Guide to setting up Hexamail Server on Windows
How to setup Hexamail Server on Windows
This is a guide to setting up your own email server on a Windows machine.
Let's break the guide into some easy steps:
Preparing
- - a computer with plenty of disk space (>2GB) for storing email queues, log files, statistics and email
- - a 64bit or 32bit Windows operating system (Anything over Windows 2k is still supported!)
- - a permanent/reliable connection to the Internet
You will need:
Prerequisites
- - Administrator access or access allowing installation of services and configuration of any local firewall
You will need:
Installing
- 1) Download Hexamail Server and save the installer exe file and license on the computer
- 2) Run the hexamailserversetupN.N.N.NNN.exe file by double clicking on it. if you are on a 64bit system you should download the 64bit version called hexamailserversetupN.N.N.NNN_64.exe
- 3) If prompted (64bit) you should install both the Administration console and Windows service
- 4) You can choose the installation folder at this point
- 5) The installer copies the necessary files and creates the Windows service, and instructs it to automatically startup when Windows restarts
- 6) Once it has finished installing files it will automatically open the configuration wizard and you can begin setting up Hexamail Server
Next you need to download the required software and copy it to your chosen computer.
Configuring Hexamail Server
You can configure using a remote Windows administration GUI, using the Web Administration or by editing the configuration file directly.
The configuration settings are the same as in the Windows Administration and you can use the same help file to read about the various options in the Administration sections here: Hexamail Server Help
In the WebAdmin press the help button on the page you are using to see help relating to that specific page of settings.
Alternatively you can configure Hexamail settings directly in the configuration file as per the instructions in the Configuration section here: Hexamail Server Help
Connecting to Hexamail Server
Hexamail Server is a full-featured echo $type; and can offer various services to email clients and calendar apps
Here is a list of services and the ports that need to be opened on your firewall/router to access each service
| Service | Protocol | Port | Module | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send/Recv Mail | SMTP | 25 | SMTP Server | Used to send email to your server by other servers and send outbound email from email clients. NOTE some ISPs will block this port so clients may need to send via the ISP provided smarthost/smtp server or use SSL or an alternative SMTP port |
| Send/Recv Mail | SMTP (SSL) | 465 | SMTP Server | Used to send outbound email from email clients securely. Use the SSL setting in your mail client and specify port 465 if your ISP is blocking port 25 |
| Check Email | POP3 | 110 | Used to download email from your server by email clients using the POP3 protocol | |
| Check Email | POP3 (SSL) | 995 | Used to download email from your server by email clients using the secure POP3 protocol | |
| Check Email | IMAP | 143 | IMAP Server | Used to download email from your server by email clients using the IMAP protocol |
| Check Email | IMAP (SSL) | 993 | IMAP Server | Used to download email from your server by email clients using the secure IMAP protocol |
| Check Email | Webmail | 8080* | Webmail | Used to check email using a web-browser |
| Check Email | Webmail (SSL) | 443* | Webmail | Used to check email using a web-browser |
| Sync Calendar/Tasks | CALDAV | 8080* | Calendar | Used to synchronize calendar clients using the CALDAV protocol |
| Sync Calendar/Tasks | CALDAV (SSL) | 443* | Calendar | Used to synchronize calendar clients using the secured CALDAV protocol |
| Sync Calendar/Tasks | SyncML | 8080* | SyncML+Calendar | Used to synchronize calendar clients using the Syncml protocol |
| Sync Calendar/Tasks | SyncML (SSL) | 443* | SyncML+Calendar | Used to synchronize calendar clients using the secured Syncml protocol |
| Remote Administration | HTTP | echo $port; | Used for remote administration using the Windows Administration console. DO NOT open this port to the Internet through your firewall without setting a remote admin password first or otherwise securing the connection by IP address | |
| Web Administration | HTTP | 880* | Used for remote administration using the Web Administration | |
| Developer Access | HTTP | 1880* | Developer | Used for developer access via REST/json from languages such as Javascript, Python, .net etc. |
In your firewall you should allow incoming TCP connections for each port listed that you require, and in your Router/NAT device setup a rule to forward TCP traffic on the listed ports to the computer running Hexamail
* As configured in your configuration file or administration interface, default settings are shown