ServerBuddies Support Blog

Simple Rules to follow to setup a Mail System

Hostname must not match any domain that is being used on the system. Example, if you have a domain called domain.com and you want to recieve mail on user@domain.com, you must *not* set your hostname to domain.com. We recommend using server.domain.com instead. You must make sure that you add the A record for server.domain.com so that it resolves.

For DirectAdmin

- The hostname must be in the /etc/virtual/domains file.
- The hostname must *not* be in the /etc/virtual/domainowners file.
- The hostname must resolve. If not, add the required A records to the dns zone such that it does.
- The directory /etc/virtual/hostname must exist.. (eg: /etc/virtual/server.domain.com). It must not contain any files
- Any domains that you want to use for email (eg: domain.com) must be in both the /etc/virtual/domains file and the /etc/virtual/domainowners file. The directory /etc/virtual/domain.com must exist and the files /etc/virtual/domain.com/passwd and /etc/virtual/domain.com/aliases exist.

- File permissions for virtual pop inboxes should be (not applicable with Dovecot/Maildir):

- Make sure that your main server IP has a reverse lookup on it.

Repair and rebuild all mail configuration in plesk.

This can be done with Plesk mchk utility:

Login to the server as user root and run the mchk utility.

Example:

Also check for the options

mchk [OPTION]

–without-spam - restore all settings except for SpamAssassin configuration
–with-spam - restore all settings
–spam-only - restore only SpamAssassin settings

This utility rebuilds in line with Plesk database Qmail control files in the /var/qmail/control, /var/qmail/users directories and mail users’ settings. Also, it sets proper ownership/permissions for all mailboxes (/var/qmail/mailnames/*).

Restoring Mail Configuration in Plesk

Sometimes, Parallels Plesk Panel mail server configuration becomes corrupt and it is necessary to restore it. The restoration is carried out by internal mchk utility, intended for use by Parallels Plesk Panel.

However, as administrator, you can use it for restoring the Qmail and Courier-imap configuration when needed.

By default mchk is running in the background mode.

To execute it in the foreground, use the -v option. For example:

Reference : http://parallels.com/Plesk/

Flush mail queue in sendmail

To flush the mail queue manually in sendmail servers, use

Better way

Make a backup of the existing queue directory.

Create the ‘mqueue’ directory with the same permissions and ownership. Then, type in

You can use the same command to flush any sendmail queue as some servers have multiple queue setup like mqueue, mqueue.site, clientmqueue, q1, q2 etc.