IMS SUPPORT PAGE

Last updated 5/27/2008

Paul Sica is no longer hosting the IMS support pages. We all miss Paul. EMWAC IMS, however is still alive and well, in no small part due to the contributions that Paul and others have made. I have taken a copy of Paul's support page and have cleaned up many of the dead links. Drop me a line if I'm missing your contributions and we'll gladly add your link.

Imsusers mailing list subscription: Send a message to imsusers-request@rockliffe.com with a message body of: SUBSCRIBE IMSUSERS.

[WINDOWS 2003 / 2000 Fix(s)]
[HISTORY] [LINKS(PRODUCTS)] [HINTS]
[SCRIPTS] [FAQs]
[SCSMFILTER ONLINE MANUAL
[Y2K OK Statement Link]
[Mirror & additional IMS links]

See EMWAC LINKS under LINKS to get the IMS server from here or one of the mirrors.

This web site is dedicated to the support of the Freeware Internet Mail Server (IMS) from the European Microsoft Windows NT Academic Center (EMWAC). All known links to available add-ons have been posted here and will be posted here when available.

HISTORY

IMS is part of the Internet Toolchest for NT provided by EMWAC. In 1995 EMWAC licensed IMS to Rockliffe who proceeded to create a powerful mail server called MailSite. Official support for IMS was dropped by EMWAC but as a courtesy to the internet community, EMWAC still makes their Internet Toolchest for NT available.

In the fall of '96 and into '97 the first new addition for IMS came in the form of a spam filter. Developed by SICA Consulting Services as freeware for IMS, it addressed the basic need to stop spam.

As the spam filter grew in complexity, it was altered to allow for user written plugins to facilitate the addition of new filters on messages and as it turns out, to add new features to IMS.

As time went on, others started filling in other gaps in IMS.

Gordon Fecyk developed some additional spam related tools and took on the job of monitoring the spam lists to generate updated filter files for the spam filter.

Denis Olivier added a tool to manage an extended mailing list server that was badly needed.

James Ingram needed to get mail from his ISP into his IMS server over a part time connection so he developed EFS.

S.C.S.(Paul Sica) provided the original spam filter, numerous utilities/plugins. :-)
And the work continues.....

LINKS

The following links will take you to the various tools available for IMS as well to IMS download page.

EMWAC LINKS	EMWAC IMS Download Site 1 // Site 2
Paul SICA LINKS	SCSMFILTERPlus mail filtering service for EMWAC IMS - installation program. MFILTER.EXE V3.3d - Updated executable for the above - replace the mfilter.exe executable after using the full installer above, to update to latest version 3.3D. Allows for a single thread via the thread.cfg file. Required for AVP. Trash Picker for the SCSMFILTER. AUTOPASS: Plugin to automatically trash or bypass. For plugin developers : 33PLUGIN.ZIP (Sample plugin source code and instructions).
James Ingram's LINKS	EFS (Email Forwarding Server) - to pickup external email (from an ISP) and deliver it to IMS
Stephan Stapel's LINKS	Stephan's Email Forwarding Server - to pickup external email (from an ISP) and deliver it to IMS
Neville Richards LINKS	Win32 console application to generate a HTML usage report from Plugin10 Reporting tool to provide reports from the IMS and SICA filter 10 log files. Produces a configurable report which includes usage charts, provides a Windows GUI and can run as a service. The IMS/SICA report version is available as freeware. ü
Mike van Meeteren LINKS	SMTPRCV 0.48 - IMS receiver service (replaces the stock SMTPRS service). Includes Delphi 6 source code. (see Klint Gores's morerecently updated version below). SpamEye - application that helps you quickly sift through the trash bin
Klint Gore LINKS	SMTPRCV 0.5.1 - IMS receiver service (replaces the stock SMTPRS service). Includes Delphi 7 source code. Indispensible. Also: IMS Restart, AntyiRegex, spamassassin
Adrian Zaugg LINKS	java servlet(beta) A webbased tool to allow users to activate/deactivate forwarding.
Eric Helfgott LINKS	AVP Anti-Viral Plugin for IMS Plugin for SCSMFILTER PLUS that scans e-mail for known virii, blocks infected messages, and notifies sender and receiver with details of the virus. Also provides trash bin management and MX filtering.

