Newest KB Articles in Email

Email Client Settings

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 21:10:05 GMT

Location and overview of mail client settings can be found below. The server settings being the same regardless of what mail client or device is being set up. Note that port settings may need to be adjusted depending on local network or ISP restrictions.

Mail server

The mail server for a site can be found at DiscountASP Control Panel > Account Info / Edit > in the "Email Information" pane as in the image below.

Replacing "xx" with the mail server for the site, the connection settings are

incoming mail server: smxx.internetmailserver.net
outgoing mail server: smxx.internetmailserver.net
username: full email address (example: postmaster@domain.com)
password: email account password

And SMTP authentication will need to be enabled in the client to send mail.

General Port Information

The port used depends on encryption settings and possible local network restrictions. Note that depending on the mail client there may be separate options for "STARTTLS" and "SSL / TLS". Information can be found on the difference between "STARTTLS" and "TLS", but generally the "STARTTLS" setting should be tested first before "SSL / TLS". Both "STARTTLS" and "TLS" using the same TLS ports below. TLS also being the newer encryption protocol, so it is best to try it before SSL. Though SSL can be used in cases of older clients / devices that do not support TLS 1.2 or have port restrictions.

Available Ports

POP TLS: 110
POP SSL: 995
POP (unencrypted): 110

IMAP TLS: 143
IMAP SSL: 993
IMAP (unencrypted): 143

SMTP TLS: 25 or 587
SMTP SSL: 465
SMTP (unencrypted): 25 or 587

How to Set Up POP3 Account on Outlook to Delete Mail From the Server

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 21:37:45 GMT

Below are the steps to have Outlook automatically delete mail from our server.

1) In Outlook click File > Account Settings

3) Either double-click the email account or click the "Change.." button.

4) Click More Settings

5) Under the Advanced tab you can choose whether or not you would like to leave a copy of the message on the server. If you want to leave a copy you can choose to delete it after a predetermined number of days.

Email Authentication through SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 23:48:01 GMT

Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) are email authentication methods to prevent email spoofing. One or more methods are also increasingly required by major mail hosts to prevent spoofing. And lacking the proper authentication requirements can result in mail rejections.

Sender Policy Framework

A SPF is defined by adding a TXT record to the domain's DNS. The SPF for sending mail through Discountasp is:

v=spf1 include:internetmailserver.net -all

If hosting DNS through Discountasp, the SPF record would be added through the DNS Manager: Discountasp Control Panel > DNS Manager > I Understand and Agree > Primary Domain > TXT Record Manager > New

Domain Name: Field is left blank

TXT Data: v=spf1 include:internetmailserver.net -all

TTL: 3600

Like with other DNS record updates, it will take some time for propagation to complete. To monitor DNS propagation https://www.whatsmydns.net/ may be used.

To test the SPF record, see the Testing SPF, DKIM and DMARC section below.

DKIM

DKIM is a combination of a SmarterMail setting and TXT record.

First log into the SmarterMail web interface as the domain administrator (default is postmaster). If the web interface address or password isn't known, log in automatically at: Discountasp Control Panel > SmarterMail Manager > SmarterMail Management Login as Primary Admin

Once logged into the webmail interface, click the More1 drop-down and then Domain Settings2.

Then select General1 and then the Enable2 button.

After clicking Enable, a pop-up with a TXT record will be displayed. Add the TXT record to the domain's DNS and click Save. SmarterMail will then automatically perform a DNS check to enable DKIM.

Domain Name: The "Text Record Name"

TXT Data: The "Text Record Value"

TTL: 3600

DMARC

Partly because it involves reporting, please note there are too many permutations to completely cover DMARC in this article. Though there are many resources available online with detailed information in cases where a specific setup is preferred or required. When both SPF and DKIM have already been added to a domain, a very basic DMARC record would be

Domain Name: _dmarc

TXT Data: v=DMARC1; p=reject;

TTL: 3600

It is important to be aware that the "p" in the record is the policy and is set to reject messages that don't pass SPF and DKIM requirements. Making it imperative that the record be added after SPF and DKIM and not be used on a pointer domain where DKIM may not be set.

For reporting, three additional values can be added to the record

rua: DMARC Aggregate Feedback Reports

ruf: DMARC Failure Reports (where supported)

fo: Failure Reporting Options (1 = generate DMARC failure report for SPF or DKIM failures)

Example data

v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:dmarc@domain.com; ruf=mailto:dmarc@domain.com; fo=1

Because the report addresses are public and discoverable, it would be advisable to create a new separate email address to receive the reports.

Testing SPF, DKIM and DMARC

A simple test of SPF, DKIM and DMARC can be performed by sending an email to a Gmail recipient and checking the email header. After the email is received, view it, click the three vertical dots for more options then Show Original.

If set up properly, there should now be three PASS notifications on the Original Message page.

SpamExperts FAQ

Tue, 08 Mar 2016 22:44:34 GMT

How accurate is SpamExperts in detecting spam?

