1

We have a bit of a problem in that we want our printers to email our contractor whenever they develop a fault. The problem is on our corporate network we have no access through the firewall to the internet preventing us to use the external SMTP server.

So i suppose the question is can we use our exchange server to do this? IE could I run an SMTP service that would forward to the exchange server which would then send the mail to the contractor?

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks

John

John
  • 343
  • 2
  • 6
  • 13

2 Answers2

1

Absolutely. my own printer sends out an email whenever it does something bad. Goes to my exchange account. Could also be forwarded externally.

TomTom
  • 51,649
  • 7
  • 54
  • 136
  • Yes, but our printers will only talk to an SMTP server, isn't exchange IMAP? – John Mar 16 '10 at 13:30
  • 1
    Exchange supports IMAP but uses SMTP as its native transport. – icky3000 Mar 16 '10 at 13:51
  • How you think it sends and receives email over the internet? First, IMAP is actually retired LONG time ago, second, exchange since first version always could handle SMTP in and out. it is an email server. Email sending protocol has been SMTP on the internet for many many many many many years ;) – TomTom Mar 16 '10 at 13:51
  • 1
    @john Exchange will happily do SMTP relay for you so long as you have it configured properly ( and make sure it required authentication to prevent it becoming an open relay) – Sam Cogan Mar 16 '10 at 13:53
  • @TomTom IMAP is not retired, it is available in every version of Exchange currently on the market. It is one of the better solutions for clients that cannot use MAPI to connect to Exchange, rather than using POP. Also Exchange did not handle SMTP in it's first release, it was solely based on X400. SMTP was not introduced until Exchange 4.5. – Sam Cogan Mar 16 '10 at 14:06
  • Sorry, yeas - mixed that up with smething else. IMAP is pretty good for those not using exchange web service pased elements. You are right. – TomTom Mar 16 '10 at 14:25
0

Exchange by default has the ability to utilize POP and SMTP, however that does not mean it is enabled on your exchange server. I would check your exchange installation and verify smtp is enabled within exchange, but you could also do a quick and dirty test by doing a telnet from the comman prompt (telnet yourexchangeserver 25). This should give you an idea if it is already enabled, if it is just configure your printer with the appropriate settings and a valid domain account.

Charles
  • 879
  • 5
  • 9
  • Hi just tried this: C:\Documents and Settings\mcbridej9>telnet exchangeServer.user.XXXXX.uk 25 Connecting To exchangeServer.user.XXXXX.uk...Could not open connection to the host, on port 25: Connect failed Does this mean its not enabled or maybe permissions? Thanks – John Mar 16 '10 at 14:07
  • Not activated, not configured, firewalled - many possible reasons. – TomTom Mar 16 '10 at 14:26
  • As Tom mentioned it doesn't necessarily mean it's not enabled, just that you cannot access it. If the test was successful it would tell you everything was already configured to just work. Since it didn't you will have to do some more leg work. I would suggest checking any firewalls between you and the exchange server to include the windows firewall, and if those look good I would then check the SMTP service in exchange to ensure it is enabled. – Charles Mar 18 '10 at 19:00