Removing Default Address, Want To Forward

[Pony99CA]

I've been getting Joe-jobbed at my domain name by some pump-and-dump stock loser. (For those that don't know, Joe-jobbing is forging somebody else's domain, usually in spam.) Because I use a Default (or Catch-All) address, I am getting all of the E-mail bounces from this spammer (over 540 since April 13). This loser is using random E-mail addresses at my domain, so I can't easily block them like I could in the past.

 

What I want to do is remove my Default address and add forwarders for the few E-mail addresses I have given out at this domain. Those forwarders should forward E-mail to my main account E-mail address. I added the forwarders to forward to <account>@<mydomain.biz> and set the Default to bounce E-mail. Unfortunately, when I tried to send a test E-mail to one of the addresses I want to forward, I got a bounce saying <account>@<mydomain.biz> wasn't valid as shown below:

 

From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@server377.snhdns.com>

To: <sender>@<senddomain>.com

Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

 

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

 

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its

recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

 

<account>@<mydomain>.biz

(ultimately generated from <target E-mail>@<mydomain>.biz)

no such address here

 

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

 

Return-path: <<sender>@<senddomain>.com>

Received: from [71.80.224.96](helo=SHM_LAPTOP2.aol.com)

by server377.snhdns.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)

(Exim 4.52)

id 1FhrYi-0001Ra-2k

for <target E-mail>@<mydomain>.biz; Sun, 21 May 2006 13:17:40 -0400

Message-Id: <7.0.1.0.0.20060521101516.021ab930@<senddomain>.com>

X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 7.0.1.0

Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 10:17:01 -0700

To: <target E-mail>@<mydomain>.biz

From: Steve Mueller <<sender>@<senddomain>.com>

Subject: Testing Filter

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Why isn't that working? The Default address caught E-mail with no problem, but I can't seem to forward from one address on <mydomain>biz to <account>@<mydomain>biz.

 

I don't want to create real E-mail accounts for the addresses I'm trying to forward because that would require me to add those accounts to Eudora to get any E-mail sent to them.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks for any help,

Steve

[TCH-Don]

I set my default to

:fail:

Created an account

created forwards to go to the new account and it works for me.

You may have to open a ticket.

[Pony99CA]

I set my default to

:fail:

Created an account

created forwards to go to the new account and it works for me.

You may have to open a ticket.

The difference is that I don't want to create a new account to forward to. I want to forward to my existing main account (the same one that default used before).

 

Specifically, Eudora is currently configued to log in as <account> on mail.<domain>.biz. Creating a new account would require me to change that to <newaccount>+<domain.biz> on mail.<domain>.biz. (I still don't understand why we need the "+<domain>.biz" stuff, but that's another issue.) And, even if I did that, I'd be worried that I might still get some mail on the main account.

 

Steve

[TCH-Andy]

You don't need to create new accounts, just set up the forwards - it will work, try it

 

As to why you nead the "+<domain>.biz" stuff, just imagine you had a steve@ on that server, and I also had a steve@ on the same server - how do you determine which is which ? .... by using the "+<domain>.biz" stuff

[TCH-Don]

Steve, if you set the default address to :fail:

and your cpanel account name is working on your e-mail program

and you set forwards to go to that account, and they do not work,

then its ticket time.

[Pony99CA]

You don't need to create new accounts, just set up the forwards - it will work, try it

I did try it, Andy. It didn't work (as the bounce message shows), which is why I posted here in the first place.

 

I also tried creating <account>@<mydomain>.biz, and that was allowed! However, when I tried to get E-mail using Eudora, I didn't get the E-mail. Logging in and checking my Web mail showed the mail I sent. So apparently I somehow had two <account>@<mydomain>.biz E-mail addresses.

 

I'll check my settings once more, but if that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to open a ticket like Don said.

 

As to why you nead the "+<domain>.biz" stuff, just imagine you had a steve@ on that server, and I also had a steve@ on the same server - how do you determine which is which ? .... by using the "+<domain>.biz" stuff

I assumed steve@xxx.com and steve@yyy.com would be disambiguated by the domain name. That's why I thought I had mail.xxx.com vs. mail.yyy.com.

