Virtual Private Server User Guide
Email Services
Chapter 8 Email Services
Overview
The Web email interface included with your VPS plan is SquirrelMail. Interland
uses this product to manage mail via your Web browser.
The mail services on your VPS server act together like a post office. They receive
mail that is sent to the server, sort it, and deliver it to the user it is addressed to.
They allow users to retrieve their mail, download it to their PC or access it directly
on the server. Your mail server is a separate piece of equipment from your Web
server.
Your VPS server's SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) service is responsible
for accepting incoming email and either delivering it locally or relaying it to another
server for final delivery.
There are two other important mail services provided by your VPS server: POP
(Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). These
network services allow you to retrieve or otherwise access mail that is waiting for
you on the server.
This chapter includes instructions on how to read, compose, and manage your
email messages. It also includes how to create user accounts and aliases via a
command line.
How Your Server Receives Mail
When adding e mail accounts and administering your mail services, you should
take into consideration the way your VPS server handles incoming mail. Doing so
will help you avoid forwarding mail to the wrong destination.
Your VPS server processes incoming mail in the following order:
virtusertable > aliases > .forward files > users > catchall
> bounce
When e mail addressed to someone at your domain name arrives, your VPS
server will attempt to complete its delivery according to the entries in your
virtusertable file, then your aliases file, and so on. If the mail address is not
defined in any of these locations, the mail bounces back to the sender as
undeliverable.
Technical Training Department
August 2004
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