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FAQ Index


Mail FAQ

What is a POP Server?

A POP Server is the machine that takes care of delivering the mail to you. Using your favorite client, you can connect to this server, and retrieve your mail. Netscape Mail, all flavors of Outlook, etc., all have clients for Internet Mail. Use 'yourdomain.com' as your POP server, and your login and password to retrieve the mail you receive here. By default, all the mail sent to your domain (anything@yourdomain.com) will be delivered to your mailbox.


How do I setup a separate mailbox?

If you want to receive certain kinds of e-mail to a separate mailbox, say support@yourdomain.com, you have to connect through telnet to the server. (See Telnet FAQ). Once connected you use the 'makeinbox' command to create an individual box. For example:

makeinbox webmaster

This will create an individual Inbox for 'webmaster'. To retrieve mail directed to webmaster@yourdomain.com, you need to set your POP3 login to 'yourlogin-webmaster' and use the same password as your main account.

How do I create an e-mail forwarder?

To create an e-mail forwarder you also need to connect to the server via 'telnet' and get on the shell account. Once connected you must issue a command like the following example to have the 'mail forwarder' created:

echo 'target_mail@some_other_server.com' > .qmail-MAILBOX

This will cause all the mail arriving at MAILBOX@YourDomain.Com to be forwarded to 'target_mail@some_other_server.com'. Please understand you need to change that e-mail to whatever e-mail you want your mail forwarded to, and change MAILBOX to whatever you want the mailbox name to be.


Why is no mail bouncing from my domain?

That happens when you have a '.qmail-default' file. This file will direct all e-mail sent to your domain into your default Mailbox. If you erase this file, only mail delivered to created mailboxes will be received, and the rest will bounce off.

Can my mailboxes have different passwords?

Yes!

Here is a quick & dirty 1234 way to configure it via telnet:
1. Log into the server via telnet.
2. Type 'htpasswd -c .qmail-MAILBOX.pw MAILBOX' where MAILBOX is the actual box name. (Don't type the quotes)
3. It will ask you for the mailbox password, you can type it in there.
4. Type 'chmod 600 .qmail-MAILBOX.pw'

This assumes that you already have the mailbox created for that account though.

How do I create a mailbox with a '.' in it?

When creating an e-mail address with a '.' in it, like john.doe@speedhost.com, you need to use the ':' in place for the '.'. Qmail will take care of the conversion. Please use the ':' to retrieve the mail as well.

How do I create a forwarder for multiple addresses?

Following the Qmail system, you can create a '.qmail' file with the list of e-mail addresses you wish to forward to, each preceded by a '&' sign. For example for file '.qmail-default' with this inside:

&speedhost@speedhost.com
&web-guru@support.speedhost.com

This will cause all mail sent to your domain (except those with their own .qmail files) be sent to both of the listed addresses.

Remember that the name of the file is '.qmail-MAILBOX' where MAILBOX comes from the address MAILBOX@yourdomain.com. '.qmail-default' only works for unspecified mail addresses at your domain.

Why can't I use mydomain.com as my Outgoing mail server?

Even though it is your domain, and that's where you will receive your mail, this server will not be the one relaying your outgoing mail. Your ISP (dial-up connection) always provides you with an Outgoing mail server that takes care of that. You can always set your mail in your mail client to anybody@yourdomain.com and the people you write to will only see that address. The SMTP or Outgoing server does not have anything to do with your address, it is simply a relaying service.

Each SMTP server provides access to its local users, so if you login via telnet to yourdomain.com you will be able to send mail through it. When you're at your own home (just like I do), you need to use your ISP provided SMTP server, because that's your "local" server.

The reason this is done is very simple. Since the spamming fashion started, SMTP were modified to allow connections only from local users. Otherwise someone from the outside, could log in to it, and send a million mailnotes using a server without permission or paying for the services. When you signed up with your ISP, one of the services they provide is SMTP, and they will relay your mail for you even if you'll receive from another server.