Routing Changes on Mail Servers – Forwarding and Vacation Response Behavior Clarification

The purpose of this document is to dispell any confusion that may be caused by the differences between the Email Administration Consoles for Alentus's Mail Servers.

Currently, Alentus operates four email servers for use by its regular customers. The are designated NS15, NS77, NS125, and Mail01. For the functionality covered in this document, NS125 and Mail01 are identical. NS77 is similar with one exception (“forward” routing option is absent), while NS15 offers no ability for the user to make “routing” changes at all (although “forwarding” etc. is accomplished through other means). All the mail servers offer forwarding, aliasing, and vacation response functionality; it is just the way it is accessed that may be different.

Customers can refer to their Alentus Welcome Kits to find out which mail server they are hosted on; alternatively, they can ping "mail..com" and check the response. The response should have the mail server name incorporated in it as follows: "Pinging ns125. ..."; where "ns125" is the mail server.

To access the “Routing” menu: From the Email Administration Console (http://mail.domain.com), click on “Email Accounts”, on the row containing the account you wish to change, click on the “Modify User” icon. This will bring you to the Modify User page; the top portion of which allows you to reset the user’s email password and “Real Name”. The bottom portion is concerned with Routing.

Three routing options exist:

1. Standard
2. Forward
3. Vacation

1. Standard Routing

This puts the POP account into normal operation. It is the default routing.

2. Forward Routing

With “Forward” routing selected, the “Forward To” field is enabled, along with the “save a copy” option. The address that email is to be forwarded to is entered here. Email can only be forwarded to a single account using this option. The “Save a Copy” option, if enabled, will save a copy to the inbox of the original email address as well as send a copy to the forward address.

The “Vacation Subject” and “Vacation Message” fields are not accessible with this option selected.

3. Vacation Routing

With “Vacation” routing selected, the “Vacation Subject” and “Vacation Message” fields are accessible. With this option selected, any inbound email to this account will be replied to automatically with the Subject and Message that have been added to these two fields. The “Save a Copy” option is disabled; however, a copy of the incoming mail is always automatically saved to the inbox. The “Forward To” option is not functional.

When the “Forward” or “Vacation” routing functionality is no longer required, normal operation can be resumed by selecting “Standard” routing again.

NS77 Exception

The routing screen on this mail server does not include “Forward”. See “Alternate Method” below if you wish to use forwarding functionality on an account set up on this server.

NS15 Exceptions

The routing screen does not exist on mail server NS15 - See instructions specific to NS15 (Vacation Response and Forwarding)

Alternate Method: Robots, Autoresponders, and Forwards

The functionality achieved through “Routing Changes” can also be achieved through the use of “Robots”, “Autoresponder”, and “Forwards”; however, for simplicity and speed, a routing change may be preferable to the three aforementioned options.

Important Note on Deleting a POP Account

When you delete an Email Account (NS125) you are given the option of forwarding mail to another address. This may be the source of some confusion: This option does NOT forward existing mail – any mail still present for that account will be deleted along with the account itself. Instead, the option causes any future mail directed at the deleted address to be forwarded to the address entered as the forwarding address. It does this by automatically creating a “Forward” as would be created if the “Create a Forward” functionality was chosen from the Administration Console.

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You need to add documentation on the mail robot. I have many mail robots setup when this feature was called "Autoresponder". But without the documentation, I can't modify or setup a new one.
Peter Carboni (September 5, 2014 at 9:19 AM)

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