TFS & Visual Studio ALM – by Neno Loje

The Problem

• You are configuring SMTP Settings for TFS 2010 and want to specify a different port for your SMTP server than the default port (which would be port 25)

  
  Figure: TFS 2010 does not allow to set a custom SMTP port.

Solution #1: Change config file

• As answered here and here, you could add the following XML to the TfsJobAgent.exe.config file (usually located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Application Tier\TFSJobAgent):

<mailSettings>
  <smtp deliveryMethod="Network">
    <network port="2525"/>
  </smtp>
</mailSettings>

• Keep in mind that this is only valid for TFS notifications itself and not for notifcations from SQL Server Reporting Services or the SharePoint-based Project Portal.

The Solution #2: Install a local SMTP server

1. Install the SMTP Service on Windows Server and ask it to route all SMTP traffic to a different SMTP server.
2. On the Delivery tab, click Advanced, an enter the SMTP server name as "smart host".
3. On the Delivery tab, click Outbound Connections, and set the TCP port (= SMTP port).

Figure: Setting up a local SMTP server has the great benefit that you can use it SMTP for other applications, too (like notifications from SQL Server Reporting Services or SharePoint).