Problem Description
- You host a website but not the mail services for a domain
- Outgoing emails from your website or from other email accounts hosted on the same server go missing or bounces occur
Problem Resolution
When you don't host the email service for a domain locally in Plesk, you must inform Plesk of this to avoid issues with some messages not arriving at their destination. Here's how to disable mail for a domain in Plesk:
- Login to Plesk
- Choose "Mail"
- Click the "Mail Settings" tab
- Check the box beside the domain for which you wish to disable mail, then click the "Activate/Deactivate Services" button.
- You will be prompted with a dialog box to specify which services to enable/disable. Under "Mail Service" change the dropdown menu to "Disabled for incoming mail". You should also disable DKIM Spam Protection here.
The mail service is now disabled for the domain!
TIP: If you also don't host the DNS for this domain in Plesk (ie: the name servers do not match those for the server/hosting plan), you should disable DNS for the domain as well. This is done under DNS Settings in Plesk.
How do disable mail for a domain from command line (for those with a VPS):
If you have root access to your server, you may run the command below to disable mail. Replace [domain] with the actual domain for which you wish to disable mail.
If you have root access to your server, you may run the command below to disable mail. Replace [domain] with the actual domain for which you wish to disable mail.
plesk bin domain -u [domain] -mail_service false