Category:Email-VPS

SmarterMail VPS Information

How many domains can be used with the VPS-1 plan?

The VPS-1 plan utilized the free version of SmarterMail which will support 1 domain and up to 10 users. All 10 users must be on the same domain.

Moving from Shared to VPS hosted SmarterMail

1. Pre-setting the DNS records.
   • At your DNS provider edit the "mail" record setting the TTL to 600. If you do not have a "mail" record, create one as a CNAME, and point at the server listed under the domains MX record.
   • Ensure the MX record points to mail.your-domain.com.
2. Ensure the domain has already been added to SmarterMail, this should be done through the WCP automatically and only have a single user "mailadmin" setup by default.
3. Ensure you have the URL and login details for SmarterMail to login and manage ALL domains. The user will be "admin" if you don't have this login information contact support.
   • Example SmarterMail URL: mail.srv1-yourdomain-com.vps.ezhostingserver.com
4. Request a ZIP copy of the SmarterMail domain. Our support should be able to copy this to your server, this process can take 20-30 min depending on the support activity at the time. We highly recommend doing this in the evening.
5. Unzip the archive containing the domain, you should find either a folder named your-domain.com or sub folders such as Aliases, Users, Stats and some files. If you find domain.com, with the folders underneath copy the domain.com folder to C:\SmarterMail\Domains and confirm the overwrite. If the ZIP contained the Aliases, Users and Stats folders with files copy all the contents and browse into the domain.com directory and paste, confirming overwrite.
6. Login to the SmarterMail admin portal, search the domain and click "Edit" which should open a new window, click the "Reload" button. Select the domain again in the admin portal and click "Manage" then under "Tools" select "Users" and verify all users exists. If they do not try restarting the SmarterMail Service on your VPS and repeat this process.
   • NOTE: The SmarterMail Webserver service should remain STOPPED, it is not needed when using IIS.
7. Finalize the DNS by changing "mail" record in DNS to an "A" record and the VPS server IP for the record data, and TTL 14400.
   • Example: mail.yourdomain.com >> Type: A >> Data: 123.123.123.123 >> TTL 14400

How can I migrate my smartermail accounts from another hosting provider?

Things to do on the new SmarterMail VPS before the move: - On the NEW SmarterMail server

 - Copy domainList.xml from the old server 
 - Copy lastlogin.xml from the old server
 - Copy files from old to new server to have an initial base set of files

Steps to start/complete the migration: - On the NEW Mail server (right after midnight suggested)

 - copy all changed files to new server

- On OLD Mail server

 - stop spool, pop, imap (services via webmail)
 - stop IIS site
 - leave SmarterMail running (for SMTP - incoming messages will still be delivered to the spool)

- On NEW mail server

 - copy changed files again
 - restart New Mail Server
 - disable domain on OLD mail server
 - Add mail forwarding on OLD SmarterMail server to the NEW SmarterMail server  
 - Change DNS for any mail records (A and CNAME) and for the MX record
 - copy spool from OLD mail server over to NEW mail server
 - send test email using an outside email address
 - send test from webmail on New Mail Server to an outside address

What if my current host uses an older version of SmarterMail?

No problem. Let us know what version (we can handle version 3.x and after) you currently have and we can start at the same version, and then perform the upgrades to the latest version.

SmarterMail VPS - Problems and Solutions

After Migration some Email Blank/Empty

• Stop Smartermail Service
• Delete the mailbox.cfg from the affected folder or folders.
• Start Smartermail Service

Preparation & Setup

After the initial order is placed an email with the SmarterMail login details will be sent to the email address on file, usually in less than 24hrs.

Options for managing the SmarterMail Server

The SmarterMail server will be ready to use. There are a few options on how domains can be setup. Read through these options so you will know how to proceed. RDP service is DISABLED for SmarterMail VPS servers.

1. SmarterMail managed using the web portal. This process is easy:
   1. Browse to the IP address of the server, domains can be added directly through the SmarterMail Admin portal.
   2. Add individual user accounts either directly through the Admin Portal or by logging into the "management" using the email account setup during the process of adding the domain.
2. SmarterMail can be integrated into our Control Panel (WCP), with which domains can be easily added, users managed and DNS management will be provided (clicking Domain Information, will provide the DNS servers). For this option submit a request to our support team.
3. SmarterMail can be used along side Shared or VPS web hosting, simply request our support to configure your specific domain or reseller account to use your SmarterMail VPS.

See the SmarterMail documents for more details on managing your VPS.

Setup appropriate MX and A records

When your domain is added to the SmarterMail server and DNS for your domain is not provided by Hostek, the following steps will configure the domain's DNS to allow browsing directly to the webmail portal using mail.yourdomain.com and allow mail to be delivered to the server for the domain.

1. Create an "A" record named "mail" (or the prefix you prefer) pointing to the IP address of your SmarterMail server.
2. Create an "MX" record pointing to "mail.yourdomain.com" (if you used a different prefix than use "yourprefix.yourdomain.com").
3. Login to your SmarterMail VPS and verify the hostname is the same as the domain name you selected. Found under Settings >> General Settings >> Hostname.
4. If, when you have pointed the hostname to the server IP address and waited for the DNS propagation to complete (usually 4hrs), the SmarterMail admin page does not load, please contact support.

Adding Domains

1. Login to with the SmarterMail Admin user.
2. Select the option to to "Add Domain"
   • Adding a domain may be different depending on the version of SmarterMail, so check the documentation for your specific version.
3. When completing the new domain configuration you will be required to provide an "Domain Administrator" we recommend providing a generic user for management or assigning this level of permission to the person responsible for managing the domain.

Adding Users

There are two ways to add users depending on the login.

SmarterMail Primary Admin

1. Select the domain, and click "Manage"
   • Alternate: Login with the DOMAIN Admin (configured when setting up the domain for the first time)
2. Navigate to Settings >> Domain Settings >> Users
   • Add the user with app appropriate settings.

Maintenance

Blacklist Removal

See: https://wiki.hostek.com/Email#Email_Maintenance