Outgoing Mail

• Enable Outgoing Mail - This controls whether the service is enabled.
• Independent Mode - If set, the default route of outbound mail will be controlled by MX lookups. This is the normal method of delivery and most mail servers operate in this mode.
• Auto-Detect DNS Hosts - To perform MX lookups, the mail server requires access to at least one valid DNS host. If this option is set, Ocean Mail Server will attempt to automatically detect a list of DNSs from the computer running the mail server.
• Use DNS Host(s) - This allows you to specify the DNS hosts which should be used for MX lookups. This is usually only required when Ocean Mail Server cannot automatically detect the DNS hosts. To set multiple DNS's, simply separate each with a semi-colon (‘;’).
• Test DNS - This will perform tests to ensure that the specified DNS hosts can be used to send mail successfully.
• Try Only First MX Host That Connects - Normally Ocean Mail Server will try each MX host until it has successfully sent the email to all recipients. If an MX host rejects any of the recipients, the mail server will continue and try the other MX hosts. If this option is enabled, the mail transaction will be limited to the first MX host that successfully accepts the connection. If any email addresses are rejected by that host, Ocean Mail Server will not try any more of the MX hosts.
• Try Auto-Detect If Given DNS Fails - If enabled and the ‘Use DNS Host(s)’ list does not successfully retrieve MX hosts for a domain, the mail server will try to auto-detect the system DNS hosts and try to use each of those.
• Try Domain If No MX Found - If enabled and a no MX hosts can be obtained for a domain, Ocean Mail Server will attempt to connect to the domain directly (i.e. the domain component after the ‘@’ symbol in the email address will be used as the host address).
• Relay Mode - If set, the default route of outbound mail will be directed at a particular SMTP. This is useful for mail servers that are not directly connected to the Internet or if your Internet IP is not permitted by some mail servers (e.g. your IP is dynamic).
• SMTP Relay Host - This should be the host address of the SMTP which your outbound mail will be sent to.
• SMTP Relay Port - This should be the port value of the SMTP which your outbound mail will be sent to. Usually this is set to 25, but if the relay SMTP operates on a different port you will need to provide the appropriate value.
• Use SMTP Authentication - If the relay SMTP requires connections to log in, this option allows you to specify a user and password. This user and password will be used when connecting to the relay SMTP.
• User - This should be the user login required by the relay SMTP.
• Password - This should be the password required by the relay SMTP.
• SSL Mode - When using either independent or relay mode, this option controls the use of SSL and TLS. Usually most SMTPs do not support SSL and so often this option will be set to ‘None’. However, if you are not certain that SSL will be supported but still wish to try anyway, you can select an ‘if Possible’ type option from the list. This will cause outbound connections to try the SSL method but if that fails they will revert to the normal connection.
• Test Outgoing Route - This will perform tests to ensure that mail can be sent successfully using the settings provided.

Outgoing Mail Queue

• Lifetime - This controls the length of time a mail can survive in the queue before it is classed as a failure.
• Resend Delay - This is the period of time the mail server will wait between delivery attempts. This cycle will continue until the mail is either delivered or the mail reaches the lifetime limit.
• Max Queue Size - This is the maximum limit on the number of mails allowed in the queue. Once this limit has been reached, the Outgoing Mail service will silently delete any new outbound mails. This ensures that when the mail server is under load it can safely cope with the excess mails.
• Max Outbound Connections - This controls the maximum number of simultaneous outbound SMTP connections the service will allow. It is recommended that this value be no higher than 200.
• Max Recipients Per Transaction - This controls the maximum number of recipients per mail transaction. As most SMTP servers usually have a limit on the maximum number of recipients per mail, this ensures that you don't accidentally exceed those limits. If an outbound mail does exceed this value, it will be delivered multiple times until all recipients have been successfully processed.
• Send Warning to Sender After - If enabled, a warning mail will be sent back to the sender when a mail has been in the queue for the set period of time. The original mail will still remain in the queue and will not be affected by this option. The warning message can be edited through the normal message editing facility. For more information please view the Messages page.
• Attach Original Mail - If enabled, the warning mail will include a text attachment of the original mail’s source. This allows the sender to view the mail they sent and to help them determine which mail is at fault.
• Send Failure to Sender - If a mail reaches the lifetime limit, this option controls whether a failure notice is sent to the sender. The failure message can be edited through the normal message editing facility. For more information please view the Messages page.
• Attach Original Mail - If enabled, the failure notice mail will include a text attachment of the original mail’s source. This allows the sender to view the mail they sent and to help them determine which mail is at fault.
• Clear Outgoing Mail Queue - This will delete all the mails currently in the outgoing mail queue. No failure messages will be sent and this action cannot be undone.

