Happy Thanksgiving!
To celebrate Thanksgiving we thought it would be fun to put up a list of the ten email related websites that we are thankful for. If you know of a tool that needs to be added to the list, please add it below in the comments. Keep in mind that this list is not in any particular order but is just a sampling of our favorites.
- Whatismyip.com – Helps users determine their server IP quickly. This tool is helpful for local PC IP addresses or if you need to determine the IP of your mail server.
- Telnet Test – Oftentimes it is very helpful to remove your mail server from the equation to see if there is an underlying network / reputation problem blocking mail flow. Telnet enables helps you manually send a test message using the telnet command built into every operating system.
- Mail Relay Testing – This service will check your server to see if it is possible for a third party to relay mail from your server and will also test several techniques for sending relayed mail, but no mail will actually be sent to your server.
- Google Apps – If you are looking for the best hosted solution out there, we would highly recommend Google Apps! Google’s web-based communication, collaboration and security apps are user friendly and the best of the best.
- Net Stat – This tool is helpful for determining if a local PC or mail server is blasting out spam. Keep in mind that this tool will only show you this type of activity if the trojan/virus is currently blasting spam. You can run this command from the cmd line: ‘netstat -a’ (without ‘) and if the computer is currently blasting spam it will reference SMTP or :25 // for example: TCP eTools-Dev4:4534 outbound-a1.mx-route.com:smtp ESTABLISHED
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Traceroute – Traceroute tracks the path that a packet takes from your computer to a destination address. A traceroute also shows how many times your packets are being rebroadcast by other servers until it gets to the final destination. For windows users, the command is tracert. For Macintosh OS X users, its traceroute. We wold also like to mention the NetStat Agent product that is available for free download, seems to have some great features.
- Google Docs – We know that Google Docs aren’t really related to email but the way we are evolving to use this product does mean that email is included when sharing documents. While we love all Google products, we feel the recent improvements to Google Docs in particular are the most useful. Google’s new feedback systemseems to be a huge accomplishment for end users as our feature requests are being includedLast but not least, we would like to include three of our own tools which help make troubleshooting, diagnosing, and monitoring your email easier.
Server Monitoring – Server Monitoring Takes the guessing out of server management. If something is wrong with your email server, you need to know right away. MX Toolbox’s Free Email Server Monitoring lets you rest easy by sending you alerts when there is a problem with server performance, availability or reputation.
MxToolBox Super Tool – This all-in-one tool includes a critical tool package for all system administrators: MX Lookup, Blacklists, Diagnostics, Header Analyzer, SPF Records, DNS Lookup, Reverse Lookup, Port Scan, Whois Lookup, ARN Lookup and CNAME Lookup.
Blacklist Checker – The MxToolBox Blacklist Tool checks your IP against a list of over 150 Real Time Blacklists. If your mail server has been blacklisted, some email you send may not be delivered.
If you know of a tool that needs to be added to the list, please add it below in the comments.
