Lets talk about email

[kers7754]

I have a couple question about email:

What is a preferred web mail application?

Is there an easy way to have a customer log into their web mail rather than going to their website/cpanel and clicking on web mail and clicking on access and clicking on one of the web mail applications?

If I have several email boxes on a domain, how can I check each one separately?

When a customer puts in their username and password to log into web mail, is there a danger of having that plain text password intercepted? And same question if they use outlook to check their email with POP or iMap?

Thanks,
--Jeff

[twhiting9275]

What is a preferred web mail application?

None. Then again, that's always going to be an 'opinion' based statement. You need a proper email client, not a webmail client, however, one that lets you run it from a portable drive, such as Barca which I've been using for some 7+ years myself.

Is there an easy way to have a customer log into their web mail rather than going to their website/cpanel and clicking on web mail and clicking on access and clicking on one of the web mail applications?

http://www.yourserver.com/webmail/

When a customer puts in their username and password to log into web mail, is there a danger of having that plain text password intercepted? And same question if they use outlook to check their email with POP or iMap?

Plain text is ALWAYS succeptible to interception, so it's best to set the following
#1 - Require SSL
#2 - Always Redirect to SSL
#3 - Set Non-SSL redirect location to hostname
#4 - set SSL redirection location to hostname
in WHM -> tweak settings

And get yourself a cheap ($10/yr) ssl certificate for your hostname. This will prevent error windows from popping up.

[mtindor]

What is a preferred web mail application?

Try them and make your own choice. Squirrelmail has been around longest I suppose. It's "lighter". Horde has more "features". Roundcube looks the most modern / prettiest.

Is there an easy way to have a customer log into their web mail rather than going to their website/cpanel and clicking on web mail and clicking on access and clicking on one of the web mail applications?

How about http://www.theirdomain.com/webmail

If I have several email boxes on a domain, how can I check each one separately?

This isn't a server-side question. This is a basic email question. To check each one separately, log in as that individual user. Whether that be using webmail, POP3 or IMAP. Just log in with the full email address and password to that service and you can check each one separately.

When a customer puts in their username and password to log into web mail, is there a danger of having that plain text password intercepted? And same question if they use outlook to check their email with POP or iMap?

Sure there is, if you aren't accessing over SSL. If you don't access webmail via SSL, or if you don't set up your email client to use POP3 or IMAP over SSL, then the passwords will be sent in clear text.

Incidentally, the same thing is true about FTP - Standard FTP is going to have the passwords sent in the clear. Use FTPS or SFTP if you don't want your credentials sent in the clear.

M

[kers7754]

Cool, thanks for the information.

Currently I am unable to send email from web mail. The email says it sent but the receiver never gets it. Does the Linux server need to have an SMTP relay to send email through, or can it send email directly?

[cPanelTristan]

You should be able to send email directly on most server unless you have a server with GoDaddy where port 25 is blocked on their machines for outgoing mail and instead you need to use a smart host router. If outgoing email isn't working, you'll want to check the email error logs for the email recipient:

exigrep email@domain.com /var/log/exim_mainlog

Here replace email@domain.com with the recipient email address for who you are sending out to from the server. There should be something in the log indicating why the email didn't go out.

[kers7754]

I am using a Go Daddy server. Why does Go Daddy block outgoing mail? Do they not want email to be sent from their dedicated servers?

How to I fix this?

Thanks,
--Jeff

[cPanelTristan]

Hello Jeff,

The do not block outgoing mail, they block port 25 outgoing. You'll need to contact them to ask the smart host router needing to be added in your exim configuration to send out emails to their filtering server. They filter all outgoing emails to their smart host routing server to cut down on outgoing spam. You'd need to take it up with them about their policies.

On looking at their knowledge base, I found the following article:

http://help.godaddy.com/article/5378

This would be what you'd need to configure on the machine, although their article is incorrect in where to add the entry as putting it into /etc/exim.conf directly will cause the router to be wiped whenever /scripts/eximup --force runs. Instead, put it in the following:

1. Log into WHM
2. Click on Exim Configuration Editor > Advanced Editor
3. Find this section:

######################################################################
# ROUTERS CONFIGURATION #
# Specifies how remote addresses are handled #
######################################################################
# ORDER DOES MATTER #
# A remote address is passed to each in turn until it is accepted. #
######################################################################

# Remote addresses are those with a domain that does not match any item
# in the "local_domains" setting above.

#
# Demo Safety Router
#

democheck:
driver = redirect
require_files = "+/etc/demouids"
condition = "${if eq {${lookup {$originator_uid} lsearch {/etc/demouids} {$value}}}{}{false}{true}}"
allow_fail
data = :fail: demo accounts are not permitted to relay email

Directly below it in the box there, put the following:

send_to_smart_host:
driver = manualroute
route_list = !+local_domains yourmailserver.secureserver.net
transport = remote_smtp

Please replace yourmailserver with the mail server listed in the Hosting Control Center for GoDaddy.

At that point, click the save button and email should then start working. If it does not, please feel free to open a ticket with our support at WHM > Support Center > Contact cPanel or via the link to submit tickets in my signature for us to check the smart host router was properly added. Please ensure to provide an email account and the password to that email account for testing. Please also provide a link to this forum thread in the ticket.

Thanks.

[kers7754]

Awesome... Thanks for all that information. I did talk with Go Daddy and they require all mail to go through their relay to reduce spam (as you say).

Since I installed the cPanel trial license, the server was not set up automatically to do this correctly. I bought a real cPanel license for 1 year and re-provisioned the server. Everything is working correctly now!

Thanks for all your help!