Setting Up Hosted Email Services

This article walks you through setting up OpenSRS Hosted Email for a domain, from creating a mailbox to pointing DNS at the OpenSRS mail servers. It covers both the Reseller Control Panel (RCP) and the Mail Administration Console (MAC), and includes the settings your customers need to connect a desktop or mobile email client.

Use this guide when you are provisioning email for a new domain or onboarding a new mailbox user.

About OpenSRS Hosted Email setup

OpenSRS Hosted Email lets resellers provision and manage mailboxes for any domain in their account. You can administer mail accounts in two places:

• Reseller Control Panel (RCP) — Manage domains, email, trust services, publishing, and other reseller-level settings. Most day-to-day mailbox work happens here.
• Mail Administration Console (MAC) — A dedicated email administration interface. Most MAC functionality is also available in the RCP, but the MAC offers a focused view for email-only tasks.

This article covers both interfaces so you can choose whichever fits your workflow.

Before you begin

• Confirm you have a reseller account with email service enabled and credit available on the account.
• Know which email cluster your reseller account is on (Cluster A or Cluster B). Cluster determines your MAC URL, webmail URL, and MX/IMAP/SMTP hostnames.
• Have the domain you want to add ready. If DNS is not managed by OpenSRS, have access to the domain's DNS provider so you can update MX records.
• Decide on mailbox names and passwords before you start.

Step 1: Create a mailbox account in the RCP

1. Sign in to the Reseller Control Panel.
2. Click Email.
3. Under Email domains, click the blue + icon.
4. Enter the domain you want to add. This creates the email domain in the OpenSRS system.
5. Click the Email users tab, then click the blue + icon to add a new user.
6. Enter the local part of the email address (the portion before the @) and the password for the mailbox, then clickAdd.

The mailbox is now created and visible in the email users list.

Step 2: Create a mailbox account in the MAC

1. Based on your cluster settings, open the MAC in your browser at https://admin.<cluster>.hostedemail.com.
2. Click Add domain.
3. In the create domain pop-up, enter the new domain name and complete the required setup, then click Create.
4. Once the domain is created, click Add users to create mailboxes under that domain.
5. In the create user window, choose a Type (Mailbox, Forward, or Filter), enter the mailbox name under User, and click Create. To add more mailboxes in the same session, click Create & Repeat.

Step 3: Configure the MX record

The MX record points your domain at the OpenSRS mail servers. If the domain's DNS is managed through OpenSRS, follow the steps below. If DNS is hosted elsewhere, update the MX record with that provider using OpenSRS's published MX values.

1. In the RCP, click the Domains tab in the upper left.
2. Enter the domain name in the search box and click Search.
3. In the search results, click the domain name.
4. Scroll down to the DNS section and click Edit.
5. Click Add record and choose MX.
6. Enter the appropriate MX hostname for your cluster, then click Save DNS settings.

Step 4: Sign in to webmail

Once the mailbox exists and the MX record is in place, the customer can sign in to webmail using the full email address as the username and the password you set. The webmail URL depends on the cluster:

• Cluster A: https://mail.hostedemail.com or https://mail.emailhome.com
• Cluster B: https://mail.b.hostedemail.com or https://mail.mailconfig.net

Step 5: Configure an email client

If the customer prefers to use an email client such as Outlook, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird, provide IMAP and SMTP settings for their cluster.

Server settings — Cluster A

Server settings — Cluster B

Port numbers (Cluster A and Cluster B)

Next steps

• Brand the webmail experience — Customize the webmail interface with your reseller logo and colors.
• Set mailbox limits — Configure storage and sending limits at the domain or mailbox level.
• Set up DKIM — Improve deliverability by enabling DKIM signing for the domain.
• Migrate existing mail — Move mail from a previous provider using the OpenSRS Migrate tool.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.