Testing Appliance Mail Flow

Once you have finished setting up your Email Appliance as described in the Configuration Guide, it is recommended that you confirm its effectiveness by sending test messages.

The method of testing depends on how your network is configured and how you plan to put your appliance(s) into production.

If you have already configured your network to route mail through an appliance, you can send test messages to and from an external email client (for example, Gmail). If, however, the appliance is configured but not yet integrated with your network, you can still use an internal mail client to deliver test messages through the appliance. The two test options are illustrated below.

Testing a Fully Networked Appliance

  • External Mail Client
  • Internet
  • Email Appliance
  • Mail Delivery Agent (For example, Microsoft Exchange Server)
  • Internal Mail Client

To confirm that your Email Appliance is processing mail, you can send a test message from an account outside of your network and check the recipient inbox and the mail logs to see if it was received and if it was routed through the appliance . You can then confirm that the appliance is routing mail to locations outside of your network by sending a message from an internal email client and performing the same checks.

Testing a Pre-Deployment Appliance

  • Internal Mail Client (Sender)
  • Email Appliance
  • Mail Delivery Agent (For example, Microsoft Exchange Server)
  • Internal Mail Client (Recipient)

To confirm that your Email Appliance is processing mail, you can send a test message from a mail client configured to route mail through the appliance to a recipient address belonging to an appliance user group . Then check the recipient account and the mail logs to verify that the message was processed and delivered.