 

It sounds like you're saying that mail.xxx.com and mailyyy.com on the same server really are just for naming convenience. Could steve@xxx.com get his E-mail by using mail.yyy.com? If not, I still don't see why the "steve+xxx.com" is necessary.

 

Steve

[Pony99CA]

OK, I checked my settings, and still get the bounces. Here's what I have:

• User name: svvgbiz (the one I log into Cpanel with and retrieve E-mail sent to my Default account with)
  
• Mail server: mail.svvg.biz
  
• Forward set: nospam <at> svvg <dot> biz to svvgbiz <at> svvg <dot> biz (The first attempt)
  
• Forward set: nospam <at> svvg <dot> biz to svvgbiz (The second attempt, which seems to get expanded to svvgbiz <at> svvg <dot> biz)
  

Note that I'm trying to get E-mail from svvgbiz (not svvgbiz+svvg.biz) on mail.svvg.biz, which worked before for my Catch-All address. So maybe the problem is that only the Default setting can be set to my main user account. Maybe Forwarders can't send to that default account.

 

If there's someting I'm missing, please let me know before I open a ticket.

 

Steve

[TCH-Don]

It looks like you are doing it right.

Its ticket time.

[Deverill]

It sounds like you are trying to forward from a@xxx.com to b@xxx.com, with b being the "real" account.

 

The problem is that when both addresses are at the same domain there's an issue. When the mailman is trying to deliver the email to a@xxx.com, that address doesn't exist and since they are on the same server it gets confused. Thats the case with mine as well.. I get a 'no such user' bounce.

 

If you were forwarding to another domain it would work - I have several of them.

 

You could create the a@xxx.com account and have it forward.

 

 

 

NOTE: I'm going to investigate this further - deleting for now. -- Or maybe not - can't find the delete

Edited May 22, 2006 by Deverill

[Deverill]

Ok, here's what happened. I created abc and then set up a forward of xyz to abc both on the same server and it worked fine.

 

When I tested the first time (previous post) I used the shorter domain name. I have cwckw.org parked on covenantwordchurch.org hosted here, but the cwckw email is hosted on Gmail so it went sideways. Ignore my last post... it was wrong.

[TCH-Bruce]

Setting your default account to :fail: means you no longer have a default account. Your cpanel ID is not a valid email address any longer.

 

You will need to set up at least one REAL email account and you can forward to that.

 

When you set the default to :fail: you in essence said anything I don't have an account created for bounce.

[Pony99CA]

Setting your default account to :fail: means you no longer have a default account. Your cpanel ID is not a valid email address any longer.

 

You will need to set up at least one REAL email account and you can forward to that.

 

When you set the default to :fail: you in essence said anything I don't have an account created for bounce.

That's interesting, and almost explains things. However, if I set Default to :fail:, then go to Mail->Manage/Add/Remove Accounts, here's what I see:

>Address				   Login
Main Account			svvgbiz	 Read Webmail	 Aging				Configure Mail Client
			
Show Disk Space Used

The "Main Account" doesn't display any E-mail address, but it appears to somehow be a real account (otherwise how could I read Webmail for it?). Is there any way that I can forward E-mail to that, or is it some kind of pseudo-account that only the Default (Catch-All) address can use?

 

If nothing else can send mail to the "Main Account", I'm willing to create a real E-mail account to forward to. I just want to make sure that's the case so I don't have to check two accounts in Eudora.

 

Steve

[TCH-Bruce]

It is a real account but you cannot forward mail to it if you set the default address to :fail:

 

When you use :fail: for your default address it says any email not addressed to your main account (or valid email addresses) should be bounced. Since you are forwarding an email to that account, the email is not intended for that account. There is no header in the email that says your main account so it is being bounced.

 

The default email address is a catch all account. Using :fail: bypasses the catchall for any accounts that are not defined.

 

I don't know anyone that uses their main cpanel account name as an email address.

