RSSDownloading mail from a POP account into Exchange Server in general is not a supported configuration (though you wouldn’t know it from the proliferation of tools to accomplish this). However, Microsoft does provide an Exchange Connector for POP3 Mailboxes for Small Business Server, having licensed Internet Mailbridge from Acotec. It’s still not a supported configuration for full Exchange Server.
I’d suggest that you read about both sides of this issue. If you decide to try this route, there are plenty of tools to choose from. Features common to all POP3 collectors include the ability to POP mail from multiple servers and from multiple mailboxes. You’ll also be able to control how often it checks for new mail in the POP3 accounts and limit it to downloading new mail during specific hours, such as only during business hours. All of the commercial POP3 connectors should be able to deliver mail to any SMTP address, including mail-enabled Public Folders.
Many of these tools support these forms of POP3 collection:
- One-to-one, which collects mail from a single POP3 mailbox and sends it to a specific SMTP address
- Many-to-one, which collects mail from multiple POP3 mailboxes and sends it to single SMTP address
- One-to-many, which collects mail from single ‘catch-all’ POP3 mailbox and sends it to multiple SMTP addresses
Note that the one-to-many collection method fails when messages are BCC’d to users.
| Tools in the Spotlight | |
|---|---|
MAPILab POP3 Connector allows companies download mail from external POP3 servers and deliver it to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010. Supports SSL. Use with personal or catchall mailboxes. | |
Native POP3 Connector installs as a connector to Exchange and is configured using Exchange System Manager. It supports a large number of mailboxes (each one may be catchall accounts), multi-threading processing, flexible scheduling of POP3-mailbox querying, and integrates with the Active Directory. Supports Exchange2000/2003 and SBS2000/2003 | |
POPcon downloads emails from POP3 and IMAP accounts. 1 minute minimum schedule time, unlimited accounts, both single-user and catch-all (multi-drop) type. Supports Exchange 2010, 2007 and 2003 and runs on Windows 2003 and 2008 x86 and x64. | |
| Tools | |
|---|---|
Supports filtering rules and DNS verification on incoming messages to reduce spam. Version 5.2 | |
Eclarsys PopGrabber is a replacement for the POP3 connector included with the Small Business Server and also works with any standard SMTP server or Exchange server. Runs as a Windows Service. Free version available for up to 3 mailboxes; Standard version for larger sites. Requires Net Framework 1.1. | |
EFS is a FREE POP3 gateway for any SMTP server such as Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes or SLMail. It pulls mail from a Pop3 mailbox at your ISP and distributes the messages to users on a local SMTP mail server. EFS requires you to have a registered Internet domain name (to accept and forward mail for), use as a replacement for the somewhat limited Microsoft SBS Pop3 Connector. | |
Exchange Connector allows you to integrate your existing POP3 mailboxes with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or 2003 by downloading mail from POP3 mailboxes and delivering the messages to your Exchange Server accounts. Exchange connector runs in the background as a Windows Service and can be configured to download only during specified hours, such as between 9AM-5PM Monday-Friday and includes a "Download Mail Now" button for immediate downloads. It provides support for APOP (enhanced POP3 security), archiving, and SQL Server logging. Version 3.3.3 | |
An email gateway (connector) that retrieves messages from Internet POP3 email accounts (IMAP also supported) and delivers them to Exchange Server mailboxes. Supports single and multiple user POP3 accounts, unlimited POP3 accounts, unlimited ISPs and SMTP authentication when sending to Internet. Version 5 | |
Fetchmail can be used to collect mail from POP3 mailboxes and deliver it to Exchange server. It's one of the applications found Unixmail for Windows, a package of unix mail tools ported to MS Windows (Win32), and bundled together with an installer. In addition to fetchmail, the bundle includes mutt, aspell/pspell, sSMTP, and GnuPG. | |
Anti-spam, disclaimers (with variables), archiving Internet mail, Internet mail usage reports. Includes a POP downloader and personalized server-based autoreplies that can include attachments and tracking numbers. Can archive to an ODBC database. Current version includes Overall improved anti-spam technology, an additional anti-spam engine called SpamRazer along with improved performance and a real-time dashboard. | |
POP3 Downloader is a high performance and scalable real-time POP3 connector for Exchange. It can download and forward any POP3 or IMAP account email to Exchange. Compatible with Microsoft Exchange server 5.5, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010 and SBS 2003, 2008 1 Minute schedule SSL Support IMAP support (with configurable folders) | |
IGetMail version 2.4 acts as a POP3 gateway to automatically download your incoming POP3 mail from multiple remote servers to a single, local Microsoft Exchange Server. Downloads and copies e-mail from multiple individual e-mail accounts and multiple domains, using a single connection to fetch all your e-mail. | |
POP3 connector for Exchange. Runs as service to collect mail from POP mailboxes and forward to Exchange via SMTP. Version 5.1 | |
POP collector to download POP3 mails and forward to Exchange. Automatically installs as service on Windows 2003. Supports SMTP server for each POP account and SMTP AUTH. Improved Service support. Logging is configurable. Now supports POP over SSL. Freeware. | |
Supports mail forwarding without attachments (i.e. for SMS messages), dial up (RAS) connections and checks all inbound mails with a standard virus checker i.e. Norton Antivirus. Works with every version of Exchange Server including Small Business Server, 2000 and 2003, dial-up, dial-up routers, ADSL and leased-line connections to the Internet. Supports any SMTP server -- Exchange, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise and proxy servers that support the SOCKS protocol such as WinGate or MS Proxy. | |
Supports every version of Exchange server including Small Business Server and Exchange 2000/2003, any ISP's POP3 or IMAP server, even the older ones, that do not support the Received for: header line. Works with dial-up, dial-up routers, ADSL and leased-line connections to the Internet. Use with any SMTP server like Exchange, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise or proxy that support the SOCKS protocol like WinGate or ISA Server. Supports all message encoding formats, including MIME and UUENCODE messages, and character sets. | |
A command line utility to add POP3 mail collection to most SMTP mail servers. Easy to configure with multiple POP accounts to collect from, once started the POPWeasel collects mail from each account, reads the mail headers and routes the mail to your mail server for distribution to your users. | |
POP3 connector including spam filtering with SpamAssassin, interface for virus scanners, content-checking, outgoing mail handling and more. Works with all Microsoft Exchange versions. | |
More Information
- If you use SBS2003′s POP3 connector, see Many unexpected outbound e-mail messages appear in the SMTP queue in Small Business Server 2003 and install the patch before enabling the connector.
- Problems using Exchange for Internal email only
