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External Mail

The sending and receiving of external mail (e-mail) is handled by Hansa's Gateway. This sends external mail to your SMTP server when necessary and periodically checks your POP3 accounts for incoming mail. It also distributes this incoming mail to the appropriate Mailboxes and/or Conferences.

Depending on your circumstances, a single copy of Hansa can act as the server and as the Gateway (an "Internal" Gateway). Alternatively, you might prefer to have the Gateway on a separate computer (an "External" Gateway).

In brief, some of the advantages of the Internal Gateway are:

  • Easier to maintain and back up (all Gateway settings are on the main server);

  • Faster sending and receiving of mail between your Hansa Mailbox and external e-mail addresses.
Some disadvantages are:
  • Cannot be used if the main server is a Windows machine;

  • Reporting speed will be slower in large installations where there is both heavy use of the Gateway and frequent production of large reports (e.g. the Sales and Nominal Ledger reports).
The Gateway machine should be connected to the internet (e.g. by modem or by permanent connection) and, if it is a separate machine, it should be connected to the server.

Follow the sections below to configure the Gateway, to allow Hansa to send and receive external mail, as follows:

Internal Gateway
If you will be using an Internal Gateway, the work should be carried out on the server/gateway machine. Make sure that a folder named "Tmp" is present in the folder containing the Hansa application, and that the External E-Mail option in the Configuration setting ('CRM' card) in the System module is checked. This will allow you to send and receive mail. The Use External Gateway option in the Optional Features setting in the System module should not be checked. If this option is checked, the server will not send or receive external mail because it will assume the Gateway is present on another machine.

You can carry out the work described below on the server/gateway machine itself, or you can log on from a client machine as a system administrator, ensuring you are in "Admin Client" mode. You should also ensure you are in the E-mail and Conferences module by selecting 'E-mail and Conferences' from the Modules menu.

External Gateway
If you will be using an External Gateway, first, on the server machine, make sure that the Person register contains a record (perhaps with a Signature such as "GATE"), as described here, and that the External E-Mail option in the Configuration setting in the System module ('CRM' card) is checked. The Use External Gateway option in the Optional Features setting in the System module should be checked as well. Then, select 'Server' from the Modules menu. The server will go into server mode and the 'Server Status' window will appear. Then, install Hansa on the Gateway machine. Make sure that a folder named "Tmp" is present in the folder containing the Hansa application. The External Gateway uses this to store mail attachments downloaded from the POP3 server before they are transferred to the "Attach" folder and attachments that are to be uploaded to the SMTP server.

Double-click the Hansa application and create a new database as described on the Logging on from a Client page. The purpose of this database is to allow the Gateway to connect to the server, so create a single Company with the IP address of the server and Port Number that is the same as the Server Port in the Program Mode register on the server. Log in using the ID created for this purpose (e.g. "GATE"), as described here.

On entering Hansa, you will be in the External Gateway module and the 'Server Status' window will be visible. Open the Master Control panel by pressing Ctrl-M or ⌘-M.

Next Steps
In both cases, click below for descriptions of the next steps: