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To configure Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) in Exchange Server 2007 you need to take several steps on the server as well as the client. This article details steps that are required to configure POP3 service.

Server-Side Configuration
The POP3 service is not started by default in Exchange Server 2007. You need to first configure the POP3 service and make sure that the user is allowed to use POP3 service.

1. Configure POP3 Service
You can use the Services snap-in (services.msc) or the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) to set POP3 service to start automatically. If you are using the EMS then you can run the following two commands to set the service to start automatically and then start the service.
Set-service msExchangePOP3 -startuptype automatic
Start-service -service msExchangePOP3

2. Enable POP3 Access
You configure POP3 on your server by using the Exchange Management Console (EMC).
a) Expand Server Configuration in EMC and then click Client Access.
b) In the work pane on the right-hand side, click the POP3 and IMAP4 tab. If you don’t have this tab then you have not installed Exchange Server 2007 SP1.
c) Double-click POP3 and then configure the options.
d) Click Apply and then click OK.
e) Restart the POP3 service after you make any changes to the configuration.

You can enable or disable POP3 access for individual users by using the Exchange Management Console (EMC), as described below.
a) Expand Recipient Configuration in EMC and then click Mailbox.
b) In the work pane on the right-hand side, double-click the user and click the Mailbox Features tab.
c) Click POP3 and then click Enable.
d) Click Apply and then click OK.
e) Restart the POP3 service after you make any changes to the configuration.

If you want to use EMS, then use the following command to enable the user. Make sure you are using the command in EMS and not at the Command Prompt.
Set-CASMailbox -Identity CAS01 -PopEnabled $true

You can get more information about the Set-CASMailbox cmdlet here. The Set-CASMailbox cmdlet sets client access-related attributes for Exchange ActiveSync, Outlook Web Access, POP3, and IMAP4 for a specified user.

For example, to enable POP3 for user billg@microsoft.com use the following command in EMS:
Set-CASMailbox -identity BillG@microsoft.com -POPEnabled:$true

If you want to enable the change password user interface and also enable POP3, use the following command in EMS for user BillG@microsoft.com:
Set-CASMailbox -identity BillG@microsoft -OWATasksEnabled:$true -POPEnabled:$true

To see all the users that have POP3 enabled use the following command in EMS:
Get-CASMailbox | Select Name,PopEnabled

In addition to the changes mentioned above, you also need to make sure that your Exchange Server is configured for proper authentication. The default selection is SecureLogin, which is the most secure option and it’s best not to change that option. The two additional options are PlainTextLogin and PlainTextAuthentication. TO chagne the default selection, use the set-popsettings –logintype followed by the option you want. For example, to change the default setting of SecureLogin to PlainTextLogin use the following command.

set-popsettings –logintype PlainTextLogin

The PlainTextLogin option allows passwords to be transmitted over the network in plain text and allows connection to the standard (non TLS) port used for POP3, which is 110.

The PlainTextAuthentication options also allows connection to the standard port but it also requires the use of secured passwords. This is configured on the client by selecting the option Secure Password Authentication.

NOTE: Restart the POP3 service after you make any changes to the configuration.

Client-Side Configuration
If you are using SecureLogin, which is the default option, then the server requires secure SSL/TLS connections. For POP3, when using SSL use port 995 for inbound connections and 587 for the outbound connections. In EMC, go to Server Configuration, Hub Transport and double-click the ClientServerName in the work pane on the Receive Connectors tab. Click on the Network tab and you will notice that the port listed is 587. Yes, that’s not a typo.

Rather than using the default port 25 for SMTP communications used between servers, Exchange 2007 uses port 587 which is the standard port for SMTP mail received from the clients . If you double-click the DefaultServerName, you will notice that port listed is 25. I am pointing this out because if you are using Outlook Express 6 or earlier as a client, it can only negotiate explicit TLS over port 25 and therefore you can’t use port 587. A simple solution in that case is to take advantage of the Default receive connector which uses SMTP port 25. In other words, use the following ports when you configure the e-mail clients.

Outlook Express 6 or Earlier

Incoming Mail (POP3): Port 995
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): Port 25

All Other Clients

Incoming Mail (POP3): Port 995
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): Port 587

By the way, everything in this article also applies to IMAP4. The only exception is that when you use SSL, IMAP uses port 993 for incoming mail, instead of 995.

If you are working in a virtual PC environment, like most of us trainers do, you may have run into situations where you can’t afford to install Exchange Server for various reasons but would like to have the ability to test e-mail functionality. For example, you may be working with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 to configure alerts or you have installed a Web server and want to receive e-mail messages without installing a full-blown messaging server. Using the built-in POP3 service in Windows Server 2003 is a perfect solution.

Here’s a nice step-by-step tutorial from Sharee English on her blog on how to setup POP3 Service on Windows Server 2003 How to configure POP3 to test email settings in MOSS without Exchange Server.

