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Sometimes people want to be able to access their office VPOP3 mail server from a remote site.

If you have a permanent connection to the Internet (eg leased line, xDSL etc) it is usually quite easy. Simply set your router up to allow incoming access to the VPOP3 computer on the relevant ports (eg 110 for POP3, 143 for IMAP4, 25 for SMTP, 5108 for WebMail). The remote user then dials to the Internet and connects to your VPOP3 server's Internet IP address.

By default VPOP3 2.0.0 and later will refuse access to email for anyone connecting from outside the local network, so this will need to be opened up. The easiest way to do this is to go to Services → POP3 (or Services →IMAP4 or Services → WebMail, as appropriate), and find the Access Restrictions section.

In VPOP3 2.4.0 and later, click on the Add New Restriction text, choose Type: Any, then in the Allowed Users box, either leave it blank to allow any user to access the VPOP3 service from the Internet, or enter a list of VPOP3 usernames, separated by spaces, to just allow those users to access VPOP3 from the Internet

In earlier versions of VPOP3, add the line 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 to the Access Restrictions settings. (This will allow access to anyone with a valid username and password from any IP address - you may want to restrict it to certain users only).

Note do NOT simply allow access to anyone to your VPOP3 SMTP service, this will lead to you making VPOP3 into an open relay. Instead you will need to set the SMTP service access restrictions to limit access to your users alone.

If you do not have a permanent connection to the Internet, then the user will need to dial directly into the VPOP3 computer or another computer on the network. This only works reliably if the dial-inserver is running Windows NT, Windows 2000 or later versions.

You need to install the Remote Access Server network service and configure this to allow incoming TCP/IP connections.

If the Remote Access Server is running on the VPOP3 computer itself, then you only need to allow inward access to the VPOP3 computer itself, otherwise you will need to allow inward access to the whole network.

You need to install the dial-in server portion of Windows 2000. Do this by going to Settings - Network and Dial-up connections - Make New Connection. Then choose Accept Incoming Connections and set it up appropriately.

If the Remote Access Server is running on the VPOP3 computer itself, then you only need to allow inward access to the VPOP3 computer itself, otherwise you need to allow access to the whole network. You set this on the Networking tab in the Internet Protocol Properties.