SMTP: Determining Total Time-Out Period with -Q and -W (99718)

This article was previously published under Q99718

Version 3.0 of Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP allows you to specify the how many attempts (-Qnnn) the SMTPGATE program makes to connect to a SMTP host and the wait time between such attempts (-Wnnn).

The -Q attempts option works in conjunction with the -W wait option. The SMTPGATE.EXE tries to connect to the SMTP host once. If it fails to connect, it waits the time specified with the -W option to make its next attempt to connect. These attempts continue at time intervals specified with the -W option as long as the connections continue to fail or the connection attempts value is reached as specified with the -Q option.

Example

Assume the default -Q value of 180, and the -W value of 60 seconds is used, then:

The SMTP Gateway tries sending the message up to 180 times at 60 second intervals for a total time of 180 minutes or three hours. The message is then returned to the sender as undeliverable.

The connection attempts option (-Qnnn) specifies the maximum number of attempts the SMTPGATE program makes to connect to an SMTP host before stopping. The default value is 180.

The wait option (-Wnnn) specifies how much time elapses between checks for outgoing SMTP mail on the local area network. It is specified in seconds. The default value is 120. Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP Administrator's Guide, version 3.0.