Using the VPS mail service with DirectAdmin

On our VPS's you can always use our mail service free of charge, also referred to as 'Carefree Mailing'. With this service you will use our mail services to relay outgoing e-mail. In order to use the mail service, a one-time configuration of Exim on your VPS is required.

When using the mail service you will no longer have to worry about mails being delivered in the spamfolder due to incorrect reverse DNS or SPF-records, or because a blacklist is blocking mails from your IP-address.

To successfully set this up you will need to perform some configuration changes on your VPS to make sure your VPS and domains are properly authenticated for the use of our platform.

Configuring Exim manually

Use these steps if you're not using the wizard. First, consult this article if you haven't already, in order to retrieve your username and password, as well as to configure the required DNS records for your domain. Then, follow the steps below in your VPS-console or using SSH.

Step 1

Log in onto the console or via SSH and make sure you are running as 'root' or follow all the steps via the 'sudo' command.

Step 2

Open the file /etc/exim.authenticators.post.conf :

nano /etc/exim.authenticators.post.conf

Step 3

Add the following code (replace the username and password with your own username and password. The username and the password can be found in the control panel under ' Manage Your Mail Service' > 'Username & Password', see this article):

auth_login:
  driver = plaintext
  public_name = LOGIN
  client_send = : username : password
  server_set_id = $1

Save your changes and close the file (ctrl + x > y > enter).

Step 4

Open the file /etc/exim.routers.pre.conf:

nano /etc/exim.routers.pre.conf

Step 5

Add the following code to the opened file:

transip_email:
  driver = manualroute
  domains = !+local_domains
  ignore_target_hosts = 127.0.0.0/8
  condition = "${perl{check_limits}}"
  transport = auth_relay
  route_list = * vps.transip.email::587
  no_more

Save your changes and close the file (ctrl + x > y > enter).

Step 6

Open the file /etc/exim.transports.pre.conf:

nano /etc/exim.transports.pre.conf

Step 7

Add the following code:

auth_relay:
  driver = smtp
  port = 587
  hosts_require_auth = <; $host_address
  hosts_require_tls = <; $host_address

Save your changes and close the file (ctrl + x > y > enter).

Step 8

Restart exim to process the changes:

systemctl restart exim

This concludes our article on using our mail service with a VPS with DirectAdmin.

Should you have any questions left regarding this article, do not hesitate to contact our support department. You can reach them via the ‘Contact Us’ button at the bottom of this page.