When to use support - Advise

[gbradley]

Hello,

I am new to this Web Admin stuff and I think it is very interesting, but I think that I may be unprepared for some tasks. I hope to do it for quite a while because I see opportunities to help friends and family with Web sites - which I like.

I am having a problem with configuring MailEnable to send out through SMTP and I had been working on the problem for over 2 weeks. Should I have contacted SB Support and asked for help or how should I have approached the problem.

Options:
1. Keep plodding through by trial and error. I tried this, and have hit a brick wall.
2. Get the SB support team involved. I have just engaged them, but I don't know what to expect. Will they do what I tell them or help me fix the root problem?
3. Hire a consultant - maybe from this forum. Does anyone have any suggestions and time? I'm looking for someone trustworthy, patient, and relatively inexpensive. Inexpensive is relative, so I'd like to hear some suggestions.

Hey SB Support, maybe you guys should charge a rate for setting up mailenable like you do for Ensim.

I'd appreciate any feedback. I'd like to be smart about this and use resources if I need them.

Thanks in advance...

[wunderlin]

For Mailenable configuration, you can proabably get free support on these boards. I've got it working quite nicely- what's the problem?

One thing to check immediately- the default configuration (at least when I signed up) had Microsoft's SMTP services pointing to port 25 and MailEnable's was disabled set to port 0. Once I fixed that, everything worked well. I also had to tweak the relay settings- see this thread:

http://www.serverbeach.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173

[gbradley]

Thanks for your reply...

Here is the situation.

Success
1. Can setup a domain and mailboxes
2. Can send mail to a mailbox
3. Can retrieve mail from a mailbox using Outlook

Failed
1. Can't send mail using WebMail
2. Can't rely mail

Logs don't show any SMTP-OU messages, which makes me think that nothing is hitting the connection. Also, in the MailEnable forum, they suggest setting up the PTR record. Using the test system for ME, it says I need a PTR. I am very uncomfortable with setting the PTR because there are numerous steps in W2K using the DNS system. Heck, I may be even doing that wrong.

Suggestions?

Do you have some time one evening, perhaps you can walk-thru my configuration and make sure I am sane?

[wunderlin]

Originally posted by gbradley
Failed
1. Can't send mail using WebMail
2. Can't rely mail



Have you upgraded to the professional version? You can only use webmail with the pro version.

What do you mean by rely? Do you mean you can't send from Outlook? You need to enable relay as described in the link I sent earlier using SMTP authentication- then you need to set up the smtp authentication in outlook- for the user name, you need to specify user@postofficename - no .com or whatever attached...

[Nestor]

Did you create the MX record in your SB DNS tool?

Also, make sure you have created domains for the sites you are using in mailenable.

[gbradley]

Thank you "wunderlin" and "nester" for responding.

The rely should have been relay.

Also, I do have ME Pro installed. Do I need to upgrade to 1.115 (or the latest August 25th version)?

I can send and receive mail through Outlook and Outlook Express, it's just that I could not send it through WebMail, nor could I relay the message.

[wunderlin]

Originally posted by gbradley
Also, I do have ME Pro installed. Do I need to upgrade to 1.115 (or the latest August 25th version)?

I can send and receive mail through Outlook and Outlook Express, it's just that I could not send it through WebMail, nor could I relay the message. I'm afraid I don't have experience with ME pro- I haven't upgraded yet- probably will sometime in the next several months, though... What is happening when you try to send with webmail?

Sorry- I'm still a bit confused on the relay problem. 'Relaying' is when the remote server- your serverbeach server- allows email to be sent on behalf of another machine- your local client. Are you sending and receiving using outlook/outlook express that is physically installed on your server?