Requiring Authentication for Incoming Connections

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

There are three authentication methods available. You can choose one, two, or all three methods. All three are set by default.

Important

The default mail relay settings on the SMTP virtual server allow only mail from authenticated users to be relayed. Therefore, to allow users in your organization to send mail through the virtual server, users must first be authenticated. By choosing one of the methods in the Authentication dialog box, your users will be able to send mail and, at the same time, unauthorized users will not be able to use your virtual server to relay mail.

Authentication option Description

Anonymous access

An account name or password is not required. You can use this option to disable authentication for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server.

Basic authentication

An account name and a password are sent using plaintext. Specify a Windows domain that is appended to the account name for authentication.

Integrated Windows authentication

A Windows account name and password are authenticated using this option.

Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to perform the following procedure or procedures. As a security best practice, log on to your computer by using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the runas command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. At a command prompt, type runas /User:Administrative_AccountName "mmc systemroot\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc".

Procedures

To disable authentication for incoming messages

  1. In IIS Manager, right-click the SMTP virtual server, and then click Properties.

  2. Click the Access tab, and under Access control, click Authentication.

  3. Select the Anonymous access check box, and then clear the remaining check boxes for the other options.

To set clear text authentication for incoming messages

  1. In IIS Manager, right-click the SMTP virtual server, and then click Properties.

  2. Click the Access tab, and under Access control, click Authentication.

  3. Select the Basic authentication check box.

  4. In the Default domain box, type a Windows domain name. This default domain differs from the SMTP virtual server default domain.

To use Integrated Windows authentication to authenticate incoming messages

  1. In IIS Manager, right-click the SMTP virtual server, and then click Properties.

  2. Click the Access tab, and under Access control, click Authentication.

  3. Select the Integrated Windows Authentication check box.