> OK, here is the mercury.ini. I'm going home now and won't be able to see any response for about an hour. Thanks for your help.

See my response in-line, I cleared out a lot of stuff that was not material.  

>
> #  MERCURY.INI generated by Mercury Setup
>
> [General]
> myname:          vm-xp2.whoi.edu    # Canonical name for this server

Valid server, responds to port 25 Does this host have a fixed IP address?


220 vm-xp2.whoi.edu ESMTP server ready.
ehlo thomas
250-vm-xp2.whoi.edu Hello thomas; ESMTPs are:
250-TIME
250-SIZE 0
250-AUTH CRAM-MD5 LOGIN
250-AUTH=LOGIN
250 HELP

>
> [MercuryC]
> Host : outbox.whoi.edu

The server does answer Start | Run telnet outbox.whoi.edu 25  

220 postal2.whoi.edu ESMTP Postfix (Debian/GNU)
ehlo thomas
250-postal2.whoi.edu
250-PIPELINING
250-SIZE 104857600
250-VRFY
250-ETRN
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-8BITMIME
250 DSN
mail from: <thomas@tstephenson.com>
250 2.1.0 Ok
rcpt to: <support@tstephenson.com>
554 5.7.1 <support@tstephenson.com>: Relay access denied

But it is not available for relaying.  It may allow relaying using your IP address though.  That said I would have expected it to show the use of the AUTH command.

This does not show an error FF though since I can connect to the host.  The failure also shows a error message that should be passed back to Mercury.  Can you telnet into the host from the Mercury system?


> Failfile : C:\progra~1\mercury\Mercury\FAILURE.MER
> Poll : 30
> Scratch : C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury
> ReturnLines : 15
> Timeout : 30
> ESMTP : 1
> SMTP_ConnFlags : 16
> POP3_Auth : 0
> Logfile : c:\docume~1\cis_admin\desktop\mercc.log
> Log_Verbose : 1
> Session_logging : c:\progra~1\mercury\logs\session
> Session_logmode : 1
>
> [MercuryE]
> Poll : 15
> Timeout : 60
> Nameservers : 128.128.243.3,128.128.243.2
> Log_Verbose : 0
> DNS_Timeout : 20
> DNS_Retries : 4
> Transcripts : 1
> MaxThreads : 10
>
> [MercuryS]
> Debug : 1
> Logfile : C:\progra~1\mercury\Logs\MERCURYS.LOG
> Timeout : 30
> Relay : 0
> Strict_Relay : 1
> Allow_Illegals : 0
> SMTP_Authentication : 1
> Auth_File : c:\progra~1\mercury\pw
> Session_logging : c:\progra~1\mercury\logs\session
> Session_logmode : 1
> Compliance_Settings : 0
> Maximum_Failed_Rcpts : 4
> Max_Relay_Attempts : 4
> SSL_Mode : 0
> ST_Blacklisting : 288
> No_VRFY : 0
> SMTP_ConnFlags : 0

Looks good.

> [Domains]
> vm-xp2: vm-xp2
> vm-xp2: vm-xp2.whoi.edu
>

I installed Mercury in the end-to-end configuration, but due to issues with sent emails being blocked, I need to convert to a relay configuration. Are there any instructions on how to do this. I really don't want to have to reinstall. Thanks for the help.

I installed Mercury in the end-to-end configuration, but due to issues

with sent emails being blocked, I need to convert to a relay

configuration. Are there any instructions on how to do this. I really

don't want to have to reinstall. Thanks for the help.

It's actually pretty straight forward.

1.  Use Configuration | Protocols and select MercuryC.  This will remove the MercuryE selection.

2.  Close and reopen Mercury.

3.  Use Configuration | MercuryC to setup the relay host and any options that the relay host requires.

Note:  If you run Start | Run telnet <host name> 25 and then enter EHLO <your domain name> the host will tell you which options are available.  For example when I telnet into tstephenson.com and issue the EHLO command I get.

This tells me the server is a ESMTP server (it accepted EHLO) and that is uses both the ESMTP Authorizations CRAM-MD5 and LOGIN as well as the  STARTTLS command for encrypted connections.

Progress comes in small painful steps. It is indeed easy to switch to the relay module. The problem is that I can't send email. It works just fine when configured for end-to-end, but in relay mode I get the error message "Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server my.org.edu failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections." Nothing changes except the send module. I tried to enable log files to show me what is going on, but they don't show anything. Either they're not writing any information, or I'm so incompetent that I can't even enable them properly. Does anyone have ideas on how to fix my problem? Thanks again. This forum has been a godsend.

> Progress comes in small painful steps. It is indeed easy to switch to the relay module. The problem is that I can't send email. It works
> just fine when configured for end-to-end, but in relay mode I get the error message "Sending of message failed. The message could not be
> sent because connecting to SMTP server my.org.edu failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections." Nothing changes
> except the send module. I tried to enable log files to show me what is going on, but they don't show anything. Either they're not writing any
> information, or I'm so incompetent that I can't even enable them properly. Does anyone have ideas on how to fix my problem? Thanks again. This forum has been a godsend.

Post a copy of the Mercury.ini file for analysis.  We'll test the relay host as well to see if this is set correctly.

