed out waiting for connection Can't connect to your host.  I suspect you are not really passing ports to the Mercury/32 host or that Mercury/32 is not running.           Checking mail server (PRI=10) <b>mailstore1.secureserver.net </b>[64.202.166.11]           Mail server mailstore1.secureserver.net[64.202.166.11] answers on port 25           <<< 220 pre-smtp24-01.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net ESMTP           >>> HELO www.checkdns.net           <<< 250 pre-smtp24-01.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net           >>> MAIL FROM: <dnscheck@uniplace.com>           <<< 250 ok           >>> RCPT TO: <postmaster@pressnon.com>           <<< 550 sorry, mail to that recipient is not accepted (#5.7.1) Does not accept mail for postmaster.           >>> RCPT TO: <root@pressnon.com>           Connection to mail server mailstore1.secureserver.net [64.202.166.11] timed out waiting for status 250            Nor root Checking mail server (PRI=10) <b>smtp.secureserver.net</b> [208.109.80.149]           Mail server smtp.secureserver.net[208.109.80.149] answers on port 25           <<< 220 p3presmtp01-10.prod.phx3.secureserver.net ESMTP           >>> HELO www.checkdns.net           <<< 250 p3presmtp01-10.prod.phx3.secureserver.net           >>> MAIL FROM: <dnscheck@uniplace.com>           <<< 250 ok           >>> RCPT TO: <postmaster@pressnon.com>           <<< 550 sorry, mail to that recipient is not accepted (#5.7.1) Nor does this one.           >>> RCPT TO: <root@pressnon.com>> Connection to mail server smtp.secureserver.net [208.109.80.149] timed out waiting for status 250 > My other problem is MX records and CNames. GoDaddy is no help here and I haven't found a site that explains properly how to configure > these and what each part is for. Godaddy has some MX records and Cnames populated already like smtp@secureserver.net, > mail@securserver.net and pop@secureserver.net but I don't know if they do something or if they are dummy fillers. The godaddy website > is no help to me. I've read through other sites and these forums about something called "A" record - no idea what that is or what its The A record is the IP address of the router and the MX record should be your host plus their host. Here the GoDaddy data for one of my hosts: Modify Hostname </p><fieldset> <label for="host189_host">Hostname:</label> <fieldset> <span>xampp</span>.<span>from-ca.com</span></fieldset> <label>Wildcard:</label> <fieldset><input value="Y" name="wildcard" id="host189_wildcard_1" type="checkbox"> <label for="host189_wildcard_1">Create wildcard alias for "*.host.domain.tld"</label> </fieldset> <label>Service Type:</label> <fieldset><input value="IP" checked="checked" onclick="service_type_click(this.value)" name="service" id="host189_service_1" type="radio"> <label for="host189_service_1">Host with IP address</label> <input value="WebHop" onclick="service_type_click(this.value)" name="service" id="host189_service_2" type="radio"> <label for="host189_service_2">WebHop Redirect</label> <input value="Offline" onclick="service_type_click(this.value)" name="service" id="host189_service_3" type="radio"> <label for="host189_service_3">Offline Hostname</label> </fieldset> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- document.write('<a class=\'help\' target=\'_blank\' onclick=\'return(createHelpWin(this))\' href=\'help-basic.html\' title=\'Show Help For This Form\'>...help<\/a><br class="clear" /><div class="help_pre"><\/div>'); // --></script><a onclick="return(createHelpWin(this))" href="https://www.dyndns.com/account/services/hosts/help-basic.html" class="help" target="_blank" title="Show Help For This Form">...help</a><br class="clear"> </fieldset> <div id="block_ip" style="margin-top: 2px; display: block;"> <fieldset> <label for="host189_cur_ip">IP Address:</label> <fieldset> <input id="host189_cur_ip" name="cur_ip" value="209.128.94.2"><div><a onclick='setValue("cur_ip", "209.128.94.2"); return false' href="https://www.dyndns.com/account/services/hosts/xampp.from-ca.com#" id="a_clone" style="display: inline;">Use auto detected IP address 209.128.94.2.</a><div id="span_ttl" style="display: block; margin-top: 0.5em; height: 3.5em;">TTL value is 60 seconds. <a onclick="ttl_click(1); return false" href="https://www.dyndns.com/account/services/hosts/xampp.from-ca.com#">Edit TTL</a>.</div></div></fieldset> <div id="block_ttl" style="height: 4em; display: none;"> <label for="host189_ttl">TTL:</label> <fieldset><select class="wide" name="ttl" id="host189_ttl"><option value="20">20 s. Super dynamic DNS for frequent updates</option> <option value="60" selected="selected">60 s. Default dynamic DNS value</option> <option value="3600">1 hr. Rarely updated IP address</option> <option value="14400">4 hrs. Static record with benefits of DNS caching</option> </select></fieldset></div> </fieldset> </div> <div id="block_webhop" style="margin-top: 2px; display: none;"> <fieldset><label for="host189_redir_to">WebHop Settings:</label> <fieldset> <label for="host189_redir_to">Redirect URL:</label> <fieldset><input class="wide" id="host189_redir_to" name="redir_to"></fieldset> <div style="min-height: 3.25em;"> <fieldset><input value="Y" onclick="cloak_active_click(this.checked)" name="cloak_active" id="host189_cloak_active_1" type="checkbox"> <label for="host189_cloak_active_1">Yes, cloak this page.</label> </fieldset> <div id="block_title" style="margin-left: 1.5em; display: none;"> <label for="host189_cloak_title">Cloaked title: <span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">(optional, URL by default)</span></label> <fieldset><input class="wide" id="host189_cloak_title" name="cloak_title"></fieldset></div></div></fieldset></fieldset> </div> <label>Mail Routing:</label> <fieldset><input value="Y" checked="checked" onclick="domx_click(this.checked)" name="domx" id="host189_domx_1" type="checkbox"> <label for="host189_domx_1">Yes, let me configure Email routing.</label> </fieldset> <label for="host189_mx">MX Hostname:</label> <fieldset><input size="33" id="host189_mx" name="mx" value="mail.stephenson.com"></fieldset> <label>Primary:</label> <input value="N" name="backmx" id="host189_backmx_1" type="radio"> <label for="host189_backmx_1">Yes, use it as my primary mail relay.</label> <input value="Y" checked="checked" name="backmx" id="host189_backmx_2" type="radio"> <label for="host189_backmx_2">No, use it as backup MX record.</label><p> And this results in Answer Section:     xampp.from-ca.com, MX, 10, mail.stephenson.com     xampp.from-ca.com, MX, 5, xampp.from-ca.com     xampp.from-ca.com, A, 209.128.94.2 > for. Other than it helps other people find you. > > I'm thinking that my issues reside with MX/CName configuration and possibly needing the correct name servers. It just feels like this > is something simple and I'm missing the solution completely None of this should affect Mt trying to connect to port 25 of you IP address.  Currently there is no hoist doing this connection that I can see. </p>

