Plesk/QMail Smarthost with Exchange 2007

[Matt Sonnentag]

Has anyone managed to setup a Plesk/Qmail environment with Exchange 2007 send connectors? I seem to have no problem setting this up with Exchange 2003, but in an exchange 2007 environment the connecting exchange server generates errors smtp_auth errors (password failed), in spite of the fact the correct password is setup.

 

[Matt Sonnentag]

In case anyone is wondering

1) update smtproutes to properly reflect the correct mail host for the domain
1a) make sure the DNS is updated, any spf records updated with correct ips, hostnames
2) update morercpthosts in /qmail/control
3) rebuild morercpthosts using qm-newmrh
4) Log into plesk control panel , then SERVER > MAIL > WHITELIST, add in the ip of the sending mailserver
5) add IP to any other whitelists, like spamdyke, etc
6) restart QMAIL

7) On windows 2k7 open Exchange Management Console
8) Navigate to Organization > Hub Transport > Send Connectors
9) Setup a new send connector, alter existing, key parameter is the next step
10)Under "Network" tab, select route through the following smart hosts (authentication = none or externally secured)
11) save restart the MTA Transport hub

You may further want to specify that any mail communication to the W2K3 or W2K7 domain ONLY comes from your plesk server, this keeps spammers from bombing an otherwise unprotected e-mail server.

This is a nice way to centralize spam protection, av protection etc to your plesk server. I find it is much less expensive and easier to deal with spam in this way.