Email Routing

Overview

This interface allows you to configure how the system routes a domain’s incoming mail. For example, you can use this interface to configure the server as a backup mail exchanger, allowing emails to route through the server to your domain.

Configure Email Routing

Mail exchange (MX) records determine how an email routes to its destination via a priority number, which indicates how “near” or “far” a mail server is to the destination domain. Servers will attempt to route email through servers with the lowest-numbered MX records, but can move to higher numbers to accommodate site traffic.

To configure how your server routes mail for a domain, perform the following steps:

1. Select the desired domain from the menu. If only one domain exists on your cPanel account, the system selects it automatically.
2. Select one of the following options under Configure Email Routing:
   • Automatically Detect Configuration — The system uses the following criteria to configure the email routing settings:
     • Local Mail Exchanger — The lowest numbered mail exchanger points to an IP address on this server.
     • Backup Mail Exchanger — The lowest numbered mail exchanger points to an IP address not on this server.
     • Remote Mail Exchanger — No mail exchangers point to an IP address on this server.
     Important:

     • This setting only detects the local zone file entries and does not perform an actual DNS lookup. This setting is set upon configuration and does not automatically update. If changes are required, an administrator will need to manually adjust the MX Records in the DNS Zone Manager.
     • If the configured Mail Exchange (MX) records do not resolve, automatic detection will not occur.
   • Local Mail Exchanger — The server always accepts mail for this domain. The system will deliver mail to the local mailbox.
     Note:

     Choose this option if your server uses smart hosts or another gateway service to filter mail. Also, choose this option if your hosting provider deleted the domain’s DNS zone.

      

   • Automatically Detect Configuration — The system uses the following criteria to configure the email routing settings:
     • Local Mail Exchanger — If the lowest-numbered MX record points to an IP address on this server, the system will route email to the Local Mail Exchanger.
     • Backup Mail Exchanger — If the lowest-numbered MX record points to an IP address not on this server, mail will route to the Backup Mail Exchanger until a primary mail exchanger becomes available. For example, if you use a third-party email service that becomes unresponsive, the Backup Mail Exchanger will route mail locally.
     • Remote Mail Exchanger — If no MX records point to an IP address on this server, the system will use the Remote Mail Exchanger. This option is appropriate if all mail routes to a third-party service like Gmail™.
       Note:

       If the configured Mail Exchange (MX) records do not resolve, automatic detection will not occur.
   • Local Mail Exchanger — The server always accepts mail for this domain. The system will deliver mail to the local mailbox.
     Note:

     Choose this option if your server uses smart hosts or another gateway service to filter mail. Also choose this option if your hosting provider deleted the domain’s DNS zone.

      

   • Backup Mail Exchanger — If you use a third-party email service that becomes unresponsive, the Backup Mail Exchanger will route mail locally.
     Note:

     You must configure the primary MX record to point to the appropriate exchanger. To edit MX records, use cPanel’s Zone Editor interface (cPanel >> Home >> Domains >> Zone Editor).

      

   • Remote Mail Exchanger — If no MX records point to an IP address on this server, select this option to use a third-party mail service like Gmail™. The system sends all mail for this domain to the lowest-numbered third-party mail exchanger.
     Note:

     You must configure the primary MX record to point to the appropriate exchanger. To edit MX records, use cPanel’s Zone Editor interface (cPanel >> Home >> Domains >> Zone Editor).

      

3. Click Change.