HOW TO: Examine Relay Restrictions for Anonymous SMTP Connections and Filter Unsolicited E-mail Messages in Exchange 2000 Server

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to examine the default relay behavior of Exchange 2000 Server and how to configure a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server to filter unsolicited commercial e-mail.

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Examine Relay Restrictions for Anonymous SMTP Connections

1. Click Start, click Run, type telnet in the Run box, and then click OK.
2. At the Microsoft Telnet command prompt, type set LOCAL_ECHO, and then press ENTER.
3. Type open server_name 25, and then press ENTER.
4. To verify that you are successfully connected to the ESMTP Mail Service, type helo domain.com, and then press ENTER.
5. Type mail from: advertiser123@domain.com, and then press ENTER.
6. Type rcpt to: recipient@another-domain.com, and then press ENTER. Note the "Unable To Relay For Recipient@Another-Domain.com" error message.
7. Type quit, and then press ENTER twice to close the connection to the server and leave Telnet running.

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Filter Unsolicited E-mail Messages

1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Microsoft Exchange.
2. Click Exchange System Manager, click Global Settings, right-click Message Delivery, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Filtering tab, and then click Add.
4. In the Add Sender dialog box, type *@domain.com, and then click OK.
5. Click to select the check boxes for Archive Filtered Messages and Filter Messages with Blank Sender, and then click OK.
6. Click Server, expand your server, and then click Protocols.
7. Click SMTP, right-click Default SMTP Virtual Server, and then click Properties.
8. On the General tab, click Advanced, click the existing IP Address - TCP Port mapping, and then click Edit.
9. In the Identification dialog box, click to select the Apply Filter check box.
10. Click OK three times, and then give the Metabase Update service some time to transfer the configuration changes into the IIS metabase.
11. Return to the Telnet command prompt, type open server_name 25, and then press ENTER.
12. Type helo domain.com, and then press ENTER.
13. Type mail from: sender@unfiltered-domain.com, and then press ENTER.
14. Type rcpt to: administrator@server_name.com, and then press ENTER.
15. Type data, and then press ENTER.
16. Type From:sender@unfiltered-domain.com, and then press ENTER.
17. Type To: administrator@ server_name.com, and then press ENTER.
18. Type Subject: This is an unfiltered message, and then press ENTER.
19. Press ENTER again, type We are testing message filtering, and then press ENTER.
20. Press ENTER again, type a single period (.), and then press ENTER again to signal the end of message transfer. Note the response from the server, that the message is queued for delivery.
21. Type mail from: advertiser123@domain.com, and then press ENTER. Note that the server returns a "Sender Denied" error message and immediately terminates the connection.
22. Press ENTER, type Open server_name 25, and then press ENTER again.
23. Type helo domain.com, and then press ENTER.
24. Type mail from: sender@unfiltered-domain.com, and then press ENTER.
25. Type rcpt to: administrator@server_name.com, and then press ENTER.
26. Type data, and then press ENTER.
27. Type From: advertiser123@domain.com, and then press ENTER.
28. Type To: administrator@ server_name.com, and then press ENTER.
29. Type Subject: This is a filtered message, and then press ENTER.
30. Press ENTER again, type We are testing message filtering, and then press ENTER.
31. Press ENTER again, type a single period (.), and then press ENTER to signal the end of message transfer. Note the response from the server that the sender is denied. You can find this filtered message as a .tmp file in the \Exchsrvr\Mailroot\Vsi 1\Filter folder.
32. Close the Telnet client program.

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