They say they can prevent 99% of the spam addressed to your domain from reaching your inbox. Our testing proved it to be very effective without any changes to the default settings. Of course no spam detection is 100% accurate, but when spam does sneak through you can train SpamExperts by flagging messages as spam.

Will my email be delayed?
The delay is negligible. In our testing most messages were received within seconds of sending. SpamExperts has multiple servers spread across the world, so geography doesn't really enter in to the picture. The service is fast.

Is there a control panel I can access?
Yes. The domain administrator can set up control panel access for users, or users can set it up themselves. Instructions for control panel access are included in the email individual users receive from SpamExperts when the first spam message is trapped.

Will I need to adjust the settings?
No you don't. Our testing was all done with the default SpamExperts settings and we found it to be tremendously effective. If you want to tinker and fine tune the thresholds, you have that ability. But if you never want to see a spam setting, you never have to.

How long are spam messages quarantined?
For 28 days. You can retrieve messages at any time during that period through the SpamExperts control panel.

How do I remove a message from quarantine?
See this SpamExperts knowledge base article for details on using the control panel to view quarantined messages.

What are the recipient blacklist and whitelist?

Whitelisting a recipient means that no email sent to that email address will be filtered by SpamExperts. Alternately, email sent to addresses listed on the recipient blacklist will be automatically rejected. Note that domain administrators have the ability to blacklist or whitelist recipients on the entire domain. Individual users can control recipient whitelisting for their email address only.

Which addresses are not filtered?
abuse@ and postmaster@ are not subject to any filtering by default. We suggest keeping that setting as-is, but if you need to override it, you can.

Is there a log of all the email messages?
Yes, there is an extensive log that shows all of the actions that SpamExperts takes. Note that there may be a short delay in the log updating, so if you're looking for the logs for a message that was sent minutes ago, you may have to give the log a little time to update before the information is available.

Do I have to pay for each individual email address that I want to protect?
No, when you activate SpamExperts for your domain every email address on your domain can use the service. That makes it a tremendous value if you have a lot of email addresses or users on your domain.

Inbox Archiving

What is archived?

All inbound email that goes through the SpamExperts filter is archived. Email that is routed internally within the DiscountASP.NET mail servers (e.g., email from one address on the domain to another address on the domain) will bypass SpamExperts and not be archived.

How long will email be archived?

There is no time limitation for archiving, however there is a limit of 10 GB of storage space for your archived messages.

How are the archived emails exported?

Archives are exported in EML format. You can export by date range, however you will not be able to export based on recipient address.

For further information, check out the SpamExperts knowledge base.

Getting Started with SpamExperts

Tue, 08 Mar 2016 22:39:38 GMT

The SpamExperts service works by receiving all the email addressed to your domain, filtering it, then sending it on to the mail servers here at DiscountASP.NET. The service is distributed, with servers all over the world, so it's fast and reliable.

To get started with SpamExperts log in to Control Panel and click the "Spam Experts" tab, then click the "Order New Spam Experts" button.

Order process

Choose the domain name that will use the SpamExperts service. The Domain Name drop down menu will list the domain names for your account, or you can choose to enter a domain name hosted elsewhere.
The "Destination mail servers" page will query your existing DNS and display the destination mail server (where your email is sent after SpamExperts filtering). You can use the detected destination server or enter a different destination mail server.
Click the "Submit My Order" button to complete the order.

After ordering

Confirm the route. During the order process we took the MX record settings from your existing DNS, so this is probably already done for you.
Update your DNS records. If your domain and email are hosted with us you can do this in Control Panel. If your DNS is hosted outside of DiscountASP.NET, update your MX records to:

mx.spamexperts.com (priority 10)
fallbackmx.spamexperts.eu (priority 20)
lastmx.spamexperts.net (priority 30)

Note that DNS can take a bit of time to propagate, so allow an hour or twofor the SpamExperts filtering to begin.

What will happen when your email starts being filtered

The first time the system traps spam you will receive an email notification from antispamcloud.com/SpamLogin.com that explains how to log in to the SpamExperts control panel.

You will then receive a daily report of all the spam trapped by the system. If no spam is detected, no daily report is sent. If you wish, you can disable the daily reports in the SpamExperts control panel. If you need to check on a message before you receive a daily report, you can do so in the SpamExperts control panel.

Accessing the SpamExperts dashboard

You can access your SpamExperts dashboard as the administrative user through the DiscountASP.NET Control Panel. Log in to Control Panel and click the "Spam Experts" tab. Click "Manage," then the "Spam Exports Portal" button.

You can view the trapped spam in the SpamExperts dashboard on the "Spam Quarantine" page.

Individual user reports are disabled by default. Log into the SpamExperts dashboard as the administrative user to enable "Periodic User Reports."

