The SMTP message system

With the SMTP system, SQL Remote sends messages using Internet mail. The messages are encoded in a text format and sent in an email message to the target database. The messages are sent using an SMTP server, and retrieved from a POP server.

For a list of operating systems for which SMTP is supported, see Supported platforms.

SMTP addresses and user IDs

To use SQL Remote and an SMTP message system, each database participating in the system requires an SMTP address and a POP3 user ID and password. These are distinct identifiers: the SMTP address is the destination of each message, and the POP3 user ID and password are the name and password entered by a user when they connect to their email server.

Note

It is recommended that you use a separate POP email account to send and receive SQL Remote messages. See SMTP/POP address sharing.

SMTP message control parameters

Before the SQL Remote Message Agent (dbremote) connects to the message system to send or receive messages, the user must have a set of control parameters already set on their computer, or the user is prompted to specify needed information. This information is needed only on the first connection. It is saved and used as the default entries for subsequent connections.

The SMTP message system uses the following control parameters that are set by the SET REMOTE OPTION statement:

local_host The name of the local computer. It is useful on computers where SQL Remote is unable to determine the local host name. The local host name is needed to initiate a session with any SMTP server. In most network environments, the local host name can be determined automatically and this entry is not needed.
top_supported SQL Remote uses a POP3 command called TOP when enumerating incoming messages. The TOP command may not be supported by all POP servers. When you set the top_supported parameter to NO, SQL Remote uses the RETR command, which is less efficient but works with all POP servers. The default is YES.
smtp_authenticate Determines whether the SMTP link authenticates the user. The default value is YES. Set this parameter to NO to turn off SMTP authentication.
smtp_userid The user ID for SMTP authentication. By default, this parameter takes the same value as the pop3_userid parameter. The smtp_userid only needs to be set if the user ID is different from that of the POP server.
smtp_password The password for SMTP authentication. By default, this parameter takes the same value as the pop3_password parameter. The smtp_password only needs to be set if the user ID is different from that of the POP server.
smtp_host The name of the computer on which the SMTP server is running. It corresponds to the SMTP host field in the SMTP/POP3 login window.
pop3_host The name of the computer on which the POP host is running. Typically, it is the same name as the SMTP host. It corresponds to the POP3 host field in the SMTP/POP3 login window.
pop3_userid The user ID used to retrieve mail. The POP user ID corresponds to the user ID field in the SMTP/POP3 login window. You must obtain a user ID from your POP host administrator.
pop3_password The password used to retrieve mail. It corresponds to the password field in the SMTP/POP3 login window.
debug When set to YES, all SMTP and POP3 commands and responses are displayed in the output log. This information can be used for troubleshooting SMTP/POP support problems. The default is NO.
suppress_dialogs When this parameter is set to true, the Connect window does not appear after failed attempts to connect to the mail server. Instead, an error is generated.
encode_dll If you have implemented a custom encoding scheme, you must set this to the full path of the custom encoding DLL that you created. See Message size.
max_retries By default, when SQL Remote is running in continuous mode and an error occurs when accessing the message system, it shuts down after the send and/or received phases. Use this parameter to specify the number of times you want SQL Remote to retry the send and/or receive phases before it shuts down.
pause_after_failure This parameter applies when the max_retries parameter is specified to a value other than zero and SQL Remote is running in continuous mode. When an error occurs in the message system, this parameter defines the number of seconds SQL Remote waits between retrying the send and/or receive phases.