1. Ability Mail Server
  2. Support
  3. Domains

Domains

Ability Mail Server uses a logical hierarchy to organize its domains and user accounts, composed in the structure of 'domain\group\user'. With this structure, the mail server can support multiple domains on a single computer. There are three types of domain: standard, alias and backup. A standard domain is the only type of domain which has users and mailing lists. An alias domain allows redirection of all mails to that domain to either another local domain or local email account. A backup domain is usually only used when that mail server is the backup of another mail server.

Domains #

  • Domains - This displays a list of all the currently created domains.
  • Add Using Wizard - To help manage the creation of any of the 3 types of domain, you can use the wizard to help guide you through the process. When creating a backup domain we recommend using the wizard as it will also allow you to quickly create a static route for the domain.

Add / Edit Domain #

  • Enable Domain - If enabled, the domain will behave as normal. If disabled, the domain will behave as though it does not exist. This is useful for temporarily disabling the domain without having to delete it. Any users or mailing lists on a disabled domain will also be disabled.
  • Domain Name - This is the part of the email address which appears after the '@' symbol.
  • Standard Domain - If set, the domain will allow users and mailing lists to be added.
  • Domain Directory - This is the directory path where new user account directories will be created. This does not affect existing users. It is perfectly legal to have this path set to a network location. For more information on using network drives, please view the Frequently Asked Questions page. It is also possible to specify multiple paths (for load sharing). This is done by separating each entry with a semi-colon (';'), new accounts are then placed at random into one of the directory paths.
  • Max Users - This option allows you to set a maximum limit on the number of users for this domain. This is useful for restricting automatic sign-ups in WebMail.
  • Max Mailing Lists - This option allows you to set a maximum limit on the number of mailing lists for this domain.
  • Max Aliases Per User - This option allows you to set a maximum limit on the number of aliases per user.
  • Catch-All User - If a mail is sent that is addressed to a non-existent user on this domain (e.g. unknownuser@yourdomain.com), this option allows you to specify a catch-all account. The catch-all account will collect mails for the non-existent users as though they were originally addresses to that account. Please note that only users on this domain are permitted to be the catch-all.
  • Domain Admin(s) - This option allows you to select one or more users to be the domain administrator. Domain administrator users will have additional access rights through WebMail which enable them to add, edit and delete email accounts for the domain. They can also edit the aliases and redirection options for the user accounts. Please note, a domain administrator cannot disable, rename or delete themselves or another domain administrator.
  • Access to Other Domain(s) - This option allows you to give the domain administrators admin access to other domains. This can be useful when a single administrator requires access to a collection of related domains.
  • Place New Users in the Same Group as Domain Admin - If set, new users added by the domain administrator will be allocated into the same group as the domain admin.
  • Place New Users in Group - If set, new users added by the domain administrator will be allocated to this group.
  • Do Not Try to Relay Mails Addressed to Non-Existent Users - Any mail received by WebMail or by the SMTP in relay mode, which is addressed to a non-existent user on the domain, will normally be placed into the outgoing mail queue. However, although this can be useful in the majority of configurations, in certain circumstances it can result in mail loops. This option allows any potential mail loop to be broken and ensures a more correct failure mail is sent back to the sender.
  • Alias Domain - If set, any email addressed to this domain will be rerouted to either another local domain or local account. This allows you to combine multiple domains into a single domain.
  • Backup Domain - If set, any email sent to this domain will always be accepted by the SMTP and passed onto the Outgoing Mail service. This allows a mail server to act as a backup for another mail server (i.e. receive and hold mails until the main mail server comes back online). Usually you will create a static route in the Outgoing Mail service for a backup domain. Failure to do so may result in hop count failures.

Add / Edit Domain - Alias / Backup Domain #

  • Convert Address To - All the recipients in the mail for this domain will be converted into a single local email address. This ensures that all the mails to this domain are delivered to a single account.
  • Convert Domain To - All the recipients in the mail for this domain will be converted to the domain given by this option (e.g. auser@aliasdomainname.com will convert to auser@convertdomainto.com).
  • Accept Mail For Any User - If selected, mails addressed to any user will be accepted on the SMTP and forwarded to the outgoing mail service.
  • Only Accept Mail For Users in File - If selected, only mails addressed to users listed in the selected file will be accepted on the SMTP and forwarded to the outgoing mail service. The selected file must list each individual user per line and each line must use a CRLF line break pair.

See Also: Using Domains, Users, Mailing Lists.