How to Debug/Monitor SMTP Communications?

Question

Debug HTTP is easy, you have all sort of tools to do it (like Fiddler). What about SMTP?

How to Debug SMTP Communications?

My target system is Windows.

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Suggested tools:

• Ethereal
• tcpdump
• Microsoft Network Monitor

Answer 1

You can use a SMTP development server, like Neptune or Antix. Both work the same way: they create a "fake" SMTP server in your machine so you can test your e-mail sending methods, without actually sending the messages they receive.