Merak Mail Server Quick Start Tutorial Seite 1 von 23

Quick Start Tutorial

This "Quick Start Tutorial" will help you to get Merak Mail Server up and running quickly and easily with several of the most
important functions of Merak Mail Server Professional Power Pack installed. You can open this file at any time from the "Merak
Adminstratiton program" by clicking on "Help" in the menu, and selecting the option called "Quick Tutorial...". We highly
recommend that you thoroughly read the manual to get the most out of your Merak Mail Server.

Features Overview
1. Demo Domain and Users
2. Remote Administration (Web Admin)
3. Web Mail Client
4. How to set Outlook Express as a Merak mail client
5. Merak Instant Messaging
6. Mailing List
7. List Server for Mailing List Maintenance
8. How to set Merak for use on the Internet

1. Demo Domain and Users

Merak Mail Server comes with a "sample" domain already installed (merakdemo.com) and several users which are created
during the installation process. Merak Mail Sever is "ready to use" immediately after installation. All of the examples below have to
be done on the same computer where Merak Mail Server is installed. If you are installing mail server on the LAN (Local Area
Network), then a valid STATIC IP must be assigned to the mail server PC. To test whether your Merak Mail Server can be seen by
other computers on the LAN, simply replace "localhost" in the examples below with your static IP.

If you are using Merak Mail Server on the Internet, you must be sure that your DNS MX records are properly configured. We
have provided a section below regarding the correct implementation of MX records in example 8. How to set Merak for use on the
Internet. However, if you are not familiar with DNS MX records it is a simple configuration that your administrator or ISP can take
care of quickly.
Run the Merak Mail Server Administation program and verify that it has created the demo accounts as on picture below:

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There are four levels of users in Merak Mail Server. The users "Level" is assigned during the creation of each account together
with the username and password. See the email addresses, usernames and passwords for all users in our demo installation.

[email protected] Username: admin Password: admin

Administrator User Specifies that this user is a full administrator and is able to change any of the settings.

[email protected] Username: domainadmin Password: domainadmin

Domain Administrator Domain administrators cannot change global settings but are allowed to administer accounts in

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their domains.

[email protected] Username: self Password: self

Self Configurable User This account can be modified by the user using the web admin. Passwords,
mailbox/forwarding , auto responder and deleting mail after x days are the types of settings
which can be changed. They can also view their mailbox.

[email protected] Username: user Password: user

Standard User This account is setup by an administrator for a user and cannot be changed by anyone other
than an administrator..

2. Remote Administration (Web Admin)

It is possible to manage Merak Mail Server remotely using your Web Browser.
To test the Remote Administration feature of your Merak Mail Server, use the link below. To use remote administration over
the Internet or LAN, just replace "localhost" with your PC IP address.
Enter the different Usernames and passwords for different demo account users to see the varying level of functionallity that
provided by Merak.

http://localhost:32000

NOTE: You CAN NOT log-in to the remote administration as a

"Standard User"!

Merak Mail Server Web-based administration can also be done via a secured interface using built in SSL protocol.
Using this feature will significantly increase the security of your email administration. You can test this feature by opening the
secure remote administration page using the hyperlink below:

https://localhost:32001

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Secure communication will start with the Certificate screen. Clicking "Yes" will begin your secure administration session. (Notice
https instead of http at the beginning of the hyperlink.)

3. Web Mail Client

The Web Mail client is installed with your Merak Mail Server Power Pack. It allows you to access your email from any TCP/IP
connected computer. You can read and reply to email from anywhere from any computer on the internet as long as it has a web
browser installed. To run the Web Mail Client type the following into your browser (or just click the link):

http://localhost:32000/mail/

Enter your Username and Password:

- Use the "demo" username and passwords in section 1. Demo domain and users
- Once you are in, you should see the Web Mail Client interface below.

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To ensure that Merak is functioning properly, send a test message to the Admin User. To do this simply click on "New Message"
in the menu and type in the email address "[email protected]" and a Subject. Then click the "Send Message" button. If you
receive the message " Your message has been sent." then your message has been successfully sent and your Merak Mail Server
is now sending emails properly properly.

