If Verizon won't allow you to use port 25 for incoming or outgoing traffic I'm afraid it's game over. You will need to use their SMTP server for Internet communication. You can use Mercury (with MercuryC instead of MercuryE for deliveries, and using MercuryD to collect messages) in your local network if you like, though.

For sake of clearness I'll still comment on the various details. 

DNS: The error messages from Windows Live Mail indicate that you probably haven't succeeded to create the new A record (mailserver.mydomain.com). There should be just one MX record for the domain, and it should refer to mailserver.mydomain.com (not @).

[General]

myname:          mailserver.mydomain.com    <--  better with just the domain here in most cases (mydomain.com)

[Protocols]  <--- disable modules that you don't actually use (if you use MercuryX be sure to get the patch)

[MercuryS]
Strict_Relay : 0    <--- strict relaying control is recommended if MercuryS is communicating with the Internet

Alt_Server_Port : 25   <---- this can be 587

Interface : mailserver.mydomain.com    <--- in several places, will break functionality altogether, write # at the beginning of the line to comment it out

Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\ESSIONS\MERCURYS   <--- missing S in path, it seems

[Domains]                             <--- check Mercury help for this
localhost: localhost                <--- seriously, is that the name of your server?
localhost: [127.0.0.1]             <--- [192.168.1.7] and public IP should be here

mydomain.com: mailserver.mydomain.com        <--- unless you use Netware the first part is always whatever you choose to call your server

[MercuryB]   <--- unexpected port selections, but I guess it would work

/Rolf 

Despite all the readings I've done on this and XAMPP's support site, I still cannot send or receive email messages to or from external email accounts (i.e. yahoo, hotmail, gmail) using my local account/user (webmaster@mydomain.com) from my locally hosted home Windows 7 web (using Apache) and mail (using Mercury/32) server (all bundled within XAMPP).

Please help.  Here's what I have.

1) My domain (mydomain.com) is registered at GoDaddy.  Since I am hosting the site locally at my home (I know XAMPP is not meant for production sites), GoDaddy instructed me to use their nameserver addresses, but with the DNS A record pointed to my locally hosted server's IP address (See below).  The question is, do I also have to change the corresponding CNAME and MX Records, and if so, to what?  Right now, the www and ftp CNAME record point to the "@" which in turns points to my IP Address (as found in the A Record).  However, all other CNAME or MX records are right now still using GoDaddy's "secureserver.net" domain (see below).  So do I need to change these records as well, and if so, to what?

************* SETTINGS AT GODADDY *****************
DNS Option at GoDaddy:
- NS Records
@ NS:    ns39.domaincontrol.com
@ NS:    ns40.domaincontrol.com

- A Records:    
@: <Static IP address (of my localhost) given to me by my ISP>

- CNAME Records
www:    @
ftp:    @
email: email.secureserver.net
imap: imap.secureserver.net
mail: pop.secureserver.net
pop: pop.secureserver.net
smtp: smtp.secureserver.net
webmail: webmail.secureserver.net
e: email.secureserver.net

- MX Records
@ MX    0:    smtp.secureserver.net
@ MX    10:    mailstore1.secureserver.net
*****************************************************

2.  Once records above at GoDaddy are appropriately set, how do I then setup Mercury (for example, with user "webmaster" with email address "webmaster@mydomain.com") to receive and send emails from an external email accounts?  Seemingly all of the instructions I have found config Mercury to send/receive emails within the "localhost" computer only...but not from/to the my "localhost" computer  to/from an "external" host.

3.  My "localhost" computer is behind a router and I so far I have configured the router to forward ports 80 (HTTP) and 21 (FTP) to my computer's 192.168.1.XX IP's address (and so far HTTP and FTP works).  Do I also have to forward ports 25 and 110, or any other ports for email?

Thank you for your help.  Please be very specific if at all possible as to what and where exactly I need to change.

Dezzy

Start by verifying that your Internet provider actually will allow you to use port 25. A lot of providers are blocking it to prevent spamming.

For the DNS setup create a new A record pointing to the IP address of your server. Call it "mailserver" or whatever you prefer that isn't already taken. Then set a MX record for the domain to mailserver.mydomain.com, and remove the ones pointing elsewhere.

Unless you have read the Mercury manual thoroughly and feel comfortable with all settings I would recommend removing the XAMPP installation of Mercury and making a fresh setup with the current version from the community download section. This way you will have sensible default settings to start with. Read the help texts during the installation carefully, and make sure to get local domains right.

You will need to forward at least port 25 from your router to the private IP address of the server. If you want POP3 accessible from the Internet you will need port 110 as well, and the same with port 143 for IMAP.

If after doing all this you need more help please post the mercury.ini file here to give us something to work with.

