Transferring outbound Internet mail to an SMTP server over Notes routing

On Domino® networks that do not use SMTP for internal mail routing, you can implement a gateway topology for sending outbound mail to the Internet. Your internal servers can continue to use Notes® routing to transfer mail and send Internet mail to an SMTP server that connects to the Internet. Your gateway server must be a Domino server able to send SMTP mail to external Internet domains.

About this task

To define a route between your internal servers and the SMTP gateway server, create:

  • One or more Foreign SMTP domain documents that define the next domain for sending SMTP mail addressed to a given set of destination addresses
  • SMTP Connection documents specifying the server that processes outbound SMTP mail for each Foreign SMTP domain document

The gateway server receives outbound mail from internal servers over Notes routing and then transfers it to the Internet over SMTP. The gateway server can connect to the Internet directly or through an SMTP relay host or firewall that connects to the Internet.

A Foreign SMTP domain document provides servers that don't use SMTP routing and which do not have access to DNS with the next hop information required to route Internet mail. You can also use Foreign SMTP domain documents with servers that route mail over SMTP to configure different routing paths for mail sent to different destinations.

A Foreign SMTP Domain document provides servers in a Domino domain with information on where to transfer mail destined for external SMTP addresses. The Foreign SMTP domain document specifies the name of the next hop domain to which messages addressed to a specific Internet domain or domain pattern are sent. For example, a Foreign SMTP Domain document might specify that the next hop for messages addressed to the domain company.com should be the domain TheInternet.

The next hop domain can either be an actual Domino domain -- that is, a group of servers sharing a Domino Directory -- or a virtual domain. Use the name of an existing Domino domain if you can create a Connection document to it and it already has SMTP servers connected to the Internet. If the network does not currently have a Domino domain that routes outbound Internet mail, use a virtual, or logical, domain name. The name must not correspond to the name of any servers or domains in the Domino Directory. Domino uses the virtual domain name to link this SMTP domain document with an SMTP Connection document, which, in turn, specifies the name of an SMTP-enabled server that can process outbound mail, for example, a firewall server that can route outbound Internet mail.

To explicitly control message routing, you can set up multiple Foreign SMTP domain documents, splitting outbound mail traffic so that messages destined for one Internet domain route through one Domino host and those destined for others go to a different host.

For example, you can configure one Foreign SMTP Domain document to route all mail addressed to domains ending in renovations.com; a second can route all mail addressed to domains ending in ibm.com®; and a third can process mail addressed to all other Internet domains (*.*). For each of the three configured Foreign SMTP domains, you must create an SMTP Connection document that describes how to transfer the messages routed to that domain.

Note: If you use a wildcard when specifying which messages to route to a domain, you can still restrict messages destined for specific Internet domains using the SMTP Outbound Controls in the Configuration Settings document.

The Router always uses the Foreign SMTP Domain document that most closely matches the address. For example, if a message is addressed to jdoe@server1.japan.renovations.com and there are two Foreign SMTP Domain documents -- one for renovations.com and one for japan.renovations.com -- the Router uses the document for japan.renovations.com.

After the Router determines which Foreign SMTP Domain document most closely matches the address of the message, it forwards the message to the specified next domain. If the domain is a real Domino domain, the Router looks in the Domino Directory for a connection to that domain and routes the message. If the domain is a logical domain, the Router checks for an SMTP Connection document that describes the next hop for mail routed to that domain.

To create a Foreign SMTP domain document

Before you begin

Make sure you already have a Configuration Settings document for the server(s) to be configured.

Procedure

  1. From the Domino Administrator, click the Configuration tab and then expand the Messaging section.
  2. Choose Domains, and then click Add Domain.
  3. On the Basics tab, for Domain type, select Foreign SMTP Domain.
  4. Click the Restrictions tab, and complete these fields:
    Table 1. Restrictions tab

    Field

    Description

    Allow mail only from domains

    The names of Notes domains that are allowed to route messages to this foreign domain. Leave this field blank to allow any domain to route mail through the local domain to the foreign domain.

    Deny mail from domains

    The names of Notes domains that are not allowed to route messages to this foreign domain. Leave this field blank to allow any domain to route mail through the local domain to the foreign domain.

  5. Click the Routing tab, complete these fields, and then click Save & Close:
    Table 2. Routing tab

    Field

    Enter

    Messages Addressed to -- Internet Domain

    The name of the Internet domain to which this document applies, for example, company.com, or a wildcard (*.*) to indicate all Internet domains.

    Should be Routed to -- Domain name

    A fictitious, logical domain name -- for example, TheInternet -- to which messages that match the pattern in the Internet Domain field will be routed. The name you specify serves as a placeholder; Domino uses the name to pair the Foreign SMTP Domain document with the connection document you create in the next step.

What to do next

Create an SMTP Connection document to associate the Foreign SMTP Domain document with an SMTP server that can send outbound mail to the Internet.