home | about | newsletters | contact | advertising | shop | radio | courses | widget | site map

Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle

Everyday People Learning Insider Tools and Tactics To Live The Ultimate, High-Tech Lifestyle
» Learn More About PCMech University

"Fantastic site. So heartening to find someone who is so keen to share the knowledge without charging a fortune for it. Well done!" - Kris, Melbourne, Australia
» LEARN MORE

Login: Password: Remember me

Test Your Mail Server Via Telnet

Posted Jun 24, 2008 by Jason Faulkner  

This tip is for you system admins out there: If you are ever troubleshooting a mail server which is either not accepting or not relaying messages, rather than using the “send and wait” method of testing, telnet directly into the mail server to do your testing.

The linked Microsoft article walks you through the entire process of how to send an email from a telnet session. While the article speaks with regards to Exchange Server, the exact same commands can be applied to any mail server. I have used these exact steps many times to test customer’s mail servers to diagnose problems.

The great thing about using a telnet session is you can use any sender or recipient email address and can immediately see the mail server’s response to each of your commands instead of having to decipher an NDR message.

Got The Newsletter?

Exclusive PCMech Content. Sign up and receive our free report: 20 Tips For Becoming a Technology Power User.

NAME:
EMAIL:

PCMech Highly Recommends...

This is the "kitchen sink" e-book for computer maintenance and repair. A jam-packed 346 pages. As Monte Russel (the author) says in his e-book, "Computers have always been complex, but if a guy that grew up out in the boonies in Wyoming can fix 'em, you can also!" Monte is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Afterwards, he served a long career as a computer repair tech and network administrator. LEARN MORE