/Rolf

Rolf,

Thanks for the response.  I've followed as best as you recommended, but still cannot send or receive to/from external or internal locally hosted accounts/users.  When I try to send and receive messages, I get the following error message on Windows Live Mail:

[quote user="Dezzy"]

The host 'mailserver.mydomain.com' could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly.

Subject 'test'
Server: 'mailserver.mydomain.com'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0D
Protocol: SMTP
Port: 587
Secure(SSL): No
Socket Error: 11004


Unable to send or receive messages for the (support) account. The host 'mailserver.mydomain.com' could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly.

Server: 'mailserver.mydomain.com'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0D
Protocol: POP3
Port: 110
Secure(SSL): No
Socket Error: 11004

[/quote]

Below is what I've done/changed.

1. To download email messages using our account on my ISP (Verizon FIOS), they require us to use port 587 (a change from port 25).  So I assume they are blocking port 25 and thus, everywhere I saw port 25 in my settings, I changed it to 587.  This includes forwarding port 587 (and 25 and 110 by the way) to my private IP address (192.168.1.7) of my local computer server.

2. I verified the A record (see above) and changed the MX record (see below) as you indicated.  See only the new settings below.  PLEASE note however that I did not change any of the CNAME records as provided above.  Should I have changed them as well, and if so to what?

************* SETTINGS AT GODADDY *****************
DNS Option at GoDaddy:
- MX Records
MX 0:
--host: @
--points to: mailserver.mydomain.com
MX 10:
--host: @
--points to: mailserver.mydomain.com

where A record "@" points to my public ISP provided IP address to my router

*****************************************************

3.  Here is my mercury.ini file

*****************************************************

[quote user="Dezzy"]

#  MERCURY.INI generated by Mercury Setup
#
#
#  Sample Bindery Mode / Standalone Mode MERCURY.INI file.
#  This sample file implements most of the possible switches for each
#  module, but you can edit it to do less if you wish.
#
#  Anything after a '#' to the end of the line is a comment and
#  is stripped out before parsing. Trailing and leading whitespace
#  is also stripped before parsing. Many sample commands have been
#  left in this file commented out for reference purposes.
#
#  Note that in general, manual modification of this file is NOT
#  RECOMMENDED - use the Mercury "Configuration" menu to change the
#  program's settings wherever possible.
#

[General]
myname:          mailserver.mydomain.com    # Canonical name for this server
timezone:        +0000    # Time Zone to add to date fields
file_api:        1    # Use the file api instead of queues
mailqueue:       C:\XAMPP\MERCURYMAIL\QUEUE    # Where mail should be put for delivery
smtpqueue:       C:\XAMPP\MERCURYMAIL\QUEUE    # Where the SMTP client should look for mail
newmail_path:    C:\XAMPP\MERCURYMAIL\MAIL\~N    # Where to find the users' WinPMail mailboxes.

[Protocols]
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYS.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYP.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYE.DLL
# C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYC.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYD.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYH.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYF.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYW.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYX.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYI.DLL
C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURYB.DLL

[Mercury]
failfile:      C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\failure.mer    # Delivery failure notification template
confirmfile:   C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\confirm.mer    # Delivery confirmation template
aliasfile:     C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\alias.mer    # System-wide alias file
synfile:       C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\synonym.mer    # User synonym database
listfile:      C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\lists.mer    # List of lists
logfile:       C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\CORE\~y-~m-~d.log    # Traffic logging file
logwidth:      30    # Width of address fields in logfile
retpath:       1    # Do/Don't use 'return-path' for errors
maxhops:       30    # Used to detect mailing loops
gullible:      0    # If NZ, don't validate 'From' fields
poll:          10   # Seconds between queue polling cycles
scratch:       C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH    # Where we can write temp files
returnlines:   15    # How many lines of failed messages to return
postmaster:    Admin    # NetWare UIC of postmaster
broadcast:     1    # Yes, we want broadcast notifications, but
receipts:      0    # ... no broadcasts for receipt confirmations
PM_notify:     1    # Do/Don't send errors to the postmaster
change_owner:  1    # Change message ownership to recipient
auto_tzone:    1    # If NZ, obtain timezone information from OS
LogLevel:      15    # System message reporting level
LogMax:        100    # Maximum number of system messages to store
RetryPeriod:   30    # Period between job retries (minutes)
MaxRetries:    16    # Maximum number of times a job can fail
TwoPasses:     1    # If NZ, process submission queue in 2 passes
Autoaddress:   0    # If NZ, auto-generate user addresses based on name
Daily_exit:    0    # If NZ, auto-restart each day after maintenance
No_Areply:     0    # If NZ, disable automatic replies system-wide
Alt_Forward:   0    # If NZ, allow alternate forwarding specification
Maint_hour:    2    # Hour for daily maintenance (24-hour clock)
Maint_min:     0    # Minute for daily maintenance
Retry_Mode:    0    # If NZ, use progressive backoff for queue retries
Local_DSNs:    1    # If NZ generate Delivery Status for local users only
DSN_time1:     10800    # Seconds deferred before first DSN is sent
DSN_time2:     86400    # Seconds deferred before second DSN is sent
DSN_time3:     259200    # Seconds deferred before third DSN is sent
Host_in_title: 0    # If NZ, show hostname in system tray and taskbar
Lingering:     0    # Enable or disable 'lingering mailboxes'
Linger_Timeout: 60   # Seconds before a lingering mailbox is shut down
Alert_Host:    notify.pmail.com    # Host to check for licensee advisories
Alert_Interval: 720   # Frequency in minutes (min 240) for checks
Alert_Flags:   3    # Flags controlling advisory checks

