Anti - CatchAll Question

[triplenickel]

I am seriously considering moving to JaguarPC, not only for the great value offered, but also for this excellent forum.

Get comfortable in your chair and take a sip of coffee. This could take a moment to read.

Here is my issue / question / quandry / concern.

I have always worried about the amount of server space (and bandwidth?) taken up by spammers sending emails to every possible unassigned user @ my domain.com

My current host runs cPanel X. With that host, I have both a primary domain and "add-on" domains on the same account. I am able to assign individual email addresses for both the primary and "add-on" domains.

In cPanel X's email option there is a applet titled "default address maintenance" for all unrouted mail. I guess that most folks use this to forward potentially misdirected (or former employees) email to a single address for review.

In my case, I don't care about folks who send email to unassigned account names, so my settings for both the primary and "add-on" domains are set for all unrouted mail will be sent to

:fail: no such address here

This bounces the unwanted mail back to the sender.

As I read the documentation for Jaguar, email for all Multi-hosted domains seem to resolve to a single "catch-all" address.

Finally, my question(s).

Is there a way for me to accomplish the same thing as I described above concerning my current host here on Jaguar?

That is to allow specific-email-addresses@multihosteddomains.com to function, while every-other-unassigned-address@multihosteddomains.com gets bounced back to the sender.

Thank you in advance for anyone who has input on this issue.

[Ron]

Never mind.... my answer was uninformed...

It would probably be better for me to actually read the question first.

[Galen]

triplenickel, the cPanel version used on Jag's servers also has that option. You can set all mail going to your catch-all address to :fail:

You can view a demo of Jag's cPanel by clicking this link and you'll notice under "Mail" the category for "Default Address." That's where your catch-all settings are.

[Vin DSL]

It sounds like your question has been answered, but I would like to interject something else here; something that I have read elsewhere.

Supposedly, if you want to transfer your account from one webhost to another, and they both use cPanel, the new host can automagically transfer all your files for you using a feature in WHM. Anybody else ever heard of that before?

You might want to check that out, triplenickel...

[Vin DSL]

Here you go:

http://www.cpanel.net/docs/whm/Transfers.htm

Memory like an elephant...

[Vin DSL]

Hrm... checking into it a little more, I was close... It would seem that your old host needs to do the transfer, since they are the ones that have the root PW. That's assuming you aren't a reseller, in which case you will probably have access to WHM and you can do it yourself.

Oh, well, good enough for the girls I go with...

[Vin DSL]

Um... sorry for hijacking this thread. You DID get your original question[s] answered, right

[jason]

You can set up forwarders for legit addresses on your multihosted domains that point to POP accounts on your primary domain or on other servers. You unfortunately can't have POP accounts on the multihosted domain, but the forwarder method is a pretty good work around. Anything going to any address that doesn't exist on any domain name that's associated with your account will go to the catch all, but setting that to :fail: will cause those messages to bounce instead of takking up server space.

--Jason

[triplenickel]

Originally posted by jason
You can set up forwarders for legit addresses on your multihosted domains that point to POP accounts on your primary domain or on other servers.
--Jason

Originally posted by Vin DSL
Um... sorry for hijacking this thread. You DID get your original question[s] answered, right

All but one of my questions seem to have been answered.

I was under (probably the mis-informed) impression that each "multi-hosted" domains only received a single "catch-all" email box and separate, individual email address accounts such as user1@multihost1.com, user4@multihost2.com, etc. for these "multi-hosted" domains could not be set.

Could someone please clarify, as this is an important part of my decision making process.

Thanks again everybody for all of your help.

[jason]

Multihosted domains do not receive any email accounts. You can, however, set up forwarders to accounts on your main domain and "fake" having real accounts on the multihosted domain.

Email that isn't handled by a forwarder on the multihosted domain will go to the same catchall account as unhandled email on the primary domain. If you want to bounce unhandled mail from any or all of your domains, you can set this in the "Default Address" section of CPanel.

Hope this clarifies things...

--Jason

[jason]

Actually, you can set any email address that you want to receive the catch all mail for any domain, or you can set any or all of your domains to bounce this mail. By default, though, all of your mail will end up in your default email account unless you set things up to do otherwise.

--Jason

[triplenickel]

Originally posted by jason
Multihosted domains do not receive any email accounts. You can, however, set up forwarders to accounts on your main domain and "fake" having real accounts on the multihosted domain.
--Jason

I understand your explanation of the forwarding process. I wonder about the ease of setting up individual email addresses for these multihosted domains.

I have only been exposed to cPanelX. In that interface, individual email addresses are assigned in an applet where the user is typed in one box and the domains (main and multihosted) are in a dropdown window to choose from.

Does JauguarPC's implementation of cPanel make it this easy or will I have to submit a service ticket for each specific multihosted email userID I want to assign?

Thanks for your patience, time, and assistance.

-- Wayne

[jason]

In our CP it is essentially the same. There is a web form where you enter the username portion of the forwarder, select the domain from a drop down list, and then enter the full address that the forwarder points to in a third field.

--Jason

[Vin DSL]

Originally posted by triplenickel
Does JauguarPC's implementation of cPanel make it this easy or will I have to submit a service ticket for each specific multihosted email userID I want to assign?

I don't multihost here, so I'm NOT speaking from experience on this issue. However...

On JagPC, the multihosted accounts are sitting on subdomains, i.e. if your main domain is domain1.com, and you need to multihost domain2.com, you will need to create a subdomain "domain2" in cPanel. Then, you will have to create a ticket and tell Tech Support that your new domain will be multihosted on the subdomain, e.g. domain2.com -> domain2.domain1.com.

Mail for domain2.com will be handled like any other subdomain, as described above by jason. You said you understand that, so let's continue...

To the point, there is NO way for YOU to setup individual POP3 accounts for ANY subdomain in cPanel, including your multihosted subdomain. Once again, this is to my way of understanding. I am NOT the ultimate authority on this.

I know, for a fact, that I cannot setup POP3 accounts for my subdomains. Essentially, all mail to subdomains is treated as unrouted mail. And, since multihosted accounts are actually sitting on subdomains, I don't know how individual accounts could be possible.

Undoubtedly, if it is possible at all to do what you want, I believe it will have to be handled by a support ticket each time. But, I don't think it's possible.

I would image all the mail for that multihosted account is going to end up in a catchall account, of your choice, on your main domain. Once it is sitting there, you MAY be able to trick the system, as jason said, by selectively filtering and forwarding mails, et cetera...

[triplenickel]

Originally posted by Vin DSL
I know, for a fact, that I cannot setup POP3 accounts for my subdomains. Essentially, all mail to subdomains is treated as unrouted mail. And, since multihosted accounts are actually sitting on subdomains, I don't know how individual accounts could be possible.

Undoubtedly, if it is possible at all to do what you want, I believe it will have to be handled by a support ticket each time. But, I don't think it's possible.

I would image all the mail for that multihosted account is going to end up in a catchall account, of your choice, on your main domain.

I do appreciate everyone's help and input.

If you remember, my original concern was to try to figure a way to not waste server space and bandwidth with spam email coming to unassigned email addresses.

If I understand you correctly, anyone who hosts any multihost domains is stuck with an all or nothing situation related to their ability to "bounce" unwanted (shot in the dark email addresses by spammers, etc) mail back to the sender before it hits and counts against the primary account's bandwidth and storage amounts?

Does anyone have any alternatives to offer?

Thanks again everybody.