There are basic requirements that need to be met for SLmail to function properly.
SLmail will run on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or greater or Windows 2000. You must have Service Pack 3 or greater installed on Windows NT 4.0 for SLmail to function properly. It runs equally well on Windows NT Server or Workstation.
Note: You must be logged on with administrator rights before you can install SLmail.
If you are enabling the Message Tracking Filters you will need to have Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) installed on your server. With Windows NT you will have to download and install MDAC version 2.1 or greater, if you do not already have it installed on your mail server. MDAC can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm. (MDAC is included with Windows 2000.)
TCP/IP must be installed on your system. This network protocol is included in Windows, but is not always installed by default.
Note: You should not attempt to install SLmail on your system if you do not have TCP/IP installed and running. Installing SLmail without TCP/IP may cause your system to behave abnormally.
To determine whether TCP/IP is installed on your system, double-click the Network icon in Control Panel. Select the Protocols tab. If you don't see "TCP/IP Protocol" listed, install it now.
SLmail requires that your system have a static IP address. Windows is capable of accepting dynamic IP addresses. With dynamic IP addressing, your server generates a different IP address for your machine each time you log onto the network. (The Windows protocol for doing this is called "DHCP.") To envision the difficulty this would pose for the delivery of mail; imagine if all the houses on your block changed their house numbers every day, and if the Postal Service changed the zip code each time it received a piece of mail.
The following illustration shows the Properties dialog for a Windows NT system configured to use static IP addressing. The button for Obtain an IP address from a DHCP serveris not selected. (That would be dynamic IP addressing.) The button for Specify an IP addressis selected. This is static IP addressing. You must enter valid IP addresses for your system IP Address and your Internet Gateway System (Default Gateway), as well as an appropriate subnet mask for your IP class. The numbers illustrated on the following page are only examples and will not work for your system. You need to get actual IP addresses from your Network Administrator or your ISP.
TCP/IP Properties
TCP/IP services are built into Windows. SLmail is tested with this built-in version of TCP/IP. Although third-party TCP/IP stacks are available and SLmail may work with some of them, Seattle Lab has not tested them and does not provide technical support for them.
You should always have a minimum of 60 Megs free disk space on the system where SLmail is installed.
Note: SLmail and any files it uses must be located on a local drive. Services cannot access files on network drives.
All versions of SLmail occupy less than five megabytes of disk space on your hard drive. User mailboxes occupy additional disk space. It is usually adequate to assume that each user's mailbox will require 5 megabytes of disk space. This size is dependent, however, on the number of users you have and the amount of mail they receive. If your users frequently exchange huge files via mail, for example, the mail system will need disk space to hold these files.
SLmail logs also can require a significant amount of disk space. The amount required varies depending on the level of logging you select. No matter what level of logging you select, SLmail logs will continue to grow. You must delete old logs you no longer care about; SLmail will not delete logs for you.
Note: It is important to schedule a periodic clearing of old SLmail logs, or SLmail logs will continue to grow in size and consume disk space. Weekly log clearing is recommended.
This version of SLmail requires at least 16 MB above the recommended RAM needed for the operating system. This assumes that SLmail is the only application running on the system. To share the system with other applications, more memory will be required.
If you make extensive use of mailing lists, or if you support many users, SLmail will benefit from more memory than this minimum. The performance of server applications under Windows is highly sensitive to memory. Once SLmail starts getting swapped out to the virtual memory paging file on disk, its performance will degrade severely.
Exact memory requirements will vary depending on how many users you support, whether they mail large attachments, and whether you make extensive use of mailing lists. You can use Task Manager and Performance Monitor to determine how much memory is in use under load in your environment.
In nearly all cases, the single most significant thing you can do to improve SLmail performance is to add more system memory.
SLmail will work as an intranet mail server. If you are satisfied with exchanging mail only within your organization, you do not require a connection to the Internet.
To send and receive Internet mail, however, you must have an Internet connection. SLmail does not provide this connection. If you do not have an Internet connection, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in your area can explain how to get one.