In order to function in normal mode, LISTSERV Maestro needs to be connected to a fully licensed instance of LISTSERV. LISTSERV Maestro connects to the configured LISTSERV instance to check if there is a MAESTRO scope and a suitably recent maintenance license in the LISTSERV license key (LAK). A “suitably recent” maintenance key is one that expires after the release date of the given LISTSERV Maestro version. If not, then LISTSERV Maestro will run in evaluation mode for all users and groups that are configured to use this LISTSERV instance.
In evaluation mode, actual delivery of a job is only simulated. When the scheduled send time of an authorized job has been reached, the job is transferred into the “delivered” state without actually sending any messages to any recipients. Operating in this fashion, a user can evaluate all aspects of LISTSERV Maestro, including job definition, authorization, and viewing delivered jobs, without actually being able to use LISTSERV Maestro for real deliveries.
Test Delivery, which is a step that precedes the authorization step in the Workflow Diagram, is possible even in evaluation mode. However, with the restriction that an evaluation message is added to the top of all messages that are sent during test delivery with LISTSERV Maestro in evaluation mode.
In addition, for test delivery in evaluation mode to function, the following condition must be fulfilled: Either LISTSERV’s SMTP listener or an instance of LSMTP that is connected to LISTSERV must be installed on the same server that the LISTSERV instance used for delivery is running on. In addition, this SMTP listener/LSMTP must be listening for STMP requests on the standard SMTP port 25.