<div>I had the excact same problem when setting up my mail for internet access. I still dont know exactly how it works but this is what I did.</div><div> </div><div>First before I start just a little background on my setup.</div><div> </div><div>* dynamic IP from DSL router</div><div>* using dyndns account to get a refference to my everchanging IP ex. "whatever@dyndns.com"</div><div>* "whatever@dyndns.com" will always resolve to my routers IP addess</div><div> </div><div>DNS Configs for "mydomain.com"</div><div> </div><div>Record Name<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Type<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Data</div><div>@<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>MX (Mail Exchange Record)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>whatever@dyndns.com</div><div>smtp<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>CNAME<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>whatever@dyndns.com</div><div>pop<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>CNAME<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>whatever@dyndns.com</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>* in my email client I added in pop3 field: pop.mydomain.com</div><div>* and in SMTP field: smtp.mydomain.com</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Current Mercury Configuration </div><div> </div><div>Modules: MercS, MercP, MercC(SMTP Client) - Could not use MercE cause my isp also blocks port 25</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Ok whis is what u need to do for DNS entries:</div><div>* Add a MX record type</div><div>* Record name: @</div><div>* Record data: whatever@dyndns.com (a reference to ur DSL router  IP, in my case my dyndns entry)</div><div>* Record preference: 4</div><div> </div><div>* Add new Record type CNAME</div><div>* Record name: pop</div><div>* Record data: whatever@dyndns.com (a reference to ur DSL router IP, in my case my dyndns entry)</div><div> </div><div>* Add new Record type CNAME</div><div>* Record name: smtp</div><div>* Record data: whatever@dyndns.com (a reference to ur DSL router IP, in my case my dyndns entry)</div><div> </div><div>If you already have record types for any of the above just edit them instead of creating new ones!</div><div> </div><div>Save everything. With my ISP it can take a max of 8 hours for any chages to my DNS records to updated everywhere over the internet!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Merc Core Settings for Local domains:</div><div>MercServer(PC name)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>MercServer(PC name)</div><div>MercServer(PC name)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>192.168.65.70 (MercServer IP)</div><div>MercServer(PC name)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>mydomain.com</div><div> </div><div>*Dont add the ( ) text :-)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Aliases Config:</div><div>Ex. for user account...</div><div>Alias: User@mydomain.com</div><div>Real address: user</div><div> </div><div>Do this for all your users.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>MercS Settings:</div><div>Announce myself as: smtp.mydomain.com</div><div>Ip interface to use: IP of PC runing Merc (ex. 192.168.65.70)</div><div>Relaying control: Check ALL 4 checkboxes!!!! from top to bottom</div><div>Create a file to store your smtp passwords in and add its full path to AUTH Password File</div><div>Click Edit button should open that file</div><div>Enter username password 1 pair per line with only a space between username and password</div><div> </div><div>In your email client make sure you have SMTP authentication enabled and enter your matching username and password like you entered in the AUTH Password file.  This is very important otherwise spammers can send spam via your server!!!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>MercP config:</div><div>Ip interface to use: 192.168.65.70 (Mercserver IP)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>MercC Config</div><div>You'll have to use MercC if you want to be able to send mail to any non-local account like Test@yahoo.com.  So you'll need to piggy back on an exsiting email. (I used my email account that I got with my isp.)</div><div> </div><div>Smart Hostname: smtp.myISP.com</div><div>Connection port 25, no encryption</div><div>Announce myself as: smtp.mydomain.com</div><div> </div><div>Im my case I have to authenticate to pop prior to accessing my smtp so I filled my ISP pop details in aswell.</div><div> </div><div>And that should the it. Just close Merc and restart it.  Make sure your DNS entries have already been updated, to check just ping pop.mydomain.com.</div><div> </div><div>Enjoy!</div>

