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External Mail

This page outlines the steps you need to follow to configure Standard ERP so that you can send and receive external mail (email).

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The sending and receiving of external mail (email) is handled by Standard ERP'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.

You can configure the Gateway in one of two ways:

  • A single copy of Standard ERP can act as the server and as the Gateway. This is known as an "Internal" Gateway.

  • The Gateway duties are taken away from the server application and instead are carried out by a separate client application (an "External" Gateway). Two External Gateway options are available:

    • The client application is on the same machine as the server application, and it will be launched automatically when you start the server application. This is termed an "Automatic External Gateway" in this documentation. This option can only be used with a Mac OS X server.

    • The client application can be on the same machine as the server application, or on a different machine. You will need to launch it separately after launching the server
In brief, two of the disadvantages of the Internal Gateway are:
  • 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 Internal Gateway will only send external mail. It cannot receive external mail.
An issue with the External Gateway is that it will log in to the server and so will be treated as a user as a user. There are some settings that can only be changed when only one user is logged in (e.g. many settings in the System module). Changing them requires the Gateway to log out. If the Gateway is an Automatic External Gateway, you will need to log the Gateway user out using the Active Users setting in the System module. After changing the setting, you will need to restart the server in order to restart the Gateway. If the Gateway is not an Automatic External Gateway, you can again log the Gateway user out using the Active Users setting, or you can close the Gateway client application. After changing the setting, restart the Gateway client application.

Outlined below are the steps needed to configure the Gateway, to allow Standard ERP to send and receive external mail, as follows. Please follow the links in each step for more detail.

In addition to the steps below, you may need to activate SMTP and POP3 in your email account.

Internal and External Gateways

Log in to the main server from a normal client as a user with access to the Email and Conferences and Technics modules, and follow these steps:
  1. In the Configuration setting in the System module, ensure the External Email option on the 'CRM' card is ticked.

  2. In the Person and/or Global User registers, make sure each user likely to send external mail has a return Email Address, as described here.

  3. If your written language contains special characters, you may need to specify a Default Mail Encoding in the Company Info setting, as described here.

  4. Change to the Email and Conferences module and configure the Email SMTP Server setting. Do not tick the Start Gateway Automatically option or enter the Gateway's log-in details.

  5. Open the POP3 Server register and create separate records for each of your POP3 Accounts.

  6. In the Mail and Conference Settings setting, specify the Mailbox or Conference that is to be used as the Postmaster, to receive mail that has been incorrectly addressed. It is recommended that you tick the Lock and Send emails Automatically option as well.

  7. In each Mailbox and Conference that is likely to receive external mail, enter the email addresses to which that mail will be sent (in the Ext. email Addr. field). If necessary, use the Email Addresses setting to connect additional email addresses to each Mailbox and Conference.

Internal Gateway only

  1. Change to "Admin Client" mode and use the Gateway Settings setting to activate the Gateway. Do not use the Automatic Login fields.

  2. Close all clients and restart the server. It will connect to your SMTP server and you will be able to send external mail.

External Gateway only

If you will be using an External Gateway, log in to the main server from a normal client as a user with access to the Email and Conferences and Technics modules, and follow these steps (in addition to steps 1-7 listed above):
  1. In the Optional Features setting in the System module, tick the Use External Gateway option.

  2. Make sure that the Person register contains a record (perhaps with a Signature such as "GATE"), as described here. This Person should be a Named User with a Mailbox and should only have access to the External Gateway module.

Automatic External Gateway

If you will be using an Automatic External Gateway, log in to the main server from a normal client as a user with access to the Email and Conferences and Technics modules, and follow these steps (in addition to steps 1-7 and 10-11 listed above):
  1. In the Email SMTP Server setting in the Email and Conferences module, tick the Start Gateway Automatically option and enter the Gateway's log-in details.

  2. Change to "Admin Client" mode and use the Gateway Settings setting to activate the Gateway. Do not use the Automatic Login fields.