SpamExperts dashboard documentation can be found here:

SpamExpert Domain Level documentation

SpamExpert User Level documentation

How to Setup DKIM

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 23:28:07 GMT

Setting up DKIM on SmarterMail

Log into SmarterMail with your domain administrator email account. That will be your postmaster email account (unless you changed it).

Click "Domain Settings" -> "General"
Click the "Settings" button under Email Signing to configure DKIM
Click on "Save" to save any changes
Click the "Enable" button under Email Signing

This will generate the TXT Record Name and the TXT Record Value. You'll need these values to update your DNS in the next step.

Updating DNS

Log in to Control Panel and go to the DNS Manager.
Create a new TXT record.
Enter the TXT Record Name and the TXT Record Value you generated in SmarterMail.
Save the DNS settings.
Allow an hour for the DNS cache to clear.

Verifying the DKIM key has been installed on your domain

Log in to SmarterMail as administrator.
Click "Domain Settings"
Click the "Enable" button under Email Signing

A green bar saying "DNS test was successful" should appear.

Note: Do not regenerate the Keys unless you wish to update the DKIM txt record. It's recommended that you update once a year.

How to View Email Headers

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:46:33 GMT

In order to help troubleshoot email delivery issues, the technical support staff may ask to see the full headers of a message. To get the message headers, simply follow the instructions for your email program below.

SmarterMail

Double-click the email message.
In the bottom right corner of the message window, click the "Header" tab.
Select the text in the "Message" box. Right-click and select "Copy".
Click "Close" in the menu bar at the top of the message.
Paste the headers into your message to Support.

Outlook 2010 and later

Double-click the email message and select the File tab.
Click the Properties box on the bottom right.
Right-click in the "Internet Headers" box and pull down to Select All.
Right-click again and select Copy.
Click the Close button to return to your message.
Paste the headers into your message to Support.

Outlook 2007

Right-click the email message (in the messages list) and select "Message Options..."
Right-click in the "Internet Headers" box and pull down to Select All.
Right-click again and select Copy.
Click the Close button to return to your message.
Paste the headers into your message to Support.

Outlook 2003

Open the message by double-clicking on it.
In the message window, choose Options under the View menu, where you will see the headers.
Copy the headers and paste them into your message to Support.

Thunderbird

Click on the email message to view it.
Click on the View pull-down menu and select "Message Source".
A new window will appear displaying the full unformatted message.
Click and drag the cursor in the headers to select the text.
Copy the selected text and paste it into your message to Support.

Mac Mail

Open the email message.
In Tiger Mac Mail, go to the View menu and select "Show All Headers". In Leopard Mac Mail, select "Raw Source" under Message.
Cut and paste the full headers into your message to Support.

Why you cannot create an email account that forwards to an AOL address

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:13:25 GMT

We do not support email forwarding to @aol.com email addresses. AOL servers assume that spam that is forwarded to them originated from the forwarder.

What that means is:

You set up the forwarding address you@YourHostedDomainName.com with us
you@YourHostedDomainName.com forwards to you@aol.com
Someone sends spam to you@YourHostedDomainName.com
That spam is forwarded to AOL
AOL receives the forwarded spam and their server assumes the spam came from our Mail Server.
AOL blocks our servers

That's a simplified explanation, but that's essentially what happens. AOL considers the forwarder to be the spammer and that gets our servers blocked.

We're sorry if the no forwarding to @aol.com email addresses policy causes you any inconvenience, but so far we have been unable to arrive at a workable solution with AOL.This sort of policy is becoming common practice for an increasing number of hosts.

Email Status (Disable/Enable)

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:58:14 GMT

Email service can be disabled or enabled using this tool. If you do not use DiscountASP.NET for your email service, we recommend that you disable email service in order to avoid any potential problems.

Disabling your email immediately removes all of your existing email accounts from the server. We cannot recover any messages or configuration after email is disabled, so it is important that you are sure that you no longer need email service if you choose to disable.

Enabling email service will create the default Domain Administrator account, postmaster@YourHostedDomainName.com, and also reset all DNS setting to the new account defaults. If you have any custom MX settings in your DNS, they will have to be recreated after enabling email.

Maximum Number of Recipients Per Email Message

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:56:03 GMT

The maximum number of recipients per message varies depending on the method used to send the mail.

The maximum number of recipients per message for mail sent via webmail or through the outgoing SMTP servers is 40. So this limit will apply not only to webmail, but also to your local desktop email program if you use smtp.YourHostedDomainName.com as the outgoing mail server.
If you are sending mail from your web application using localhost, the maximum number of recipients per message is 100.

Messages with more than the maximum number of recipients will not be sent. The recipient limit is in place to help prevent spam originating from our servers.

To work around the 40 recipient limit when sending mail from your local desktop email program, we suggest using your ISPs outgoing mail server. Some of the more common ISP SMTP servers are listed in this Knowledge Base article. If your ISP is not listed, contact them for the proper SMTP setting.

Please also make sure you read our Service Usage Policies regarding Mass Emailing.