As you may know, Microsoft doesn’t support Exchange Management Console for Exchange Server 2007 or the Exchange System Manager for Exchange 2003 on a Windows Vista-based computer as explained in the KB article 931903 “You cannot install the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange System Manager on a Windows Vista-based computer”. If you try to install the Exchange System Manager for Exchange Server 2003 on Vista, the installation fails and you get the error:

The “Internet Information Services Snap-In” component of the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is either not installed or disabled.

Microsoft suggests that as a workaround you use Remote Desktop to manage Exchange Server 2003 from Windows Vista. If for some reason the Remote Desktop option is not a viable solution for you and you are looking for another option, here’s a workaround that you might want to try.

1. Install adminpack.msi from Windows Server 2003 on Windows Vista so you will have the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
2. Copy the following files from Exchsrvr\Bin folder on your Exchange Server 2003 to Windows Vista’s System32 folder:
address.dll
escprint.dll
exchmem.dll
glblname.dll
maildsmx.dll
pttrace.dll
netui0.dll
netui1.dll
netui2.dll
3. Register the maildsmx.dll by typing the following command at the command prompt:
regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\maildsmx.dll
4. Just be aware that the Move Mailbox feature may not work so you can use Remote Desktop for that.

You should now see the Exchange tab in your Active Directory Users and Computers on your Windows Vista computer.

Microsoft Exchange 2007 has several nice features and enhancements over its predecessors. However, if Microsoft TechNet forums and Exchange newsgroups are any indication, Exchange 2007 is a living nightmare for Exchange Administrators. Most features that should have been a breeze in the GUI in Exchange 2003, have been yanked out and replaced by cryptic commands that administrators must manually type in a DOS-like shell called Exchange Management Shell (EMS). And that is the good news. The bad news is that the help file is not very helpful. To put it bluntly, it is pathetic. There are few good, real-life examples and it lacks step-by-step instructions in the areas where it is really needed.

Although the Exchange Management Console is much easier and the developers should be commended for that, it’s the lack of basic simple tasks in the GUI that are very time consuming and causing headaches for the administrators. Exchange 2007 administration is definitely not geared towards small to medium-size companies with a few hundred to thousands of users, it is meant for large enterprises.

It seems like Exchange 2007 was developed by people with the UNIX background. They replaced the nice GUI that Microsoft is famous for with the old DOS-like command prompt. They didn’t realize that one of the the reasons why Microsoft’s products are popular all over the world is because of the ease of use and their GUI interfaces. If administrators only wanted reliability and dependability in products, they would be using open source products and would rather use Linux instead of spending money to buy Exchange 2007.

* Want to configure POP3 in Exchange 2007? Sorry, no easy way to get it to work. You have to configure it in EMS manually. Do not waste time looking for information in the Help File. Search for answers on one of the Exchange forums or newsgroups.

* Want to send mail to the Internet? Oops…..Exchange developers didn’t realize that the reason you install Exchange is to send mail to the Internet. You have to manually configure send connectors or else your Exchange server can only be used to send mail internally.

* Want to configure recipient and sender content filtering? You can do this, sort of, but you need to manually type each address in the EMS. Oh, by the way, you are limited to only 100 entries, as explained in the help file. There is no simple way to add a whitelist or exceptions list by importing from Exchange 2003. Someone at Microsoft wrote a tool to import the lists but the tool doesn’t quite work as written.

This is only scratching the surface. The newsgroups and forums are full of major issues with Exchange 2007 and administrators are not too happy because Microsoft rushed out the product before it was quite ready and admits that they left out holes in the GUI because they didn’t have time to complete by RTM. Microsoft is working on ways to address these problems and seems like they plan to come up with some solutions in Service Pack1 which is targeted for the second half of 2007.

According to Microsoft, here’s a partial list of what you will find in Exchange 2007 SP1 as posted on Microsoft Exchange Team Blog:

Standby Continuous Replication (SCR)

Such a great feature obviously needed its own name!

With Exchange 2007, we introduced Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) for replication of data between 2 servers within a cluster. With SCR, data can be replicated on a per-storage group basis to standby servers or clusters. The SCR target, whether a single mailbox server or a cluster, can be placed inside the primary datacenter or in a remote location, ready to be manually activated if the primary server or datacenter fails.

OWA

SP1 will fill in the feature holes that we just didn’t have time to complete by RTM:

Exchange Management Console

SP1 will fill in the GUI holes that we just didn’t have time to complete by RTM, including:

Web Services

New web service coverage will include:

* Public folder access
* Delegate management
* Folder permission management

IPv6

On Longhorn Server, we will support Exchange 2007 on native IPv6 networks.

Move Mailbox

This vital tool administrator tool has been beefed up to include import and export to a .pst.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 allows you to easily add RSS feeds. Here’s the step-by-step procedure.

1. Start Outlook 2007.
2. Go to Tools, Account Settings, and click on RSS Feeds tab.
3. Click New, and enter the address of the feed. For example, to add this blog, type in the address: http://www.techgalaxy.net/blog/rss.xml as shown below.

4. The RSS feed is added to the RSS folder in Outlook as a subfolder.
5. You can further tweak the settings, such as automatically download enclosures for the feed or download the full article as an .html attachment to each item.