Doing some work on my XDC session on webservices.
It would be really useful to have a mail server installed on my machine so I can send emails during some of the demos. Only needs to be very lightweight - no bulk stuff going on (!), just a few emails.
I could go down the OS X server route but wondering if there’s anything dirt quick and easy to work with.
Anyone know of anything quick and easy to install that I can use? It’ll just get binned after the presentation.
Thanks
Pat
I think if you turn Apache on that one is already installed.
@Patrick Delaney: Instead of using a local mail server, could you use a transactional service such as Mailgun ( https://www.mailgun.com )?
[quote=277004:@Patrick Delaney]Doing some work on my XDC session on webservices.
It would be really useful to have a mail server installed on my machine so I can send emails during some of the demos. Only needs to be very lightweight - no bulk stuff going on (!), just a few emails.
I could go down the OS X server route but wondering if there’s anything dirt quick and easy to work with.
Anyone know of anything quick and easy to install that I can use? It’ll just get binned after the presentation.
Thanks
Pat[/quote]
Server’s simple & cheap 
Be aware that hotel networks are VERY wonky. More than likely they’ll have some port filtering activated, and / or their network will present all sorts of other weird challenges that you won’t discover until you are there. When I presented on sockets a few years ago, I had to spend a frantic night banging up solutions to problems that only existed on the hotel’s network so all my demos would work.
If you have a cell phone that can tether to your carrier, you may be able to avoid some issues I faced.
Also be aware that unless the receiving mail server can do a reverse lookup on your SMTP machine, your mails mostly won’t be accepted.
Thanks
What I’m trying to avoid is all the hotel network issues. Part of my demo is a signup API so when I “signup” I want to send an authentication email to myself - all on the same laptop. In the whole demo, one or two emails max, nothing hitting the www at all ideally.
Maybe I should have been a bit clearer - I do have a habit of ambiguity on these forums sometimes 
Can you use windows on the laptop at the same time ?
If so you can use hmailserver. One click install and very easy to set up.
What OS are you on?
OS X but I have VMs available…
[quote=277123:@Eric Dirks]Can you use windows on the laptop at the same time ?
If so you can use hmailserver. One click install and very easy to set up.[/quote]
Thanks - I’ll take a look
Take a look at http://www.mocksmtpapp.com/
Sounds like just what you’re looking for, and you can use it free for 30 days.
[quote=277112:@Patrick Delaney]Thanks
What I’m trying to avoid is all the hotel network issues. Part of my demo is a signup API so when I “signup” I want to send an authentication email to myself - all on the same laptop. In the whole demo, one or two emails max, nothing hitting the www at all ideally.
Maybe I should have been a bit clearer - I do have a habit of ambiguity on these forums sometimes :)[/quote]
I still like the mailgun idea. You’ll be connecting to a second API to send the email. And if you get yourself a free Rackspace account, you can probably send a bunch for free with their included account.
Why not just send them through an existing email account? Use a server with TLS and auth using port 587 and you should be fine. I haven’t seen any instances that I can recall of hotels blocking 587.
Email servers do need specific stuff set up, so there’s a good chance it won’t work for all the issues mentioned above.
If you can’t use an actual account somewhere for some reason, I second Greg’s suggestion of using a service with an API.
As an alternative to MailGun, I ended liking SMTP2GO (https://www.smtp2go.com). Very easy to set up with quick support replies when needed, even with a free account, which is probably all you’ll need.