In this guide, we will walk you through the process of creating an email hosting package in WHM (Web Host Manager). Whether you are setting up an email-only hosting package or offering more extensive hosting services, this tutorial will cover everything you need to know. The steps are laid out clearly for beginners, including essential features to enable or disable, and all potential solutions. Let’s dive into how to prepare an email hosting package, making it easy for both you and your clients to manage emails.
Why Email Hosting Packages Matter
Creating specific email hosting packages ensures that your clients have a dedicated space for their email accounts, separate from other hosting features like websites and databases. This helps to manage storage, bandwidth, and email limitations efficiently, while also maintaining control over security and performance.
Step-by-Step Instructions to Create an Email Hosting Package in WHM
Step 1: Log into WHM
Login to your WHM as root or an administrator. You can access WHM by entering your server’s IP address followed by ":2087" in your browser.
Step 2: Create a New Package
To create a new hosting package for email:
- Packages > Add a Package
This will take you to a page where you can configure all the features for your new email hosting package.
Step 3: Set the Disk Quota
One of the key elements of an email hosting package is setting the right disk quota. This ensures that users have a dedicated amount of storage for their email accounts:
- Disk Quota (MB): Set the desired storage space, e.g., 2GB, 5GB, 10GB
Step 4: Configure the Email Features
Email Account Limits
To control how many email accounts a user can create, set the limits in this section:
- Max Email Accounts: Set the number of accounts users can create, e.g., 10, 50, 100
Email Forwarders and Auto-Responders
Ensure your clients have the ability to manage incoming emails with forwarders and auto-responders:
- Enable Email Forwarders and Auto-Responders
Step 5: Set Bandwidth Limitations
Bandwidth usage can increase with heavy email traffic. To manage this, set an appropriate limit for each package:
- Bandwidth (MB): Set this depending on expected usage, e.g., 10GB, 50GB, etc.
Step 6: Set Email Quotas and Limits
It’s important to configure email-specific quotas for each user within their hosting plan:
- Max Quota per Email Account: e.g., 500MB, 1GB per email account
Step 7: Enable or Disable Web Hosting Features
If this package is for email-only hosting, you can disable or limit web hosting features:
- Max Add-on Domains, Subdomains, Parked Domains: Set to 0 or disable these features
- MySQL Databases: Set to 0 if databases are not needed
Step 8: Security Features for Email Hosting
Enable DKIM and SPF
These are critical for email security, ensuring emails are authenticated and not marked as spam:
- Enable DKIM and SPF for email security
Limit Hourly Emails
To prevent your email server from being used for spam, limit the number of emails that can be sent per hour:
- Max Hourly Email by Domain Relayed: Set to 100-250 emails per hour
Step 9: Save the Package
Once all the settings are configured, you can finalize the package:
- Click the "Add" button to save the new email hosting package
Step 10: Assign the Package to a User
Now that the email hosting package is ready, assign it to a specific cPanel account:
- Account Functions > Modify an Account > Select the User > Change Package
Common Troubleshooting Solutions
Email Quota Exceeded
If a user exceeds their quota, emails may bounce or fail to deliver:
- Solution: Increase the quota for the email account or instruct the user to delete old emails.
Email Delivery Issues
If emails are being marked as spam or failing to deliver:
- Solution: Ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are properly configured for the domain.
Conclusion
Setting up an email hosting package in WHM can greatly improve how you manage email resources for your clients. By carefully selecting which features to enable or disable, you can offer customized email services tailored to your clients' needs. Following this guide will ensure a stable and secure environment for email hosting, giving you control over disk space, bandwidth, security, and more.
