I had to find a mail server software I could use with my C# code. I found the following potential software after a quick search.
1. Exchange Server
2. hMail Server
3. MailEnable
4. SendMail
5. Windows POP3 Service (didn't have high hopes on this one, but you never know)
Since I didn't have enough time to research this list more closely, please take my conclusion with a pound of salt! Based on my quick research I found that hmail and send mail didn't have an API I could use with C# and I think MailEnable had C# API available for paid versions (or it could be SendMail). When I started to install Exchange Server I quickly found out I will need an AD without which I would not be able install it.
While installing Exchange server I decided to give Windows POP3 server a try and sent out an email to my personal email addresses using for example austinpowers@groovybaby.com (say www.groovybaby.com is my department's domain). I received the emails which I expected to work. Now the real test was will I able to reply to these emails and receive it to my austinpowers@groovybaby.com inbox. I replied half expecting it to work. And VOILA! It worked! To find out the solution you will have to subscribe to my services....NOT!
Here are the steps I took to get this to work. I will use www.groovybaby.com in this example as the domain.
1. Setup or use a server with Windows 2003 (2008 should be ok too, but I haven't tried it). If this server is not part of any domain. Add the Primary DNS Suffix: groovybaby.com. I dont know if this step helps but it certainly doesn't hurt to have. You can change this clicking Start -> My Computer -> Right Click -> Properties -> Computer Name ->
2. Have the W2K3 setup handy and install the Windows 2003 POP3 Service.
3. Once installed, we can setup the mailboxes
to be completed soon…..