Creating a Domain for OpenSRS Hosted Email

Before you can provision mailboxes for a customer, the domain must exist in your OpenSRS account. You can add a new email domain in either the Reseller Control Panel or the Mail Administration Console (MAC). This article walks through both methods and explains the key configuration fields.

About email domain settings

Each email domain has its own settings for user limits, spam filtering, default preferences for new mailboxes, and inheritable values. You can accept the inherited company-level defaults, or override them per domain. Most settings can be edited later from the domain's Settings tab.

Before you begin

• Confirm you have the rights to manage the domain you are adding.
• Plan your user and alias limits for the domain.
• Decide whether to use OpenSRS-provided filtering or pass mail through to your own mailserver (this drives the Filter MX Host field).
• Have any branding, spam, and welcome-message settings ready if you want to override company defaults.
• Know which interface you want to use: the Reseller Control Panel or the MAC.

Step 1: Add the domain in the Reseller Control Panel

1. In the Email section of the Control Panel, click the Email Domains tab.
2. Click the plus sign (+) at the top of the page.
3. Enter the domain name in the text field, then click Add.
4. On the Settings tab, click Edit in each section, update the fields, and then click Save.

Domain Overview fields

• Alias Limit — the maximum number of aliases that can be created in the domain.
• User Limit — the maximum number of accounts of any type (mailbox, forward, filter) for the domain.
• Status — ensure Active is selected.
• Filter MX Host — the target mailserver where filtered, spam- and virus-free email will be delivered. Use a hostname or IP address with the inbound port, for example mail.mymailserver.com:25.
• Webmail Domain Alias — when checked, users can use domain aliases in the From field of outgoing messages.
• Aliases — click the plus sign to add domain aliases.
• Stats Mailout — click the plus sign to add addresses that should receive daily account-usage snapshots.

Spam Filtering fields

• Safe Senders — email addresses or domains whose messages are never marked as spam. Up to 1,000 entries.
• Block Senders — email addresses or domains whose messages are blocked. Up to 1,000 entries.

Defaults for New Users

• Quota Size (MB) — default mailbox size in megabytes.
• Max Quota Size (MB) — maximum size that can be assigned to any account.
• Language — default language for new mailboxes.
• Timezone — default time zone for new mailboxes.
• Services — set Send Mail, Receive Mail, Connect via IMAP4, Connect via POP3, Login via Webmail, and Send via Webmail to Enabled, Disabled, or Suspended. Suspended services can only be re-enabled by an admin at the same level or higher.

User Inheritance fields

If a value is not set at the domain level, it inherits from the company level. To change a value, check Override inherited value first.

• Password Encoding — the encryption type used to encode user passwords.
• Regenerate Passwords — when enabled, hashes that don't match the chosen encoding are converted on successful login.
• SMTP Send Limit — the maximum number of messages a user can send in 24 hours.
• Filter Delivery — Passthrough delivers spam to your designated mailserver; Quarantine holds it back.
• Spam Detection Level — how aggressive spam filtering should be. Levels above Normal are more aggressive.
• Spam Folder — folder where spam is delivered. Default: Spam.
• Spam Header — header tag added to spam messages. Must begin with a capital letter, for example X-Spam: Spam detected.
• Spam Tag — tag appended to the subject of spam messages.
• Brand — brand applied to the new domain.

Welcome Message fields

• Message Headers — the sender address and subject for the welcome bulletin.
• Message Body — the body of the message. Supports HTML, MIME-encoded images, and plain text.

Step 2: Add the domain in the MAC

1. Log in to the Mail Administration Console (MAC).
2. In the navigation pane, click Add Domain. The Create Domain page appears.
3. Enter the domain in the Domain field and press Enter to enable the remaining fields.
4. Complete the applicable fields and click Create.

Key MAC fields

• Domain — the new domain name (up to 160 characters). Mandatory.
• Stats Mailout — comma-separated addresses for daily usage snapshots.
• FilterMX — target mailserver hostname or IP with port (for example, mail.mymailserver.com:25).
• User Limit and Alias Limit — maximum accounts and aliases.
• Aliases — enter each alias on a separate line. You must also set a Domain Alias DNS record.
• Webmail Domain Alias — check to allow domain aliases in outgoing From fields.
• Defaults For New Users — language, time zone, default and maximum quota, and service settings (Receive, IMAP4, POP3, Send, Webmail, Webmail Send).
• Inheritable For Users — brand, password encoding, spam folder/level/tag/header, SMTP limit, filter delivery.
• Spam Settings — allow and block lists, up to 1,000 entries each, separated by carriage returns.

Next steps

• Create mailbox accounts — once the domain is live, add users. See Creating Mailbox Accounts.
• Configure DNS — point the domain's MX and CNAME records to OpenSRS. See Configure DNS for OpenSRS Hosted Email.
• Use bulk tools — provision many users at once with the bulk add tool. See Bulk Tools.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.