HINTS

Just setting up EMWAC IMS? Here's a short list of answers a few basic questions:

1. Download the documentaion when you download the software. Read it. Read it again.

2. IMS doesn't do dial-up and retrieve. You have to script that yourself.

3. IMS aliasing is weak. Get Paul Sica's free add-on software and you'll be able to do aliasing, and stop nearly all spam going through your site. See my signature for details.

4. IMS uses the NT users info, so you can't really have 2 "webmaster" accounts if you're doing multihoming/web serving. Get Paul's software and you can.

5. IMS can do all of its own sending. Don't use a gateway entry.

6. Can't receive mail? Check you DNS entries, and maybe add entries in the MISC "receive mail for".

7. Grayed out option? Try typing in the entry box and it should turn active.

8. When making a change, make it, click OK, and exit. Going back "just to check" usually erases the change. Stop and restart to have them take effect.

9. Too many headers and no delivery? Check you DNS entries, you're looping the mail.

10. IMS is not under development. There are no plans, or funding, to modify/upgrade the current version. Just get the latest version.

11. IMS lists "reply to" the sender, not the list. Still have a problem? Ask the IMS list, we've probably got the answer.

MORE HINTS from others
12. To be able to recieve mail at yourdomain.com instead of yourmachine.yourdomain.com make sure the DNS server is configured correctly and add yourdomain.com to the Accept Mail For option in the control panel applet.

13. Any time you get an error such as : 452 Cannot lock directory for recipients file... You may have a zombied hidden lockfile. Do the following to clear the condition :
Wait no more than 5 minutes then try again. If the error persists, stop the SMTPDS, SMTPRS and POP3S service. Next delete all occurences of $lockfile in any of the user mailbox directories or in any of the IMS directories. Restart all of the services. NOTE: if you have POP3 logging enabled, rename the current POP3 log file BEFORE restarting the POP3 Service.

14. When installing the filter, DO NOT install it in a directory using long file names such as "C:\program files\mfilter\...". This has caused a number of people to have problems.

Windows 2003 Server Fix(s) for SMTPRCV crash on service start

Add SMTPRCV as an exception on the Data Execution > Prevention (DEP), in Windows 2003 + IMS server. Acess My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Perfomance Settings, Data > Execution Prevention, Turn on, Add, C:\IMS\SMTPRCV\SMTPRCV.EXE

Windows 2000 Fix(s)

NOTE: It has been reported that this fixes the post.office server as well.

Windows 2000 Fix to install IMS

To install IMS under Windows 2000, the following registry entry must be added since it appears to no longer be used :
HKLM\system\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Domain
type REG_SZ
value yourdomain.com

Windows 2000 Fix to allow SMTPDS to deliver mail

In addition, it appears that W2K no longer fills in the Nameserver registry parameter :
HKLM\system\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Nameserver
type REG_SZ
value(s) nameserver IP addresses.
If this parameter is blank, it will cause IMS to fail to deliver messages. They will sit in the holding directory.

Windows 2000 POP3 difference :

When a user tries to log in (POP3) and retrieve their messages, they receive an error.
Make sure that "logon as batch job" is in the IMSUsers group rules and that the user accounts are in this group. This is the same as granting the log on as batch per the original IMS instructions.

Info on IMS and Windows 2000 Active Directory :

It has been reported that the IMS services must have "interact with desktop" checked on Windows 2000 with Active Directory installed in order to function

Tip for Windows 2000 users and the 1385 POP3 error :

Windows 2000 has a different approach to setting (log on as batch...) you go into "Domain Controller Security Policy" off the start menu/administrative tools. Be sure and get the right one as "Local Security Policy" wont work if you are on the PDC. The choice "log on as a batch job" is available under Local Policies/User Rights Assignment.