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

8 1