Let’s take this problem apart in plain English using Fed-Ex as an example.
<Narrative explanation>
Jack works for Fed-Ex as a truck driver driving loads of boxes from all around Chicago, to the local Fed-Ex warehouse/hub where the boxes await delivery to their ultimate destination.
Jack’s work day ends at 6PM AFTER his friend bob goes home, who is the main security guard who normally lifts the gate when he see’s jack pull up.
Jack has a security card with a magnetic strip that he can use to open the gate for the fed-ex warehouse so he can drop off all the important boxes that his customers have expected him to.
The Fed-ex warehouse is not a person, and has no clue what he is dropping off or who it is for. The security card reader let jack in, so he can drop stuff off though, so, he drops the stuff off where he was previously instructed.
Viola…Jacks job is done. Now the fed-ex warehouse and all it’s employees go to work on all the boxes routing them throughout the world…like magic they all get to where they are going!
</Narrative explanation>
<Explained mid real world, mid nerd world>
Bob’s drunk by now FYI.
Jack is Fed-ex’s dull sense of protocol(SMTP). Jack cares nothing about where the boxes ultimate destination, rather just that he has to get them to the hub by 6PM.
Jacks security ID is just a piece of plastic with no brain at all, it just unlocks the door. It says “Jack can come in here and deliver mail to/from whoever he wants, jack works for us”
Jack’s FedEx HUB/Warehouse doesn’t care anything about who jack is, nor does it care about anything other than how much crap is in Jack’s truck. It just knows it has to get his truck empty and get the crap from the truck into the bin that leads to its ultimate destination.
</explained mid real world, mid nerd world>
<SuperGeek>
In our colorful story above, jack represented the SMTP protocol. His key card represented the credentials you supply in the host field in DNN. The warehouse is godaddy’s email server, and NONE of this is YOU.
Make sense?
SMTP doesn’t typically care who the mail is from, or who it’s too. That’s just a little piece of code on the package, not the key card right? You can change your “reply to” email address to whatever you want in outlook, it’ll still go right?
OK…OK.. still not clicking
Check this out.
SMTP server typically authenticates a few ways..
1) Unrestricted Anyone can “relay” email, if anyone connects on port…umm…25? To the email server they can construct a message(try it for fun…open a cmd prompt(non vista) and type “ telnet mail.dnnreactor.com 25” you’ll find my mail server, and it’ll talk to you..just won’t(I hope) let you “relay” to anyone who it doesn’t know about.(IE if you try to send to a non-dnnreactor.com email address you’ll get shot down, cause you didn’t provide jacks key card!)
2) IP Address (only certain IP’s can relay through the server)..this is the way relay.godaddy.com or whatever is working(probably)…NO CREDENTIALS needed. It’s reading the IP address of one of godaddy’s known server probably, hence it just works.
3) UserID/Password This is the keycard method explained with jack… Again, it says nothing about the mail jacks carrying. Jack can send as whoever he wants (president@whitehouse.gov ) or whatever…it could care less.
4) UserID/Password allowed only to send as himself…this is what you’re explaining in this thread, but I’ve never seen...and I don’t see how it could logically be implemented..well…I guess it could..but it’s kinda overkill..once your in the door, your in there, and logged as sending mail anyhow, but not “what” mail is being sent(hopefully).
The reason item 4 isn’t used I won’t go into much detail, but it’s illogical really. SMTP is just envelopes. The person who created the envelope is who puts the return address on it. There is some header info sometimes that shows some details about who you truly are, but that’s kinda more “9 digit zip code” info.
So…You say…well how do I tell DotNetNuke who I’m sending email as?
Well…Depends….what part of DNN?
Are you sending email as the site itself? Then go to the admin section.
Are you sending email as the host?..I would look on the host tab.
Are you sending email as the user of the site…then edit your profile(click your name when your logged in up by the login section, or wherever you have the [USER] control)
Are you sending email as a forums users? Remember DNN is modular. So….Each module can either take advantage of your email address in your DNN profile, or it can override it, or supply it’s own.
You could be sending mail as the form module itself also.
So…Think of it this way maybe…..The settings under the “host” tab, is like the fed-ex local branch office, like a mini-hub similar to the one jack used. Now the entire dotnetnuke application is allowed to send mail to itself obviously…So..modules send mail to the DNN framework, which sends mail to the smtp server configured on the host tab.(this may not be the exact way it works, but the details aren’t our concern. it’s the results)….
Anyhow I hope I didn’t confuse you more…but that��s a pretty good way to think of it…IMO..
</supergeek>
Have fun!
<NormalGeek: Josh />