How to deploy GFI FAXmaker for Exchange/SMTP 12

GFI FAXmaker has a very flexible SMTP based architecture allowing you to deploy the fax server in a way that best suits your network and type of mail server. You can also choose whether you want to install GFI FAXmaker on your mail server or whether you want to run it on a separate machine. (Unless you have Exchange 5.5, in which case you must deploy it on a separate machine)

Since GFI FAXmaker does not require a lot of resources it can run in the background on your mail server machine. However it is often considered good practice to separate your mail server from fax device hardware such as Brooktrout cards or ISDN cards. The choice will probably depend on the size of your network. Smaller networks can deploy GFI FAXmaker on the mail server, whilst larger networks probably want to deploy GFI FAXmaker on a separate machine. This separate machine does of course not need to be dedicated to GFI FAXmaker.

How GFI FAXmaker works with Exchange 2000/2003

If you have Exchange 2000 or 2003 as your mail server you can choose to install GFI FAXmaker on the mail server machine itself or on a separate machine.

Figure 1 - GFI FAXmaker installed on the Exchange 2000/2003 server

If you install GFI FAXmaker on the Exchange Server machine, GFI FAXmaker will install a standard Exchange SMTP connector and a sink (a program that captures particular messages at mail server level). No further configuration will be needed. The connector will forward all fax messages to GFI FAXmaker via the sink.

Figure 2 - GFI FAXmaker installed on a separate server

If want to install GFI FAXmaker on a separate machine, first install GFI FAXmaker on the fax server machine (which will require the IIS SMTP service to be installed). The fax server software and a sink for the IIS SMTP service will be installed. Then run the GFI FAXmaker set-up again on the Exchange server, which will create a standard SMTP connector, which will forward the faxes via SMTP to the GFI FAXmaker Fax server. If you wish you can also create this Exchange SMTP connector manually as described in the chapter `The Exchange 2000/2003 SMTP connector'

The GFI FAXmaker fax server receives the faxes via SMTP and using the sink captures the fax and converts it to fax format and faxes it out. Then it will mail back a delivery report to the user. The same principle is applied to SMS messages.

Installing GFI FAXmaker on a separate machine, leaves Microsoft Exchange Server completely standard - no changes to active directory are made and no custom software will be running on your Exchange server.

How it works from the client

All faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker Fax Message form or the New Message form of Microsoft Outlook are sent via Microsoft Outlook using the MAPI format [FAX:<number>]. The standard SMTP connector (which is created by FAXmaker during set-up and is a completely standard Exchange connector) forwards the faxes via SMTP to the GFI FAXmaker Fax server.

How GFI FAXmaker works with Exchange 5.5

Figure 3 - GFI FAXmaker installed on a separate machine if using Exchange Server 5.5

If you have Microsoft Exchange 5.5, you must install GFI FAXmaker on a separate machine. This separate machine must be running Windows 2000 or higher and the IIS SMTP service. Afterwards you must create a routing rule to forward all mail sent to the domains faxmaker.com and smsmaker.com to the GFI FAXmaker Fax server. How to create this rule is described in detail in the chapter `Configuring Exchange Server 5.5 for faxing'

The GFI FAXmaker fax server receives the faxes via SMTP and using a sink captures the fax and converts it to fax format and faxes it out. Then it will mail back a delivery report to the user. The same principle is applied to SMS messages.

If using Active Directory, you must ensure that the e-mail address of each GFI FAXmaker user has been entered in Active Directory. This is not done automatically by Exchange 5.5. If you don't use Active Directory you have to configure the name and email address of the GFI FAXmaker users.

How it works from the client

All faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker Fax Message form are sent via Microsoft Outlook using the SMTP format HTUnumber@faxmaker.comUTH. If the user wants to send a fax using the New Message form of Microsoft Outlook, the user has to address the email to number@faxmaker.com. Exchange 5.5 is then configured to forward mails sent to the faxmaker.com domain to the GFI FAXmaker fax server via SMTP.

How GFI FAXmaker works with Lotus Notes/Domino

If you have Lotus Notes or Domino you can choose to install GFI FAXmaker on the mail server machine itself or on a separate machine.