[TCH-Bruce]

One more thing, your default email address is not:

 

your-cpanelname@your-domain.ext

 

it is in fact:

 

your-cpanelname@serverXX.tchmachines.com

 

Maybe that will help clear it up.

[Pony99CA]

It is a real account but you cannot forward mail to it if you set the default address to :fail:

 

When you use :fail: for your default address it says any email not addressed to your main account (or valid email addresses) should be bounced. Since you are forwarding an email to that account, the email is not intended for that account. There is no header in the email that says your main account so it is being bounced.

 

The default email address is a catch all account. Using :fail: bypasses the catchall for any accounts that are not defined.

I was hoping that setting the default to :fail: would only bounce "unrouted mail" (and that forwarded E-mail was not considered unrouted). I guess that's not the case.

 

Can you confirm that TCH doesn't send any E-mail to the main account E-mail address? As I've set mine to :fail:, I obviously won't get that now.

 

One more thing, your default email address is not:

 

your-cpanelname@your-domain.ext

 

it is in fact:

 

your-cpanelname@serverXX.tchmachines.com

 

Maybe that will help clear it up.

That certainly helps explain some things -- like why I could create <cpanel-name>@<mydomain>.biz even though <cpanel-name> was also my default address. I assume trying to forward to that full name would be bad in case my server ever gets changed, right?

 

Anyway, I've created another address to forward my E-mail to, and that's working. I just wish this information was more obvious before. It would have saved me from having to redo all of the forwards I had added.

 

Actually, that leads to a wish for cPanel -- that you could edit forwarders. If you want to change a forwarder today, you have to delete the existing one and add the changed one. That's kind of silly, I think.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help and explanations.

 

Steve

[TCH-Bruce]

Actually, that leads to a wish for cPanel -- that you could edit forwarders. If you want to change a forwarder today, you have to delete the existing one and add the changed one. That's kind of silly, I think.

I don't think you will ever see this happen. The forwards are stored in a system file called aliases. It is a text file. Deleting and adding records is quite simple. Editing would be a real hassel.

 

That certainly helps explain some things -- like why I could create @.biz even though was also my default address. I assume trying to forward to that full name would be bad in case my server ever gets changed, right?

Your account has an email address on the server but it is not associated to your domain. You should not be using this address for domain email. This is the address the system uses to report errors to you about your account.

[Pony99CA]

I don't think you will ever see this happen. The forwards are stored in a system file called aliases. It is a text file. Deleting and adding records is quite simple. Editing would be a real hassel.

Actually, it shouldn't be difficult. Right now, the whole file must be read in (to display the list of forwarders). So if the user clicks an Edit action for a forwarder, the system would know which record was being operated on. When the user made the changes and submitted them, the system would delete the original record and write the new (modified) record (as if the user had added that record).

 

If the software is well-designed (with a Delete method and an Add method), Edit would just be a call to the Delete method followed by a call to the Add method. A competent programmer could probably implement Edit in less than 30 minutes -- unless there's something more going on behind the scenes, of course.

 

Your account has an email address on the server but it is not associated to your domain. You should not be using this address for domain email. This is the address the system uses to report errors to you about your account.

Is that the same address I set to :fail:? If so, will that cause problems getting those error reports, or does the system ignore the :fail: setting for mail it sends? I certainly don't want to miss any error messages.

 

Steve

[TCH-Andy]

Is that the same address I set to :fail:? If so, will that cause problems getting those error reports, or does the system ignore the :fail: setting for mail it sends? I certainly don't want to miss any error messages.

Error messages, warnings of going over bandwidth etc are sent to the email address you set up as the contact address in cpanel. This is completely separate to the "default address" that you set to :fail: for all unrouted mail.

 

To summarise (for others reading the thread in future);

1. Set a contact address for warnings / etc. - You set this up at the top of cpanel where is says "Please update your contact information here." - click on the actual word "Here"

2. Set up an email account such as "yourmail@your-domain.ext"

3. Set the default for unrouted mail to ":fail:"

4. Set up a forward for "yoursecondemail@your-domain.ext" (as many as you want) to "yourmail@your-domain.ext"