> Hi, there, I installed the free version of Mercury 32 that came with
> Xampp (a suite of free tools for building an apache/php server). I'm
> going to be testing/developing a web application (drupal) on my local
> machine). Drupal requires that the server have smtp (for password
> authentication, etc). In fact, you can't even install Drupal locally
> unless you have an SMTP server running. Hence, my reason for Mercury
> 32.

Ok,

> I am pretty clueless about what exactly I need to do. Can someone
> point me to the steps? When I open the Mercury 32 control Panel, I see
> windows for SMTP server and SMTP client  (and IMAP server, etc).
> Success would probably mean that I can send a message which would be
> sent through Mercury to an outside web address (gmail, etc). If I
> choose File --> Send email message, I get a email send window, with
> postmaster@localhost as my sending address. I try a test message to
> the outside; no success. (I even checked gmail's spam filter).

What you really need to do is verify the setup, XAMPP does not do a very good job of setting up Mercury by default.  

1.    MercuryS is used to receive the mail from an outside source and you need to turn on session logging to see if the mail is being received from Drupal.

2.    Next, XAMPP sets up MercuryE as the outbound client by default.  Any port 25 blocking will cause a failure.  If you do not have a fixed IP address then most major servers will reject your connection as spam.  You need to convert to MercuryC to relay through your ISP's SMTP host to send the mail.

>
> I am on Vista. Do I need to create an exception on the Windows Firewall. Which port? Is that the only problem?

MercuryE and MercuryC both use port 25 for outbound mail.  MercuryS uses port 25 inbound but since it's only receiving a local connection from Drupal this should not be affected by the firewall.

> Do I need  to create a local user name for SMTP?

Yes, there must be a postmaster local account.

>
> Is File --> Send email message the best mechanism for verifying that a
> message has gone through?  What about doing smtp on the command line?

I do telnet to the host to verify.  Here's a sample session.  The ones with 250 and 354 are from the server, the others I typed in.

Start | Run telnet svl78zxa97.lmms.lmco.com 25

You will see something like the following.  The ones with the numbers are from the server, the others I typed in.

<< 220 ESVCS.lmms.lmco.com Mercury/32 v3.01 SMTP/ESMTP server ready.
>> EHLO SVL78ZXA97
<< 250-ESVCS.lmms.lmco.com Hello SVL78ZXA97; ESMTPs are:
<< 250-TIME
<< 250-SIZE 5000000
<< 250-8BITMIME
<< 250-AUTH CRAM-MD5
<< 250 HELP
>> MAIL FROM:<support@stephens.sj.scruznet.com> SIZE=517
<< 250 Sender and size (517) OK - send RCPTs.
>> RCPT TO:<support@stephens.sj.scruznet.com>
<< 250 Recipient OK - send RCPT or DATA.
>> DATA
<< 354 OK, send data, end with CRLF.CRLF
>> From: "Thomas R. Stephenson" <support@stephens.sj.scruznet.com>
>> To: support@stephens.sj.scruznet.com
>> Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 11:35:28 -0800
>> Subject: Test #4
>>
>> Mail body
>> .
<< 250 Data received OK.
>> QUIT

> (Unfortunately, the Mercury local online help is in hlp format and
> incompatible with Vista. (I tried downloading the hlp reader for Vista
> from MS, with no success).

You might want to upgrade the the latest version.

Hi, there, I installed the free version of Mercury 32 that came with Xampp (a suite of free tools for building an apache/php server).

 I'm going to be testing/developing a web application (drupal) on my local machine). Drupal requires that the server have smtp (for password authentication, etc). In fact, you can't even install Drupal locally unless you have an SMTP server running.

Hence, my reason for Mercury 32. 

I am pretty clueless about what exactly I need to do. Can someone point me to the steps? 

When I open the Mercury 32 control Panel, I see windows for SMTP server and SMTP client  (and IMAP server, etc).

Success would probably mean that I can send a message which would be sent through Mercury to an outside web address (gmail, etc).

If I choose File --> Send email message, I get a email send window, with postmaster@localhost as my sending address. I try a test message to the outside; no success. (I even checked gmail's spam filter).

I am on Vista. Do I need to create an exception on the Windows Firewall. Which port? Is that the only problem? 

Do I need  to create a local user name for SMTP? 

Is File --> Send email message the best mechanism for verifying that a message has gone through?  What about doing smtp on the command line? 

(Unfortunately, the Mercury local online help is in hlp format and incompatible with Vista. (I tried downloading the hlp reader for Vista from MS, with no success). 

Thanks for your help. 

Robert Nagle

idiotprogrammer