Dreamweaver MX 2004: Your Connection to the Internet - The Default SMTP Server

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Although the default SMTP server is not strictly a part of setting up IIS to work with Dreamweaver, sending mail within Web applications is a very popular topic of discussion. We cover some preliminary setup so you can use both this SMTP server and CDO mail.

Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) is a very simple way, as the name implies, to send and receive mail across the Internet. With the advent of POP3 and IMAP, SMTP is not used much for mail retrieval, but it is still the standard for sending mail. The IIS installation installs an SMTP server along with IIS, so you can use your Web server to send mail, or you can use another mail server that you control, such as Exchange or Lotus Notes. All you have to know is its IP address and security settings. Let’s take the simple route and set up the local Web server to send mail for you.

Two components are necessary to get CDO mail running on your server: the cdonts.dll file and an SMTP server. CDO for NTS1.2 is a lightweight version of the full Collaboration Data Objects that works with Microsoft Exchange. It comes with IIS5 and should be on your server if IIS is running, but it may not be registered.

To make sure cdonts.dll is registered, select Start | Run in the Run dialog box and then type regsvr32 c:\winnt\system32\cdonts.dll.

NOTE  You should use the path of your system folder in place of C:\winnt\system32. This is the default installation path for Windows 2000.

If the registration completes successfully, you will get a confirmation dialog box like this:

IIS will create a default SMTP virtual server and a drop directory where mail will be kept. See the IIS documentation for information on setting up additional remote and alias SMTP servers.

That should do it. Your server is now set up with a default SMTP server and the necessary CDO files.

NOTE  Although you can use CDONTS with Windows 2003 Server, you will have to obtain theDLL from another machine and copy and register it because it does not ship with theserver. The new default mail service with Windows 2003 is CDOSYS. It is quite similarto CDONTS, but its implementation is slightly different.

Progress Check

1. What components are required to use CDO mail in your IIS installation? (The file cdonts.dll and an SMTP server)
   
2. Why should you enable the Write check box in your FTP Site Properties window? (So you can upload files to your site’s directory)
   
3. What is a default document? (The page that is loaded when no specific page is requested in a Web site URL)

This chapter is from Dreamweaver MX 2004: A Beginner's Guide, by Tom Muck and Ray West (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2004, ISBN: 0-07-222996-9). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now.

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