MailWasher Server Windows Installation Guide

This document describes how to install MailWasher Server on Windows systems running Exchange Server. For more information about MailWasher Server, or for installation guides for Linux or Solaris, please go to http://www.firetrust.com/.

MailWasher Server integrates into your existing mail server using a program called a mail conduit, which is specific to the mail server software. MailWasher Server supports both Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 on Windows, and runs on both Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. To inquire about support for other platforms, please contact Firetrust.

This document assumes that Windows Server is installed and configured, and that Exchange is installed and configured to receive mail.

MailWasher Server consists of three programs:

1. Mail Processing Daemon (MPD). A service that provides the core junk mail filtering for MailWasher Server.

2. MailWasher Server Web Interface (MWI). A service with a built-in HTTP server that provides the web interface used by administrators to configure and maintain the system, and by end users to access their quarantined email.

3. The mail conduit for your mail server, which checks each incoming message against the Mail Processing Daemon, and then accepts, blocks, or bounces the message. The Exchange mail conduit is a DLL that provides a COM interface which is called by Exchange.

The Mail Processing Daemon and the MailWasher Server Web Interface run under the standard LocalSystem account. The Exchange mail conduit runs in the context of your Exchange service, which is itself usually run under the LocalSystem account also.

On Windows, MailWasher Server stores all files in it's own directory, selected during installation. The following files are stored in this directory:

1. The executables and supporting files are installed in this configurable location, by default a MailWasher Server directory under your server's Program Files folder. These files total around 10MB, and do not change once the product has been installed.

2. The runtime databases are stored in a data subdirectory. These files are initially less than a megabyte, however they will expand as the amount of quarantined email stored by the system increases. The space required depends on the volume of mail processed by your system and the MailWasher Server configuration options set, but as a guide we recommend that the partition hosting this directory have at least 100MB available.

3. The service HTTP access logs are stored in a log subdirectory.

MailWasher Server stores only the settings necessary to get the MailWasher Server daemons started in the Registry; all other options are configured using the web interface and stored in the database. The registry entries are created by the MailWasher Server installer and should not normally be edited manually.

1. Running the MailWasher Server installer. Installing the program files, setting up the runtime directories, and starting the MailWasher Server services.

2. Configuring MailWasher Server using the web interface.

3. Installing the Exchange mail conduit.

MailWasher Server is distributed as an executable installer. Download the Windows installer from Sourceforge, and run it. You must be logged in as a user who is a member of the Administrators group.

The installer runs through the following steps:

1. Accepting the License Agreement. Use the 'I Agree' button to continue.

2. Selecting the target directory. You will be prompted to choose the directory to install the product to. The default is a MailWasher Server directory under your server's Program Files folder. MailWasher Server must always be installed in its own directory, and cannot be installed to a network drive.

3. Configuring the MailWasher Server Web Interface. The network address and port that the web interface binds to are configurable. By default, the web interface binds to all network interfaces, on port 4044, but both settings can be changed if desired.

   For example, if the users of the web interface will always access it from an internal LAN, you may prefer to have the web interface bind only to the LAN address, so that it cannot be accessed from the Internet.

   To have the web interface bind to:

   • all interfaces, leave the Address drop-down on the default selection, (all network interfaces on the server); to have it bind to any other interface, select the interface from the drop-down list.
   • port 4044, leave the Port field with the default value, 4044; to have it bind to any other port, enter it instead.

4. Selecting the components to install. Visual C++ runtime libraries are required by this product. Select these if they are not already installed. The programs themselves always need to be installed, but if you're preforming an upgrade to an existing version of MailWasher Server, then do not install a new version of the database. We recommend that you add entries to the start menu, and start the services - no email will be processed until the email conduit is installed. If you don't start the services now, see the instructions below to start the services manually.

The MailWasher Server installer registers both the Mail Processing Daemon and the MailWasher Server Web Interface as Windows Services.

Complete the following steps to start MailWasher Server manually:

To manually stop MailWasher Server, repeat the process above but click Stop instead of Start.

Note: You should rarely need to start or stop MailWasher Server itself; if you want to prevent MailWasher Server from processing your mail, you should instead change the configuration options, or, to remove it from the mail processing loop completely, turn off the Exchange mail conduit.

The MailWasher Server services have now been started, and the product can now be configured using the web interface. Open your web browser and go to the address and port you specified during the installer - for example http://your server's name:4044/. The setup wizard helps you create an administrator account, configure MailWasher Server, and test that it can successfully connect to the FirstAlert! service (unless FirstAlert! access is disabled). For help at any time, see the MailWasher Server online help.

The mail conduits are software components which check each incoming message against the Mail Processing Daemon, and then accepts, blocks, or bounces the message. Each mail conduit is specific to a particular MTA.

Before installing the Microsoft Exchange Server mail conduit, first check that you have successfully installed MailWasher Server, that both services have been started, and that you have configured the product using the web interface.

To install the Exchange mail conduit, select the Install the Microsoft Exchange mail conduit link in the MailWasher Server group on the Start menu.

To uninstall the Exchange mail conduit, select the Uninstall the Microsoft Exchange mail conduit link in the MailWasher Server group on the Start menu.

You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to uninstall the mail conduit. Click Yes to continue.

Complete the following steps to uninstall MailWasher Server:

Step	Action
1	If the Exchange mail conduit is currently installed on your server, uninstall it by following the instructions above.
2	Select Start > Settings > Control Panel and double click the Add/Remove Programs icon to display the Add/Remove Programs window.
3	Select Firetrust MailWasher Server and click Change/Remove.
4	Click Yes to start the uninstall process.
5	Click OK. Close the Add/Remove Programs window.
6	If you want to delete the quarantined messages, address list entries, and configuration settings, open Windows Explorer, locate the MailWasher Server program folder (usually C:\Program Files\MailWasher Server), and delete it. This task is now complete.

Before upgrading an existing MailWasher Server installation, you must first stop Exchange (or, if you prefer, temporarily uninstall the mail conduit as described above) and stop the two MailWasher Server services (as described in Starting and stopping the MailWasher Server services manually).

Note that you must install MailWasher Server to the same directory as it is currently installed to ensure that your configuration settings, address list entries, and quarantined messages are retained.

For MailWasher Server technical support, please go to http://www.firetrust.com/support/.