[MercuryC]
Host:             # mail mail host which relays for us
Failfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\failure.mer
Poll : 30
Scratch : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH
ReturnLines : 15
Timeout : 30
ESMTP : 1
POP3_Auth : 0
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYC\~y-~m-~d.log
Log_Verbose : 0
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYC
Session_logmode : 0

[MercuryE]
HELO : mailserver.mydomain.com
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYE
Session_logmode : 0
Poll : 15
Timeout : 60
Nameservers : mailserver.mydomain.com
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYE\~y-~m-~d.log
Log_Verbose : 0
DNS_Timeout : 20
DNS_Retries : 4
Transcripts : 1
MaxThreads : 10

[MercuryD]
Scratch : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH\MERCURYD
Timeout : 30
Poll : 120
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYD
Session_logmode : 0

[MercuryS]
Debug : 1
HELO : mailserver.mydomain.com
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYS\~y-~m-~d.log
Timeout : 30
Relay : 0
Strict_Relay : 0
Server_Port : 587
Alt_Server_Port : 25
Interface : mailserver.mydomain.com
Allow_Illegals : 0
SMTP_Authentication : 0
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\ESSIONS\MERCURYS
Session_logmode : 0
Compliance_Settings : 0
Maximum_Failed_Rcpts : 4
Max_Relay_Attempts : 4
SSL_Mode : 0
ST_Blacklisting : 288
No_VRFY : 0
SMTP_ConnFlags : 0

[MercuryP]
Scratch : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH\MercuryP
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYP\~y-~m-~d.log
Stack : 32768
Interface : mailserver.mydomain.com
Mark_Read : 1
SSL_Mode : 0
Login_Disabled : 0
UIDL_nul_list : 1
New_UIDs : 1
No_NUL_passwords : 1
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYP
Session_logmode : 0
Timeout : 60

[MercuryX]
Cmd_Wait: 1
IE4_Dialling: 0
Use_ETRN: 0
Clients_only: 0
Drain_queues: 1
Sunday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Monday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Tuesday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Wednesday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Thursday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Friday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0
Saturday: 0000,0000,0,0,0,0

[Domains]
localhost: localhost
localhost: [127.0.0.1]
mydomain.com: mailserver.mydomain.com

[Maiser]
Maiser:          Maiser   # 'Username' of mail server account
Helpfile:        C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\maiser.hlp   # Help sent on failed maiser requests
Lookupfile:      C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\maiser.lkp   # Format file for the 'lookup' command
Send_dir:        C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\SENDABLE   # Directory for the 'send' command
Logfile:         C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MAISER\~y-~m-~d.log   # Mail server log file
Notify:          C:\xampp\MercuryMail\MERCURY\TMP   # Dir. for pending 'notify' commands
NoList:          N   # If 'Y', disable the 'list' command
Local_only:      Y   # If 'Y', local 'notify' commands only

[MercuryH]
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYH\~y-~m-~d.log
Timeout : 30

[MercuryI]
Scratch : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH\MERCURYI
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYI\~y-~m-~d.log
Timeout : 120
Server_Port : 143
Charset : ISO-8859-1
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYI
Session_logmode : 0
Idle_Timeout : 1800
SSL_Mode : 0
Login_Disabled : 0
No_NUL_passwords : 1

[MercuryB]
Scratch : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SCRATCH\MERCURYB
Logfile : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\LOGS\MERCURYB\~y-~m-~d.log
Timeout : 120
Server_Port : 2224
Session_logging : C:\xampp\MercuryMail\SESSIONS\MERCURYB
Session_logmode : 0
Idle_Timeout : 1800
SSL_Mode : 0
Alt_Server_Port : 443

[Groups]

[Rewrite]

[Statistics]
StatFlags:    0  # Statistical reporting settings
STF_Hours:    24  # How often to write stat log files
STM_Hours:    24  # How often to e-mail stat log files

[/quote]

*****************************************************