BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install and configure SMTP Server Feature (Part 4)

Again, in the previous step, Enable Internet Information Services, I mentioned that we should install the SMTP Server feature. Why?

If you wish to configure BAM Alerts, you must have configured the SQL Server Database Mail feature (we will see how to accomplish that afterward), and I will intend to configure these features using your local SMTP Server.

Note: This type of configuration is optional and you don’t need to install the local SMTP server, you can configure SQL Server Database Mail feature using an external SMTP.

📝 One-Minute Brief

To enable Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) alerts in BizTalk Server 2013, a functional mail system is required. This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for installing the SMTP Server feature on Windows Server 2012 and configuring it via IIS 6.0 Manager. It covers essential security settings like relay restrictions (localhost 127.0.0.1) and outbound security to ensure reliable email delivery for your integration environment.

If you didn’t previously install the SMTP Server, then you should follow these steps:

• Open Server Manager.
• Under the Manage menu, select Add Roles and Features (or press Add roles and features under the Dashboard panel)
• On the Before You Begin screen, click Next.
• On the Installation Type screen, select Role-based or Feature-based Installation and click Next.
• On the Server Selection screen, select the appropriate server, leave the default options, and click Next.
• On the Server Roles screen, click Next.
• On the Features screen, select SMTP Server and click Next.
  • If prompted, click Add Features, and then click Next.
• On the Confirmation screen, select Restart the destination server automatically if required and click Install.
• When the installation completes, the wizard reflects the installation status on the Results screen.
• Click Close to exit the wizard.

To configure the SMTP Server, you should follow these steps

• Press the Windows key to switch to Metro UI and type IIS 6.0 Manager, and click on the Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager option on the Apps menu.

• Right-click on the SMTP Server ([SMTP Virtual Server #1]) and select Properties to open the properties window.

Note: For the purpose of this installation, we will assume that email only can be generated from this machine. If the application that generates the email runs on a separate server, you need to grant relaying access for that server in IIS SMTP.

• On the Properties window, click on the Access tab and click Relay… under Relay restrictions.

• On Rely Restrictions windows, click Add…

• On Computer window, enter 127.0.0.1 for the address and then click OK.
  • The Connection setting controls which computers can connect to the SMTP server and send mail. By granting only localhost (127.0.0.1) access, it limits only the server itself to connect to the SMTP server. This is a requirement for security; it prevents the SMTP server from being an open relay and being used to send unsolicited spam email by other computers on the internet, which could lead to the SMTP server being blacklisted.

• On the Properties window, click on the Delivery tab and click Outbound Security…

• On the Outbound Security windows, select Basic authentication and enter the login credentials you use for your Exchange or personal account (Gmail, Live, and so on). Click OK to continue.
  • If required, enable TLS encryption.
  • This will be the account that will transmit the emails.

• On the Outbound Security windows, click Advanced… Enter the SMTP server URL you got in the previous step in the Smart host edit box and then click OK to continue.

• On the Outbound Security windows, click on Outgoing connections… and set the port of your server
  • Limit number of connections to: When the checkbox is selected, this option specifies the total number of simultaneous outbound connections to all remote domains that can exist at one time. The default is 1,000 connections. The minimum is 1.
  • Time-out (minutes): Specifies the time allowed before an inactive connection is closed. The default is 10 minutes.
  • Limit number of connections per domain to: When the checkbox is selected, this option limits connections to any single remote domain. The default is 100 connections. This number should be less than or equal to the value for the Limit number of connections to option.
  • TCP port: Designates the TCP port used for outgoing transmissions. The default is port 25. The outgoing port setting can be the same as that for incoming transmissions, or it can be different.

• Click Ok twice to apply the settings on the SMTP local server
• Right-click SMTP Virtual Server #1 again, and then restart the service to pick up the new configuration.

Verify Your Installation

The next step is to verify if the SMTP is successfully configured by using the simple Telnet Client; however, the Telnet Client is not installed by default on Windows Server 2012.

To install the Telnet Client using a command line

• Open a command prompt window. Press the Windows key to switch to Metro UI, type cmd, and click on the Command Prompt option on the Apps menu.
• Type the following command:

pkgmgr /iu:"TelnetClient"

• If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

To send a test email:

• Open a command prompt window. Press the Windows key to switch to Metro UI, type cmd, and click on the Command Prompt option on the Apps menu.
• Type the following sequence of commands:

telnet localhost 25
Helo serevr
mail from:email
rcpt to:email
data
put the body of the email message

Related links

• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Important considerations before set up the server (Part 1)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Enable Internet Information Services (Part 2)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install Windows Identity Foundation (Part 3)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install Microsoft Office Excel 2013 (Part 5)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install Visual Studio 2012 (Part 6)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install SQL Server 2012 (Part 7)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Configure SQL Server Database Mail feature (Part 8)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install and Configure BizTalk Server 2013 (Part 9)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Configure SQL Server Network Configuration protocols (Part 10)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Validate Mail account used by BizTalk to send BAM Alerts (Part 11)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Installing BizTalk Adapter Pack (Part 12)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install and Configure Microsoft UDDI Services (Part 13)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Install and Configure the Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit (Part 14)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Configure BizTalk Server SQL Jobs (Part 15)
• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Configure BizTalk Server Windows Services (Part 16)

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Author: Sandro Pereira

Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community. View all posts by Sandro Pereira