Figure 4 - GFI FAXmaker installed on the Lotus Notes machine

In both cases, GFI FAXmaker will retrieve the faxes via a dedicated POP3 mailbox. You will need to create a dedicated mailbox and configure GFI FAXmaker to retrieve the faxes from that mailbox. How to do this is described in detail in the chapter `Configuring GFI FAXmaker for Lotus Notes'.

Figure 5 - GFI FAXmaker installed on a separate machine

If using Active Directory, you must ensure that the e-mail address of each GFI FAXmaker user has been entered in Active Directory. If you don't use Active Directory you have to configure the name and email address of the GFI FAXmaker users.

How it works from the client

All faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker Fax Message form are sent via the e-mail client to the dedicated fax mailbox. If the user wants to send a fax using the new message form of the Lotus Notes client, the user has to address the email to number@FAX. Lotus Notes will forward the mail to a POP3 mailbox. This "fax mailbox" must be dedicated to the fax server. GFI FAXmaker will download the email, convert it to fax format and fax it out. Then it will mail back a delivery report to the user. The same principle is applied to SMS messages.

How GFI FAXmaker works with an SMTP/POP3 server

If you have an SMTP/POP3 server such as VPOP3 or Mdaemon you have to choose whether you want GFI FAXmaker to collect faxes to be faxed out via POP3, or whether you want to configure your mail server to forward the faxes via SMTP to the GFI FAXmaker server.

If you choose the latter then the machine must be installed on a separate machine (see figure 3). The first option allows you to install GFI FAXmaker on the mail server machine it self (See figure 4), however does not allow users to send faxes directly from their e-mail client.

If using Active Directory, you must ensure that the e-mail address of each GFI FAXmaker user has been entered in Active Directory. If you don't use Active Directory you have to configure the name and email address of the GFI FAXmaker users.

How it works from the client

If you have configured GFI FAXmaker to retrieve faxes via POP3, all faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker Fax Message form are sent via the e-mail client to the dedicated fax mailbox. GFI FAXmaker will download the email, convert it to fax format and fax it out. Then it will mail back a delivery report to the user. The same principle is applied to SMS messages.

If you have configured your mail server to forward all faxes via SMTP to the separately installed GFI FAXmaker fax server, then all faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker Fax Message form will be sent via the e-mail client using the SMTP format number@faxmaker.com. If the user wants to send a fax from their email client, then the user has to address the email to number@faxmaker.com. The SMTP/POP3 mail server is then configured to forward mails sent to the faxmaker.com domain to the GFI FAXmaker fax server via SMTP. The GFI FAXmaker fax server receives the faxes via SMTP and using a sink captures the fax and converts it to fax format and faxes it out. Then it will mail back a delivery report to the user. The same principle is applied to SMS messages.

How GFI FAXmaker works with multiple mail servers

Figure 6 - GFI FAXmaker with multiple mail servers

If you have a large network with multiple mail servers independent of what mail server they are running, you can configure your mail servers to forward faxes from all mail servers via SMTP (using the same methods as described above for each type of mail server). This allows you to provide fax services to users on several mail servers with a single GFI FAXmaker server.

How GFI FAXmaker works with an ISP hosted mail server

Figure 7 - GFI FAXmaker with hosted mail server

If you have a small network and don't run your own mail server or have a hosted mail server setup, you can still deploy GFI FAXmaker. You just need to install the IIS SMTP service on the GFI FAXmaker server. The GFI FAXmaker client software will forward all faxes directly to the GFI FAXmaker Fax server via SMTP.

The GFI FAXmaker fax server receives the faxes via SMTP and using a sink captures the fax and converts it to fax format and faxes it out. The same principle is applied to SMS messages. Delivery reports and inbound faxes will be forwarded to the user's email address at the ISP mail server. Because of the small size of faxes files and relatively small amount of email traffic created by GFI FAXmaker, this will not pose a significant overhead on your internet link.

How it works from the client

All faxes sent by users from the FAXmaker client will be sent to the SMTP format number@faxmaker.com. The FAXmaker client will know the name of the fax server machine and submit the fax directly to the GFI FAXmaker server. The user can not send a fax from his e-mail client.