  3. Ensure that the folder containing the Standard ERP server application also contains the "slave" version of the application. The slave version of the application is a client that does not have an interface. It is included in the Standard ERP server installer package.

    The slave must have the same name as the server application, with "-Slave" as a suffix. If you have changed the name of the server application, you must change the name of the slave as well.

  4. Close all clients and restart the server application.

    The Start Gateway Automatically option in step 11 will cause the "slave" version of the application to start up and log in to the server as the Gateway user. The first time the "slave" application starts, it will create a folder named "EmailGateway" inside the server folder. The "EmailGateway" folder will contain the slave's HDB file.

  5. Check the server log or server window to ensure the Gateway user has logged in to the server. You may need to restart the server application a second time to ensure this happens.

    The Gateway will connect to your SMTP and POP3 servers and you will be able to send and receive external mail.

Non-Automatic External Gateway

If you will not be using an Automatic External Gateway, it will usually be because your Gateway is on a different machine to the server. This can give performance benefits in large installations.

If you are using an External Gateway on a separate machine to your main server, the Gateway machine should be connected to the internet and it should be also be able to connect to the main data server. It is not necessary for the Gateway machine to have an interface.

If you are using an External Gateway on the same machine as your main server, the Gateway folder should be separate to the server folder.

Follow these steps (in addition to steps 1-7 and 10-11 listed above):

  1. If the Gateway machine has a graphical interface and is accessible, install the GUI version of Standard ERP on this machine. If you will be using the slave application to run the Gateway, install this as well in the same folder. Launch the GUI application.

    If the Gateway machine does not have a graphical interface and/or is not accessible (e.g. it is in a different building), you should work on a normal client machine to create the Gateway database, which you will then copy to the Gateway machine when the configuration work is complete. Remove the existing database (named "HANSA.HDB") from the folder containing the Standard ERP client application, and then launch the application. Because there is now no database in the folder containing the application, a new database will be created.

  2. In both cases, when the 'Welcome to Standard ERP' window appears, click or tap the [Connect to Server] button as described on the Creating a New Database - Client page. The purpose of this database is to allow the Gateway to connect to the server, so log in using the ID created for this purpose (e.g. "GATE"), as described in step 10.

  3. On logging in, you will be in the External Gateway module. The 'Server Status' window will be open, behind the Navigation Centre. If necessary, bring the Navigation Centre to the front by selecting 'Navigation Centre' from the File menu or using the Ctrl-M or ⌘-M keyboard shortcut.

  4. Use the Gateways register to activate the Gateway. Fill in the Automatic Login fields.

  5. Close the Standard ERP client application.

  6. If you have been carrying out the configuration work from step 17 onwards on the Gateway machine itself, start the slave application as described here. It will connect to the server automatically.

    If you were not working on the Gateway machine, copy the database (named "HANSA.HDB") to the folder on the Gateway containing the slave application. Then, remove the database from the local machine or at least move it out of the folder containing the GUI application. Finally, start the slave application on the Gateway machine remotely.

    The Gateway will connect to your SMTP and POP3 servers and you will be able to send and receive external mail.

Internal and External Gateways - Possible Issues

  1. If you are unable to send external mail, one reason might be that your email account does not accept non-8-bit MIME emails. If so, place an empty file named EnNo8BMIME in the folder containing the Gateway application (i.e. the folder containing the Standard ERP server in the case of an Internal Gateway, or the "EmailGateway" folder in the case of an Automatic External Gateway) and restart.

  2. If your email account is a Gmail account, Gmail may block the Gateway’s first attempt to log in. If so, Google will send a mail to the Gmail account entitled "Review blocked sign-in attempt". This mail will contain a link that you should use to "allow access to less secure apps". After allowing this, the Gateway will be able to log in. You may need to do this twice, once for SMTP and once for POP3.

  3. If normal clients are unable to log in to the server and are given a "One unlicensed user is logged in. You may not log in until the unlicensed user has logged off" message, a probable reason is that the Gateway user does not have a Mailbox.
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Configuring Mail in Standard ERP:

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