I want to config outgoing email for one of my Moss site and I follow the instruction in the white paper of deploying a sharepoint site, but it still does not work for me.I want to know : do i need to install exchange server and Active Directory to config outgoing email. so far I know that in order to config the incoming email I need to install exchange server and Active Directory, but I wonder if I can config outgoing email without using exchange server and Active Directory?Thanks.

Hi, No you don't need MicrosoftExchange to configure outgoing email, simply using an SMTP server will work - however you may need to allow theSharePointserver relay rights (for its IP) on the SMTP server in some scenarios - depending on yuor SMTP servers configuration. Also make sure there is no blocking of the required ports (usually TCP 25) between your SharePoint and SMTP servers. Simplyenter theDNS name(if it doesn't resolve the DNS name you can test using your SMTP servers IP address) in Outgoing Email settings within Central Administration. Georg

Hi, Georg,In the Outbound SMTP server item, is it my iis smtp servers IP address?Thanks.

Not necessarily, it can be, but it will need to know what to do with the email once you send it there (ie did you configure it as a smart host or use external dns to resolve where mail should go) Generally if you have an exchange server, or a Group wise server, or even a notes SMTP server - you would point it to that.

Hi, Georg, Thank you.Because sharepoint is integrated with office outlook, is it possible for me to use microsoft outlook to sending outgoing email instead of using smtp server(no installing smtp service?)?Thanks.

Unfortunately no SharePoint makes a direct connection to the SMTP server (on port 25 usually) and it does this on the SharePoint server not on the client, what server does your Office Outlook client connect to (ie external POP/SMTP or Exchange)? You should be able to use this SMTP server? If it is externally hosted there may be some constraints around relaying however.

Hi, Georg, thanks .After I install the smtp server and configure it as per the white paper, I can send a email out by C# code (a small sample c# code using the smtp server), Does it indicate that my smtp server configration is good?Right now my sharepoint server is installed as stand-alone, do I need to install it as server farm environment and log in as a farm administrator?Maybe in the stand alone configraton, I am not a farm administrator?Thanks.

When you send your message, do you receive it somewhere (such as in your Outlook? If so, then yes your configuration should be fine. It should be fine in standalone mode- configuration as a farm shouldn't be necessary (unless of course you are looking at future scalability, and providing redudancy, which is always good to have planned - or you have a need based on current capacity to go to a farm - it is easier to do this all now whilst you are at the configuration level, rather than when it goes live.)

Hello George, Its great to read your comments, but i have a different issue. I have wss installed on iis 7 along with smtp server on local-machine. my smtp server is running fine alone. I have configure in central administrator outgoing email setting the outbound SMTP server as localhost (also checked with smtp.gmail.com as i am using gmail address) and also set SMTP Email settings in IIS to localhost,port 25. but my smtp server on localhost could not recieve the email for relaying it to the destination address although if i use a tester software smtp server relay the email to the same destination host. Can you please Help me .Thanks

Hi Ahusnali, Gmail uses SMTP port number 587 to send mail and requires authentication, May be that is your problem.