Basic Troubleshooting Guide for Hosted Email

When customers report problems with Hosted Email, you can diagnose most issues from the Reseller Control Panel (RCP) or the Mail Administration Console (MAC). This guide walks through common symptoms — webmail access failures, missing inbound mail, and sending errors — and the checks that resolve them. Before you start, confirm there is no active incident on the OpenSRS Statuspage.

How to use this guide

Each section below describes a symptom, then lists diagnostic steps for both the RCP and the MAC. Work through the steps in order — they progress from the most common causes to the less common ones. Most issues resolve at one of the first three checks.

The user cannot access webmail

Use this section when a customer reports they cannot sign in to webmail, or webmail loads but immediately signs them out.

Diagnose in the RCP

1. Confirm that the mailbox still exists, then click the mailbox to open it.
2. Under the mailbox overview, confirm the mailbox is not undergoing maintenance.
3. In the Webmail section, confirm Webmail access is enabled.
4. Open the user's Actions menu and run the password check tool to verify the password.
5. Generate an email token and use it to access the mailbox directly.

Diagnose in the MAC

1. Confirm that the mailbox still exists.
2. In the user's Basic settings section, confirm the mailbox is not in maintenance.
3. In the Sending & receiving section, confirm Webmail access is enabled.
4. In the Tools & status section, run the password check tool to verify the password.
5. Generate an email token and use it to access the mailbox.

The user is not receiving email

Use this section when messages sent to the user's address never arrive, or senders receive bounce notifications.

Diagnose in the RCP

1. Confirm the domain is active and has not expired or been placed under suspension.
2. Confirm the required MX record is publicly published. Without it, mail cannot route to the domain.
3. Check whether the sender or return-path address is on the blocklist.
4. In the user's Sending & receiving section, confirm Receive mail is enabled.

Diagnose in the MAC

1. Confirm the domain is active and has not expired or been placed under suspension.
2. Confirm the required MX record is publicly published.
3. Check whether the sender or return-path address is on the blocklist.
4. In the user's Sending & receiving section, confirm Receive mail is enabled.

The user cannot send email

Use this section when a customer reports outgoing messages fail, bounce, or never reach the recipient.

Diagnose in the RCP

1. Check the status of the mailbox and domain. Sending is blocked when the account is suspended for Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) violations.
2. In the mailbox overview, confirm the user has not hit their sending limit.
3. If the user sends through a mail client, verify the client configuration settings.
4. Generate an email token and reproduce the issue on a separate device.
5. Review bounce messages for SMTP error codes that point to the cause.

Diagnose in the MAC

1. Check the status of the mailbox and domain. Sending is blocked when the account is suspended for AUP violations.
2. In the user's Tools & settings section, confirm the user has not hit their sending limit.
3. Verify the client configuration settings.
4. Generate an email token and reproduce the issue on a separate device.
5. Review bounce messages for SMTP error codes.

Common SMTP error messages

Use this table to interpret bounce messages and SMTP responses returned during sending.

Next steps

• Escalate persistent issues — if the checks above do not resolve the problem, gather the user's mailbox, domain, timestamps, and any bounce messages before contacting OpenSRS Support.
• Reproduce with an email token — using a token isolates whether the problem is with the mailbox itself or the user's device or client.
• Confirm DNS — many sending and receiving issues trace back to missing or misconfigured MX, SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.