Configuring the Email Engine

The Email Engine is configured and activated by setting the EmailEngine system user parameters in the Plant Applications Administrator.:

  • InternalSMTPServer

  • InternalSMTPSignature

  • ExternalSMTPServer

  • FromEmailAddress

The Email Engine monitors the Email_Messages table and sends e-mail messages to the SMTP server specified by the parameter, InternalSMTPServer.

If the InternalSMTPSignature is left blank, it will always try to send e-mail only to the InternalSMTPServer.  If the SMTPSignature mask (i.e. company.com) is set, then that is used to figure out the actual internal SMTP server that is used.  

System User Parameters

InternalSMTPServer: This is the node name of your company mail server (i.e. company.com). The Email Engine will send all e-mail to the SMTP server and this will act as the mail server for the Email Engine.

InternalSMTPSignature: This parameter is used by the e-mail engine to decide which SMTP Server to send the e-mail to.  If your e-mail is john.doe@company.com, then an ideal value for this parameter would be company.com.  If this parameter is left blank then the Email Engine will always try to send e-mail through the SMTP server specified by the InternalSMTPServer parameter.

ExternalSMTPServer: The node name of an SMTP Server that allows relaying. This is specifically used for relaying messages to addresses outside of the internal company e-mail addresses. This machine will most likely not be the same as your company e-mail server.  It should be a machine that is not exposed outside your company firewall.  This can be any pc or server and required an SMTP Server to be set up.  In Windows XP or in Windows Server, Internet Information Services can be used to set up a Default SMTP Virtual Server for this purpose. If an ExternalSMTP server is set, then if an address is not found on the Internal SMTP server, the message is routed to the ExternalSMTPServer. The ExternalSMTPServer is essentially an SMTP e-mail server that is a relaying e-mail server and is used to send e-mails to addresses that are not in company mail server.  This parameter is not required to have a value unless this feature of relaying is needed.  

FromEmailAddress: Reply address for any e-mails sent out by the e-mail engine.  Value must not be blank, the default value of xx@yy.zz will work.  Otherwise provide a valid e-mail address here to enable the reply feature.

Email Recipients and Email Groups also need to be set up in the Administrator under Server Management > E-Mail Engine Configuration to complete the configuration for the Email Engine.

To Customize the EMailEngine Service for a Site:

  1. Display the System User Parameters for the Email Engine service.

  2. Expand Security Management and then expand System Users.

  3. Right-click on EmailEngine and select Edit EmailEngine Parameters. The User Parameters - [EmailEngine] dialog box appears.

  4. Set the parameters InternalSMTPServer, InternalSMTPSignature, ExternalSMTPServer, and FromEmailAddress to the site-specific values required.