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If your Merak Mail Server is connected to the Internet, you will now be able to
send outgoing emails to the rest of the Internet
. However, RECEIVING email from internet is more complicated as you will
have to ensure that your DNS MX records are properly configured.

To use the Web Mail Client in secured mode click the following link:

https://localhost:32001/mail/

4. Configuring Outlook Express as a Merak Mail Client

In addition to the built-in Web Mail Client you also use any well-known mail client as long as the client supports POP/SMTP or
IMAP protocol. To test this you can use Outlook Express if it is installed on the computer that is running Merak Mail Server.

Run Outlook Express and click on menu Tools and select item Accounts.

Click on Add button and select Mail... Type in your name, as you want it to be displayed to the recipients.

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Enter "[email protected]" as an email address.

Enter names "localhost" for incoming and outgoing mail. ( Note: Warning! This is for testing only. In production you must enter
real, live, servers ... e.g. mail.mydomain.com.) We are using "Localhost" simply to test that your Merak Mail Server installation
works properly.

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Enter Account Name: admin and Password: admin. Click the "Finish button" and close Accounts dialog. You are now ready to
Send/Receive email using Outlook Express. Press the Send/Recv button. You should receive the message you previously sent to
the "[email protected]" account.

5. Merak Instant Messaging

Merak Instant Messenger allows you to provide new, secured instant messaging services to all Merak Mail Server Users
(worldwide, any number of mail/im servers can communicate together). All Merak Mail Server users can chat, transfer files and join
group conferences using secured SSL protocol now.

Merak Instant Messenger implements the Jabber open XML protocol, for more details see
http://www.jabber.org/user/userguide/.Implementation of the Jabber open XML protocol brought the compatibility with various
instant messenger clients and another modules supporting this standard. You can use any Jabber compatible client. It also allows
you to use any modules such as ICQ/AOL/MSN/Yahoo which you can use to connect to the ICQ/AOL/MSN/Yahoo server and
communicate with ICQ/AOL/MSN/Yahoo people and Jabber people without even noticing they are on a different network.

All you need is an instant messanger client to connect to the IM server. We recommend using JAJC which can be downloaded
from our web site http://www.icewarp.com/download/.

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Configuring Merak Instant Messenger is easy. You only have to activate the IM (active by default) in the Instant Messaging
section. Once Active you can use the IM client to connect to the server.

Download JAJC and run it. The following dialog appears. Fill in the username. The username is the alias of the account your are
connecting with. Fill in the domain of the user and finally specify the Server IP on the Connection tab by filling in the IP address or
the hostname of the IM server. More examples can be found in the Merak Manual.
To use the standard demo account user fill in the following:

User: user
Domain: merakdemo.com
Server IP: localhost (if on the same machine, else specify the real IP address or the hostname of the server running IM)

Click OK and login to IM.

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The following IM client window will appear withou any users. Add as many users as you want. The screen shot below shows a
few online users, groups, ICQ/AOL/MSN/Yahoo gateway and a Chat.

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6. Mailing list
Each Mailing list is most of the time a simple text file containing a list of email addresses. The "demo" mailing list is called list.txt
and is stored in the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Merak\config\merakdemo.com\list.txt

The "demo" Mailing list includes several test email address, e.g. [email protected]. If you send an email to
"[email protected]" the email will be forwarded to the entire mailing list in the "list.txt" file

[email protected]
[email protected]
List.txt
[email protected]
[email protected]

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Now send and email to the [email protected] address and verify that it has been sent to the all of the recipients in the
"list.txt" file.

Tip: To verify that these emails have been sent, log into Merak Mail Server as "admin", select "Accounts" and click on the
"merakdemo.com" domain. From there you can see the content of each mailbox in the "merakdemo.com" domain.

You can also create a special "virtual" mailing list. Emails are then sent to
all users for a specified domain without the need to to create and maintain
the list.txt file.

See the "[email protected]" Mailing list.

