Starting, Stopping, and Pausing E-Mail Services

As an administrator, you’ll often have to start, stop, or pause e-mail services. You can manage e-mail services directly through the Computer Management console or the Services utility. The services you want to work with are:

• Microsoft POP3 Service, to control POP3 e-mail services for e-mail storage and receipt

• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), to control e-mail transfer and routing

When you control e-mail services at this level, you’re controlling all virtual servers and e-mail domains that use the service. For example, if a system manages e-mail for two domains and you stop the Microsoft POP3 Service, both domains are stopped and e-mail can’t be received or retrieved. An alternative to stopping a service is to pause it. Pausing a service prevents new client connections but doesn’t disconnect current connections.

In addition to being able to start, stop, or pause all POP3 or SMTP servers by stopping the related services, you can manage individual resources through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). You manage SMTP through the IIS snap- in. You can start, stop, or pause an SMTP virtual server by completing the following steps:

1. Start the IIS snap-in.

2. In the left pane, select the icon for the computer you want to work with. If the computer isn’t shown, connect to it as discussed in the “Connecting To Other Servers” section of Chapter 2, “Core IIS Administration.”

3. Right-click the SMTP virtual server you want to manage. You can now perform any of the following actions:

   • Select Start to start the SMTP virtual server.

   • Select Stop to stop the SMTP virtual server.

   • Select Pause to pause the SMTP virtual server. After you pause an SMTP virtual server, click Pause again when you want to resume normal operations.

You manage POP3 through the POP3 Service snap-in. You can start, stop, or pause the POP3 e-mail domains running on a system by completing the following steps:

1. Select POP3 Service by clicking Start and selecting All Programs and then Administrative Tools.

2. In the left pane, right-click the icon for the computer you want to work with. If the computer isn’t shown, right-click POP3 Service and select Connect. From the shortcut menu, choose All Tasks. You can now perform any of the following actions:

   • Select Start to start the POP3 e-mail service. If the POP3 e-mail service is already started, this option will be listed as Restart. If the POP3 e-mail service is stopped, Start will be the only option listed.

   • Select Stop to stop the POP3 e-mail service.

   • Select Pause to pause the POP3 e-mail service. After you pause the POP3 e-mail service, click Resume when you want to resume normal operations.