WebBoard SMTP Server Settings

WebBoard SMTP Server Settings

The SMTP server host name

Binding the WebBoard SMTP server to a specific host name or IP address may be desirable if you are running your external SMTP server on the same computer as WebBoard. Although not required, limiting the IP address or host name of the WebBoard SMTP server can provide additional security by preventing the WebBoard SMTP server from accepting all connections on the specified port. Other reasons to bind the WebBoard SMTP server to an IP address or host name include using the server as a proxy or firewall or using port-based routing such as WinGate. These are specific instances and we recommend you not bind the WebBoard SMTP server to a host name or IP address unless you understand the implications.

If left blank, the WebBoard SMTP server will respond to all requests on all IP addresses on the WebBoard computer.

The SMPT server port number

Specifying a non-standard port for WebBoard’s internal server is required if the external SMTP server is on the same computer. Having a non-standard port enables the external SMTP server to route incoming mail to the internal server. The WebBoard SMTP Server Settings section of the Administration menu has options for binding the WebBoard internal server to a non-standard port.

This setting defaults to the well-known SMTP port number 25.

To assign or change the Host Name or Port, follow these steps:

On the Site Management form, scroll down to the WebBoard SMTP Server Settings section.
If desired, enter a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or an IP address for the WebBoard SMTP server in the SMTP Server Host Name field. To have the WebBoard SMTP server listen for all incoming requests, leave this field blank. Unless you understand the implications of binding the SMTP server, we recommend you leave this field blank.
If desired, enter a new port number for the WebBoard SMTP server in the SMTP Server Port Number field. To run another SMTP server on the same computer, you must change the port number from the standard port 25. Be sure the new port does not conflict with ports used for other servers such as web servers, the WebBoard server, IRC servers, and so on. Often ports in the 9000 range are available.
Click Save Changes.
For these changes to take effect, you must stop and restart both WebBoard and the WebBoard SMTP server. If for some reason, the server cannot be bound to the specified port or hostname, an error message is displayed and an entry made in the SMTP log.
If you changed the port number, and are running the other SMTP server on the same computer, be sure to configure the other SMTP server to properly route WebBoard’s incoming mail. For example, in Post.Office, you must add a line to the SMTP Mail Routing Table as follows: webboard.smtp.server:webboard.smtp.server#webboardSMTPport where webboard.smtp.server is the name you assigned to WebBoard (or to the WebBoard SMTP server if you assigned one) and webboardSMTPport is the port number assigned to the WebBoard SMTP server. Note that the hostname used by your other SMTP server must be different from the name used for the WebBoard server. See your mail server’s documentation for more information.
Test the mail functionality of WebBoard and your mail server.