If push comes to shove you can send me a message offline and I'm sure I can setup some sort of test server for you.

This is NOT an open invitation for every one to use my server!  I have already got too many extras. ;-)

OK, here is the mercury.ini. I'm going home now and won't be able to see any response for about an hour. Thanks for your help.

#  MERCURY.INI generated by Mercury Setup
#
#
#  Sample Bindery Mode MERCURY.INI file (in fact, the one I use on
#  my production server). This one implements most of the possible
#  switches for each module, but you can edit it to do less if you
#  wish. All the fields shown below are described in the file
#  MGUIDE.HLP which is supplied in the Mercury archive.
#
#  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.
#

[General]
myname:          vm-xp2.whoi.edu    # 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:\PROGRA~1\MERCURY\QUEUE    # Where mail should be put for delivery
smtpqueue:       C:\PROGRA~1\MERCURY\QUEUE    # Where the SMTP client should look for mail
newmail_path:    C:\PROGRA~1\MERCURY\MAIL\~N    # Where to find the users' WinPMail mailboxes.

[Protocols]
MERCURYS.DLL
# MERCURYP.DLL
# MERCURYE.DLL
MERCURYC.DLL
# MERCURYD.DLL
MERCURYH.DLL
MERCURYF.DLL
MERCURYW.DLL
MERCURYX.DLL
MERCURYI.DLL
MERCURYB.DLL

[Mercury]
failfile:      C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury\FAILURE.MER    # Delivery failure notification template
confirmfile:   C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury\CONFIRM.MER    # Delivery confirmation template
aliasfile:     C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury\ALIAS.MER    # System-wide alias file
synfile:       C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury\SYNONYM.MER    # User synonym database
listfile:      C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury\LISTS.MER    # List of lists
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
bitnethost:    cunyvm.cuny.edu    # Relay host for '.bitnet' rewrites
poll:          10   # Seconds between queue polling cycles
scratch:       C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\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 : outbox.whoi.edu
Failfile : C:\progra~1\mercury\Mercury\FAILURE.MER
Poll : 30
Scratch : C:\PROGRA~1\mercury\Mercury
ReturnLines : 15
Timeout : 30
ESMTP : 1
SMTP_ConnFlags : 16
POP3_Auth : 0
Logfile : c:\docume~1\cis_admin\desktop\mercc.log
Log_Verbose : 1
Session_logging : c:\progra~1\mercury\logs\session
Session_logmode : 1

[MercuryE]
Poll : 15
Timeout : 60
Nameservers : 128.128.243.3,128.128.243.2
Log_Verbose : 0
DNS_Timeout : 20
DNS_Retries : 4
Transcripts : 1
MaxThreads : 10

[MercuryD]
scratch              :     C:\Program Files\mercury\Mercury
# Timeout : 30
# Poll : 120               # How often to check hosts for new mail (seconds)

[MercuryS]
Debug : 1
Logfile : C:\progra~1\mercury\Logs\MERCURYS.LOG
Timeout : 30
Relay : 0
Strict_Relay : 1
Allow_Illegals : 0
SMTP_Authentication : 1
Auth_File : c:\progra~1\mercury\pw
Session_logging : c:\progra~1\mercury\logs\session
Session_logmode : 1
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:\Program Files\mercury\Mercury
Timeout              :     60

[MercuryX]
# Cmd_Delay: 10
# Cmd_Wait: 1
# IE4_Dialling: 0
# Use_ETRN: 1
# Clients_only: 1
# Sunday: 0800,1800,3,15,30,60
# Monday: 0830,2100,5,15,60,60
# Tuesday: 0830,2100,5,15,60,60
# Wednesday: 1500,1900,2,30,5,30
# Thursday: 0900,1900,2,30,0,0
# Friday: 0830,2100,5,15,60,60
# Saturday: 1031,1035,2,45,-1,0

# [Groups]
# testgroup            :     TESTGRP

[Domains]
vm-xp2: vm-xp2
vm-xp2: vm-xp2.whoi.edu

[Maiser]
Maiser:          Maiser   # 'Username' of mail server account
Helpfile:        C:\Program Files\mercury\Mercury\MAISER.HLP   # Help sent on failed maiser requests
Lookupfile:      C:\Program Files\mercury\Mercury\MAISER.LKP   # Format file for the 'lookup' command
Send_dir:        C:\Program Files\mercury\Mercury\SENDABLE   # Directory for the 'send' command
Logfile:         C:\Program Files\mercury\Logs\MAISER.LOG   # Mail server log file
Notify:          C:\Program Files\mercury\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:\Program Files\mercury\Logs\MERCURYH.LOG
# Addressbook : \\CLIO\SYS\SYSTEM\MERCURY\PH.PMR
# MOTD : \\CLIO\SYS\SYSTEM\MERCURY\PH-MOTD.TXT
# Administrator : postmaster@clio.pmail.gen.nz
Timeout : 30

[MercuryI]
Scratch : C:\Program Files\mercury\SCRATCH
Timeout : 120
Server_Port : 143
Idle_Timeout : 1800
SSL_Mode : 0
Login_Disabled : 0

[MercuryB]
Scratch : C:\Program Files\mercury\SCRATCH
Timeout : 120
Server_Port : 81
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