On the Domains and Mailboxes tab, which Figure 5 shows, you can add, delete, lock, and unlock mail domains. On this tab, you can view the properties of individual mailboxes. The display includes the size of a user's mailbox, the number of messages stored, and whether the mailbox has been locked. You can also add new mailboxes, delete old ones, and lock or unlock current mailboxes.
The HTML remote administration tools provide a close mirror of MMC functionality. The only drawback is that if errors do appear when completing tasks, they're more difficult to diagnose because the messages are less verbose than the messages the MMC alternative presents.
Using the Command Line
The Winpop command-line tool (winpop.exe) lets you administer the POP3 service from the command line. This option lets you script many common tasks. Using a batch file to add 100 users is far less cumbersome than using the POP3 Service snap-in to accomplish the same task. In fact, with the appropriate switches, you can use winpop.exe to do almost everything I discuss in this article. For example,
- The Winpop List domainname command lists all the mailboxes within a mail domain on a server. Using the Winpop List command without specifying a domain lists all the currently configured mail domains on the server.
- The Winpop Add domainname and Winpop Del domainname commands add or delete mail domains from a particular mail server, respectively. Be careful when using the Winpop Del command because it removes all the mailboxes and mail within the specified domain without issuing a warning.
- The Winpop Add user@domainname and Winpop Del user@domainname commands add a user's mailbox to or delete a user's mailbox from a particular domain, respectively. Be careful; this switch doesn't seek your approval before carrying out its task.
- The Winpop Lock domainname and Winpop Lock user@ domainname commands stop all users in a domain or a particular user in the specified domain from retrieving mail. You can use the Winpop Unlock domainname and Winpop Unlock user@domainname commands to unlock restricted mailboxes. No mailboxes are lost by using this command, and locked mailboxes can still receive incoming traffic. Locking domains is useful for backing up and restoring mail, but you might prefer to stop the POP3 service during a scheduled backup. To do so, you can use the Net Stop command
Net Stop Microsoft POP3 Service
To restart the service, use the Net Start command
Net Start Microsoft POP3 Service
- The Winpop Stat domainname command lists all user mailboxes within a domain, the number of messages stored, and the amount of disk space used. You can use this command within a script that appends the output to a text file so that you can track mailbox use over time.
- The Winpop Migratetoad user@domainname command takes a username and password combination from the encrypted password file and transfers it to the AD database. This action doesn't migrate the domain authentication model, and you can migrate only unique usernames to AD. For example, if you migrate oksana@certtutor.net and later attempted to migrate oksana@mcselive.com, the second account won't migrate because the Oksana account name is already taken.
Minimal but Worthy
The POP3 service provides minimal mail functionality. But for administrators who want to set up several mailboxes that simply let users send and receive email, this addition to the server product has been a long time coming. Administrators who desire more advanced options will need to look beyond this service to Exchange or a third-party mail-server solution.
End of Article
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