Accessing MX Backup

[Ralphski]

Hi All,

I have hMailServer set as my MX Backup (should our main mail server go offline).

My question... Can I / How can I access/check emails sitting on hMailServer? (for when my main server goes offline).

I have no mail accounts set up on hMailServer (as it's set to try to forward emails once the main server comes back online).

Assistance is much appreciated

[palinka]

No accounts makes it tough. You could possibly set up a local domain/account and forward all mail there. Then you could see what is being received by logging in with a mua or webmail.

[Ralphski]

No accounts makes it tough. You could possibly set up a local domain/account and forward all mail there. Then you could see what is being received by logging in with a mua or webmail.

Thank you palinka, however, if I set up a forward, will it still run as an MX Backup system (capture and still send mail to my primary mailserver (once it comes back online)?

Sorry if I sound like a newb... I am.
Until very recently our ISP managed our backup MX

[palinka]

I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't. Forwarding is a separate event and wouldn't have anything to do with however the rest of the system operates.

[mattg]

Thank you palinka, however, if I set up a forward, will it still run as an MX Backup system

No it won't,

You can work around some things, but the one thing you can't work around is that if a message is delivered to hMailserver and there is a local account to match hMailserver will ALWAYS deliver to the local account

[Ralphski]

Thank you palinka, however, if I set up a forward, will it still run as an MX Backup system

No it won't,

You can work around some things, but the one thing you can't work around is that if a message is delivered to hMailserver and there is a local account to match hMailserver will ALWAYS deliver to the local account

Thank you Matt, good to know.
I don't have a local account on my hMailServer (whew)... What about if I use a 'mirror' address?

[mattg]

How have you set up the Backup MX on your hMailserver?
What else is your hMailserver doing?

[Ralphski]

How have you set up the Backup MX on your hMailserver?
What else is your hMailserver doing?

I've set it up using this link;
https://www.hmailserver.com/documentati ... _mx_backup
It's doing nothing but that at this stage.
My boss, however, has asked is it possible to see emails on there (if our inhouse server is offline). I've told her it's not possible, but then she asked about forwarding. Now I know that's a no go, I saw the 'mirror' and thought this could satisfy her needs...

[katip]

My boss, however, has asked is it possible to see emails on there (if our inhouse server is offline).

you can "see" them on queue and also check their contents as long as you can RDP or Webadmin to backup MX box.
you can even copy content, paste locally in notepad, save as .eml and forward it to boss.
but YOU should do all, unless boss is a power user at least.

[Ralphski]

My boss, however, has asked is it possible to see emails on there (if our inhouse server is offline).

you can "see" them on queue and also check their contents as long as you can RDP or Webadmin to backup MX box.
you can even copy content, paste locally in notepad, save as .eml and forward it to boss.
but YOU should do all, unless boss is a power user at least.

LOL Thank you Katip, she can bearly log into her TS Session remotely, let alone a mail server & know what to do/what she's looking for. I guess that's why I have a job
With the 'see emails' comment I was meaning is it possible to forward/mirror to another offsite location like gmail for example...

[mattg]

Perhaps with some scripting you could catch all messages as they arrive (OnAcceptMessage) and copy them to a new recipient

Thinking about this, the Mirror may also work

Test it and see and post back

The trick will be to see if they are still forwarded to the main MX later

As a question, how often does the boss think that the main MX will be DOWN?

[palinka]

What about this?

Create fake.local domain with one user.

Create global rule:
If message size > 0
Then "create and send copy" to fake@fake.local

Then setup webmail to view the messages.

Just make sure the domain name is one that no recipient would ever be addressed to. As Matt said, local delivery takes priority over everything.

One word of caution: if this server being used company wide (as opposed to only sales inquiries, for example) you may run into some private stuff. You could mitigate that by limiting the rule to catch only messages sent to sales@company.com.