You down with S-M-T-P? Yeah, you know me!

September 20, 2008 7:48 PM

How do I set up an outbound SMTP server on MS Server 2003?

My team at work has been given the task of getting our MS Server 2003 box to send out emails. I have no idea how to do this.

All of my googling gives me instructions on how to set up SMTP with exchange, or some variance thereof. I don't need to receive emails, just send them. We're intending to use python and smtplib to create and send the email using variables from a database that we are creating. We toyed with the idea of using godaddy's SMTP relay, but it only gives you 250 relays per day for obvious reasons.

The question is how does a non-spammer send out between 250-700 emails per day using what I have at my disposal?

Note: Every email sent is opt-in and offers the recipient a coupon targeted towards an item that they have expressed interest in.

posted by ThFullEffect to technology (3 comments total)

A few sites on the Internet propose following this path to install the "SMTP service" component of IIS, rather than using all of Exchange itself. I think this works on most IIS platforms with only minor variations in where the component is listed under Add/Remove.

For 2003, follow this path:

Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components -> Application Server -> Details -> Internet Information Service (IIS) -> Details -> SMTP Service -> OK, Next, Finish, OK, Next, Finish, etc.

Once it's installed, the IIS Manager (probably under Control Panel -> Administrative Tools) should let you configure the properties of it to ensure that it's not an open relay.
posted by crysflame at 8:39 PM on September 20, 2008

Is the server in the office or in a datacenter? If it's in the office, just use your smtplib to send mail through your corporate webserver. If it's in a datacenter, you can either try to add permission exceptions to allow mail to be sent through the corporate SMTP server from the DC or install the bare SMTP service.
posted by rhizome at 8:45 PM on September 20, 2008

Apparently we have a few more hurdles than I thought and the easiest solution is going to be going through the corporate SMTP server. Thanks for your help everyone!
posted by ThFullEffect at 8:34 AM on September 22, 2008