cPanel Email Account Only / Domain Hosted Elsewhere

[mikei]

Hello Everyone,

I have searched for the answer to this I am still at a lose...

I have a client who has a site hosted by Webs but has a limited amount of email addresses. They have asked me ( I am a cpanel reseller ) if there is a way to accommodate. I have researched and have followed some of the advice posted here without success.....

Here is what I have done. (Almost seemed too easy)
1. In Cpanel, I created a new account using my clients domain name.
2. I created an email account and sent a test email to my yahoo account. I received the email but when I respond, it bounces.

Under Email Authentication, It talks about authoritative nameserver issue. This is where I get lost. Also errors with DKIM and SPF.

My Goal...

To maintain my clients hosting and current email under webs but to allow them to create additional email addresses using my services.

Please forgive me in advance when I ask this but please really dumb it down for me. You guys are really smart out there when it comes to this stuff. I really need it explained as simple as possible.

Is it possible it needs time to propagate??

Thanks in advance

Mike

 

[Jcats]

Mike,

The problem is you have to tell the email where to go via the domains DNS which is done by setting the MX(mail exchanger) record.

If you are not controlling their domains DNS meaning their domain is not using your name servers, then ask them to change the MX record on their domain to point to your server. Or what you can do is..

Create an A Record for 'mail.domain.com' and point that to your servers IP.

Then set the MX record for the domain to point to 'mail.domain.com'.
If they are currently hosted on a cPanel server, they will need to click the 'MX Entry' icon in cPanel and set it to remote this way any emails sent locally will send to your server and not to the local mail server.

 

[mikei]

Thanks for your reply

OK, sounds easy enough... will the current email accounts be impacted in any way once I make this change? In other words, will the active email accounts that were created under the current WEBS server be impacted?

I have attached an image of the WEBS advanced settings page and the entry I made is in red. Is this what you are referring to?? If so, I am still unable to receive email.

I do see the TTL is set for 60 min in a domain health report. Is it just a matter of time now?

 

[Jcats]

Mike,

The emails that are currently hosted on the WEBS server will no longer work, you cannot host email accounts across different servers since the MX records control where the emails will go so you have to choose which server you want to host the emails on and point the MX records to that server.

As far as your screenshot, I wasn't trying to be literal when I said 'mail.domain.com' I meant 'mail.(the actual domain name goes here).com'

Then, you also have to change that first record, the MX record and change 'sitemail' to just 'mail'.

Just recall what I said originally that this will stop the current email accounts from working that are hosted at WEBS

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

You may also find the following document helpful for a general understanding of how MX records work:

FAQ: How MX Records Work

Thank you.

 

[mikei]

I'm sorry for my delay in responding..

Thank you jcats for the clarification. Also thank you Michael for the link...

 

[mikei]

As far as your screenshot, I wasn't trying to be literal when I said 'mail.domain.com' I meant 'mail.(the actual domain name goes here).com'

Then, you also have to change that first record, the MX record and change 'sitemail' to just 'mail'.

OK guys... I am ready to take this plunge. So just to be clear...
1. I have created a mail account in my C-Panel using the domain name that is now being hosted on WEBS.
2. I have created the same user email addresses that are currently on the WEBS server in the new C-Panel account.

So, all I have to do is change those 2 lines as indicated above in the MX records of the WEBS server and wait for it all to propagate??

I have included 2 images. The Before image is the current MX Settings in WEBS. The "After" image is what I propose to change in WEBS. The IP address of [Removed] is my C-Panel IP address

Thanks again in advance

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

Yes, that looks like an accurate configuration. You should be able to test within a few minutes after making the change because you are not changing your name servers.

Thank you.

 

[mikei]

Hello

Yes, that looks like an accurate configuration. You should be able to test within a few minutes after making the change because you are not changing your name servers.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Really appreciate you taking a look.

 

[mikei]

Thank you very much. Really appreciate you taking a look.

Just on the curious side...Trying to error on the side of caution. If this new config does not work, can I go back to the original config and will all email accounts be as they were with no loss of email/data on the WEBS server?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Just on the curious side...Trying to error on the side of caution. If this new config does not work, can I go back to the original config and will all email accounts be as they were with no loss of email/data on the WEBS server?

Changing the MX records will not delete any email data on the cPanel server. It's simply an update to the DNS records, and does not remove or modify email accounts. The same behavior likely applies to your third-party provider, but you may want to verify this with them ahead of time.

Thank you.