Smtps

[Don Dickinson]

has anyone done work with pb and an SMTPS server (tls encrypted conversion usually on port 465)? this is encrypted smtp. smtp i've done, but never the encrypted counterpart.

thanks
don

[Mike Stefanik]

SMTPS uses SSL/TLS to encrypt the session, the same security protocols used with web servers. There's two types of secure connections, explicit and implict SSL. Typically a connection on port 465 uses implicit SSL, which means that the secure session starts as soon as the connection is made (similar to how HTTPS works). Explicit SSL is commonly used on either port 25 or 587, and is done by establishing a standard (non-secure) connection and then negotiating a secure connection using the ESMTP command STARTTLS.

Our SocketTools SMTP API handles both types of secure connections, but it's something you could also implement using an SSL tunnel, as long as you only needed support for implicit SSL connections.

[Don Dickinson]

thanks mike! i'll check it out.
-don

[Paul Purvis]

Don,

I have played around with using the ssl tunnel software for testing purposes.
I cannot see where it is for the average user. I seems ok if you need it for special needs and the software is left running on a computer and is not tampered with by somebody.

I have purchased Mike's software and have not used it yet. Being that our email servers are on all local networks, the pop3 does great for our purposes on our local lans where we are not needing encryption. But Mikes software seems to be a more no fuss way to go when creating software for the common user and to the programmer keeping his sanity.

Don, as soon as i can i will write about what i did and the parameters i used to set up my testing. I did have some road blocks that seem to come from using certain versions of the tunnel software.

I do not have that information with me now, but like i said i will post about it when i get it back at the office.

[Don Dickinson]

thanks. i've used stunnel before for other things. perhaps i'll give it a try for this. if you're using different ssl tunneling software, i'd be interested in hearing which one you're using.

thanks
don

[Paul Purvis]

i am using stunnel too for testing, i was only testing for smtps transfers.
i am sure this old hat to you but it might help there others wanting to give it a shot.

maybe this will help
files and their sizes for stunnel i used

  1,528,135 libeay32.dll
    611,705 libssl32.dll
     78,336 stunnel-4.07.exe
        252 stunnel.cnf
     78,336 stunnel.exe
      1,661 stunnel.pem

the only two files i changed was stunnel.cnf and stunnel.exe
i do not like working with files names that are not the 8.3 format.
i copied stunnel-4.07.exe to stunnel.exe, then i patched stunnel.exe to make it read the parameter file stunnel.cnf instead of stunnel.conf, which is the default configuration file name.
i use a 16-bit dos editor that also does not like anything other than the 8.3 filename format.
all files where placed and ran in a single directory off of the root


smtps was my only interest here

stunnel.cnf file

client = yes
;debug = debug

[pop3s]
accept = 127.0.0.1:1109
connect = pop3s.myisp.com:995

[imaps]
accept = 127.0.0.1:1439
delay = yes
connect = imaps.myisp.com:993

[smtps]
accept = 127.0.0.1:2525
connect = dondickersonremotesmtpsemailserveracom:465

NOW FOR WORKING WITH STUNNEL
i found some confusing instructions on using stunnel but that is what worked for me

i started stunnel with
stunnel -install

for testing out different configurations, the stunnel.cnf file, i had a batch file to start and stop the stunnel service so i could edit the configuration file stunnel.cnf
you cannot make changes will the stunnel service is running.
upon net start stunnel, the stunnel.cnf will be read or in case of the original executuable, stunnel.conf file will be read.
batch file listing to test with.
[code]
NET STOP STUNNEL
SLEEP 3
notepad "stunnel.cnf"
NET START STUNNEL
SLEEP 3
[code]
SLEEP 3 is a pause for 3 seconds

after the batch file making changes to my stunnel.cnf and restarting the stunnel service, i would then run my written program.



There was a newer version of stunnel but for some reason i could never get it working on my windows 2000 machine, and it could have been me, but the above worked. Once again pop3 and imaps where never even tried.

[James Moss]

I can send an email from my workstation email client to my gmail account, but when I try to do the same with SMEEMAIL, I get:

server returned 530 Relayed mail to [email protected] not allowed

error
smtp program error code 23

I can send an email back to myself:

server returned 250 [email protected]... Recipient ok

error
smtp program error code 23

In both instances, the app returns error code 23.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Paul Purvis]

Is gmail a smtp server?
Smemail was designed to work with a smtp server only.
Smemail only sends text now.
I am still educating myself on email extras.

[Mike Stefanik]

Is gmail a smtp server?
Smemail was designed to work with a smtp server only.
Smemail only sends text now.
I am still educating myself on email extras.

Google has an SMTP server that you can use, it's smtp.gmail.com and you can connect on port 465 or 587. It requires that you use SSL/TLS, and you have to authenticate using your GMail account.

A help article they have on how to configure your mail client:
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/a...n&answer=13287

[Mike Stefanik]

I can send an email from my workstation email client to my gmail account, but when I try to do the same with SMEEMAIL, I get:

server returned 530 Relayed mail to [email protected] not allowed

I have no idea what that service is, but it's not allowing you to relay (presumably without authentication), and that's a good thing. Open mail relays are the bane of the Internet.

Try connecting on port 587, and provide whatever credentials they've given you. If you've written your own email program, then you need to use ESMTP and learn about the authentication methods for the protocol.

[Paul Purvis]

Thanks Mike. You are always on top
of these issues and your responses are much informative and welcomed.