7. List Server for Mailing List Maintenance

You can maintain all Merak mailing lists in any plain text editor such as WordPad, or export it from database. However Merak
Mail Server has a built in List Server features which allows for the remote maintenance of any mailing list.

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Log-in to the Web Mail as Admin and send an email to the listserver with the subject below. This command will ask listserver to
send a list of email addresses for the mailing list "[email protected]".

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The returned email will contain a list of all email addresses for that mailing list.

The Main Listserver Commands

Command Example Description

JOIN
Add email address [email protected]
or JOIN [email protected], [email protected], Ladi Goc
to the mailing list [email protected]
SUBSCRIBE

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LEAVE Remove email address [email protected]

or LEAVE [email protected], [email protected]
UNSUBSCRIBE from the mailing list [email protected]
RECIPIENTS
Return mail with list of users in mailing
or REVIEW [email protected]
list [email protected]
REVIEW
To test exemples above send them to the [email protected]

8. How to configure Merak Mail Server for use on the Internet

Each computer working as an Mail Server on the Internet must have some STATIC IP address. The static IP address is
assigned to you by your connection provider. Let's imagine, that your static IP address is:

193.179.128.218 (Yours will be different!)

This static IP address must be assigned to your Network Adapter in the TCP/IP Protocol Properties. See the next screenshot
from Windows 2000 as an example.

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If you want your mail server to RECEIVE emails for your domain on the Internet, your domain must "point" to this static IP
address in the following manner. This is provided by DNS server.

Step-by-step example how to set Mail Server for domain icewarp.com

(Our Mail Server is running, and has assigned static IP 193.179.128.218)

Step # To-Do If Failed

Step 1 Verify that your computer is "visible" from other a) Check if you are connected to the Internet

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computers on the Internet. Run from some other PC b) Check if you have assigned IP address to your
connected to the Internet in Command window: PING Network Adapter
193.179.128.218. You will get response as on picture c) Check if your Connection Provider is routing this IP
bellow if everything is O.K. to your PC
d) Check if you have Router or FireWall opened for
this IP

Step 2 Register a new domain name (or use an existing domain name): YOURNEWDOMAIN.COM and ask your
Connection Provider to create you DNS "A" and "MX" records on their DNS Server. 'mail.yournewdomain.com A
193.179.128.218' (your IP here) and 'yournewdomain.com MX mail.yournewdomain.com 10'. This can take up to
24 hours (larger connection providers can be slower...) DNS Records can be prepared for you by anyone who is
running the DNS server.

Step 3 Verify that your MX Records are pointing to your A a) Wait one more day (up to three days)
record. Run the Merak DNS Query Tool, which has b) Ask person who set you DNS server to fix it
been installed along with the Merak Mail Server. Set
parameters as shown below and click the "Lookup"
button. You have to see "response" with the A:
mail.yournewdomain.com (MX query)

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Step 4 Check, that your A: mail.yournewdomain.com is a) Wait one more day (up to three days)
pointing to the correct static IP address of your mail b) Ask person who set you DNS server to fix it
server. Refer to the screenshot below (A query).

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Step 5 Add domain to your Merak Mail Server. DO NOT specify IP address on the "New Domain" screen. If you do,
Merak might stop working. Merak Mail Server is "MULTIDOMAIN" System. Therefor you can run as many
domains at one server, with one static IP, as you like. Refer to screen shot below.

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Step 6 Enter your mail server A record to the System screen as on shown in the screenshot. If you have your own
working DNS server, you can put the IP into the "DNS field" but it is not necessary. You can leave the default
setup as-is. Always use the Test DNS button. If you are not sure the DNS server is working properly do not use
it. Merak would not work. With default settings it will work.

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Step 7 Test your mail server not to be open relay at http://www.abuse.net/relay.html. Simply visit the link and enter
the IP of your server.

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Step 8 You can now create accounts on Merak Mail Server for your domain and you are ready-to-go. Your users can
now use the Web Mail Client by using the following hyperlink format:

http://mail.yournewdomain.com:32000/mail/

OR, configure their email clients using the SMTP and POP3 Server A record format as follows:

mail.yournewdomain.com

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