Static Routes

• Enable Static Routes - If enabled, any enabled static routes will be applied to outbound mails.
• Static Routes - This displays a list of all the currently created static routes.

Add / Edit Static Route

• Enable Static Route - If enabled and static routes are enabled, this static route will be applied to any outbound mail which matches the domain.
• Domain - If any of the recipients in an outbound mail matches this domain (the domain component after the ‘@’ symbol), the outbound mail will be delivered to those recipients using the route provided in this static route.
• Lifetime - This option allows you to change the default lifetime value when using this static route. This allows you to extend the lifetime for particular domains and is useful for backup mail servers.
• Resend Delay - This option allows you to change the default resend delay value when using this static route.
• Independent Mode - If set, the route of outbound mail affected by this static route will be controlled by MX lookups. This is the normal method of delivery and most mail servers operate in this mode.
• Auto-Detect DNS Hosts - To perform MX lookups, the mail server requires access to at least one valid DNS host. If this option is set, Ocean Mail Server will attempt to automatically detect a list of DNSs from the computer.
• Use DNS Host(s) - This option allows you to specify the DNS hosts which should be used for MX lookups. This is usually only required when Ocean Mail Server cannot automatically detect the DNS hosts. To set multiple DNSs, simply separate each with a semi-colon (‘;’).
• Test DNS - This will perform tests to ensure that the specified DNS hosts can be used to send mail successfully.
• Try Only First MX Host That Connects - Normally Ocean Mail Server will try each MX host until it has successfully sent the email to all recipients. If an MX host rejects any of the recipients, the mail server will continue and try the other MX hosts. If this option is enabled, the mail transaction will be limited to the first MX host that successfully accepts the connection. If any email addresses are rejected by that host, Ocean Mail Server will not try any more of the MX hosts.
• Try Auto-Detect If Given DNS Fails - If enabled and the ‘Use DNS Host(s)’ list does not successfully retrieve MX hosts for a domain, the mail server will try to auto-detect the system DNS hosts and try to use each of those.
• Try Domain If No MX Found - If enabled and a no MX hosts can be obtained for a domain, Ocean Mail Server will attempt to connect to the domain directly (i.e. the domain component after the ‘@’ symbol in the email address will be used as the host address).
• Relay Mode - If set, the route of outbound mail affected by this static route will be directed at a particular SMTP. This is useful for mail servers that are not directly connected to the Internet or if your Internet IP is not permitted by some mail servers (e.g. your IP is dynamic).
• SMTP Relay Host - This should be the host address of the SMTP which your outbound mail will be sent to.
• SMTP Relay Port - This should be the port value of the SMTP which your outbound mail will be sent to. Usually this is set to 25, but if the relay SMTP operates on a different port you will need to provide the appropriate value.
• Use SMTP Authentication - If the relay SMTP requires connections to log in, this option allows you to specify a user and password. This user and password will then be used when connecting to the relay SMTP.
• User - This should be the user login required by the relay SMTP.
• Password - This should be the password required by the relay SMTP.
• SSL Mode - When using either independent or relay mode, this option controls the use SSL and TLS. Usually most SMTP servers do not support SSL and so often this option will set to ‘None’. However, if you are not certain that SSL will be supported but still wish to try anyway, you can select an ‘if Possible’ type option from the list. This will cause outbound connections to try the SSL method but if that fails they will revert to the normal connection.
• Test Outgoing Route - This will perform tests to ensure that mail can be sent successfully using the settings provided.