[quote user="Wacker"] <div>Aliases Config:</div><div>Ex. for user account...</div><div>Alias: User@mydomain.com</div><div>Real address: user</div><div> </div><div>Do this for all your users.</div><p>[/quote]</p><p>You don't need an alias for an existing user. Mail addressed to 'user@domain.com' already gets delivered to 'user', that's what the Local Domains section is for. </p><p>They should be used to accept mail for different addresses without setting up a separate user, f.x. Alias: 'sales@domain.com' -> 'user' </p>

aaah! Thanks Dibert!

<P>wow thats an overwelming amount of feed back after 1 day :) I have some things to take care of at my college so I'll make the corrections to my server later tonight and pray that it works x-D I do have a user setup as <A href="mailto:turtle@pressnon.com">turtle@pressnon.com</A> but I am unsure if he is postmaster at this moment. I made the user after setting up mercury but i did give him admin access.</P> <P>I'll switch from virtual server settings to port forwarding on my router. The webserver and ftp uses them fine but we all know technology has its quirks. My xp pro is service pack 1 and does not have a firewall active right now or not that I could find. i'll review the pc myself to find out.</P> <P>Also I found an article on the web yesterday that bellsouth started block port 25 on some residential lines before AT&T took them over so I might have been in the unlucky batch. But that aside, I'll review this information and adjust accordingly before calling since I'm not even properly setup :)</P> <P>Thanks people  [:D] i'ld give you all cookies if I could</P> <P>Dac</P>

<p> Well my pops finally got around to calling AT&T and they said...NO - they won't open up port 25. Not unless we upgrade to business line but we won't do that since thats an extra $100 :-p they are running a special right now and it would be cheaper but only during the special. Once they stop running it, it will go up $100 and then our contract would auto renew 1yr to make us pay for internet and phone service...FAT CHANCE. Anyway, so now he is thinking of someone else hosting our emails or just nixing the idea all together o.0 He's quite frustrated over this lol</p><p>Thank you for your help people - at least I walk away with knowledge gained from all of this. Have a nice day. **passes out cookies**</p><p> Dac  </p>

<p>You can still host the mail server, and use MercD to clear your "domain mailbox" POP3 account at the ISP (or another provider).</p><p>Mercury will deliver the mails to the local users you set up. </p><p>Your users can download their mail via POP3 from your server on port 110 (standard).</p><p>You can run MercS on an alternate port (say 2525, or whatever you want). Your users will need to change the port for sending in their clients, but then they can send mail via your server too.</p><p>Run MercC SMTP client to send outbound mail via your ISP's smarthost. </p>

<p>I was thinking about that, I remember you mentioning it. I'll bring it up to him.</p><p>Dac </p>