or How to setup recipient@domain1.com and recipient@domain2.com to be delivered to different mailboxes

Apache provides the ability to host multiple domains on a single VPS account using Virtual Hosts. However, we run into a problem if we want email to be treated uniquely for each domain.

There are several programs involved in processing email on the server, but we won't have to change most of them. These include

Program Description
* If installed
sendmail used to send and receive email by your server
procmail used to process email after it is received by sendmail
spamassassin* called from procmail to filter out spam messages
clamav* called from procmail to filter out viruses
qpopper used to deliver email to your computer using the pop3 protocol
uw-imap* used to view email on your computer using the imap protocol

Sendmail uses a lookup table (virtusertable) to convert an email address into a Unix user account. Full details can be found at Sendmail's website

If you have a hosting plan which allows for multiple domains, then Westhost configures virtusertable so that email to recipient@anydomain.com is delivered to the Unix mailbox for recipient's account. We need to modify this so that the email for recipient@domain1.com is delivered to a separate mailbox from recipient@domain2.com

You will need SSH access to your server to complete this task. PuTTY is available for free for this purpose from here; configuration instructions are available from Westhost.

Here are the steps you will have to take:

Create separate user accounts

  • Login in to your site manager
  • Click on EMail/FTP Management (Second item on menu bar)
  • Click on New E-mail/FTP button (in lower right)
  • A window titled “E-mail/FTP Wizard (1 of 3)” will pop up.
    • Enter the user details for recipient@domain1.com. Use a unique user name - I suggest recipient.domain1.com
  • Click on Next once you have entered user name, description and password
  • A window titled “E-mail/FTP Wizard (2 of 3)” will pop up.
    • Modify the email quota if desired. We can change this later by editing the file /etc/features
    • Enable the Autoresponder - it can be setup later by logging in to the the user account at http://www.domain1.com/users/
  • A window titled “E-mail/FTP Wizard (3 of 3)” will pop up.
    • Disable FTP access unless needed
  • Repeat the above for recipient@domain2. I suggest using a user name of recipient.domain2.com

Edit virtusertable

  • If you are comfortable with SSH then edit /etc/mail/virtusertable on the server or, alternatively, download a copy to your computer and edit it using a simple text editor such as Notepad (on a Windows PC). DO NOT USE A WORD PROCESSOR. Make sure you backup the file first.
  • virtusertable will contain various lines, but you should find these at the end 
    recipient.domain1.com@domain1.com      recipient.domain1.com
recipient.domain1.com@domain2.com   recipient.domain1.com
recipient.domain2.com@domain1.com      recipient.domain2.com
recipient.domain2.com@domain2.com   recipient.domain2.com
  • Change this to 
    recipient@domain1.com      recipient.domain1.com
recipient@domain2.com      recipient.domain2.com

    NOTE: the two columns of data MUST be separated by a TAB

  • Upload the changed file to /etc/mail/virtusertable

Create genericstable (optional)

If you want any applications or scripts on your server to send email from recipient@domain2.com, then follow these optional steps.

  • Create a new file /etc/mail/genericstable which contains 
    recipient.domain1.com   recipient@domain1.com
recipient.domain2.com   recipient@domain2.com

Create generics-domains (optional)

  • Create a new file /etc/mail/generics-domains which contains 
    domain1.com
domain2.com

Modify sendmail.mc (optional)

  • Add these two lines to /etc/mail/sendmail.mc 
    FEATURE(`genericstable', `dbm /etc/mail/genericstable')dnl Added two lines
GENERICS_DOMAIN_FILE(`/etc/mail/generics-domains')dnl

Activate changes

  • Login to your server using SSH
  • Generate a new copy of virtusertable.db by entering the command makemap hash /etc/mail/virtusertable </etc/mail/virtusertable
    (If you are not hosted by Westhost, then check your /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file for the type of database used by virtusertable. This will be either hash (as above) or dbm)
  • If you completed the optional steps above, you will also need to
    • generate a copy of genericstable.db by entering the command makemap hash /etc/mail/genericstable </etc/mail/genericstable on one line.
    • regenerate your sendmail configuration file if you made the optional changes by typing m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc >/etc/mail/sendmail.cf (again on one line)
  • Logout of your SSH session (logout)

Configure your email client

  • You will need to set up two accounts
  • For domain1.com
    • Your Name: Recipient One
    • EMail Address: recipient@domain1.com
    • Incoming Mail Server: pop.domain1.com
    • Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.domain1.com
    • User Name: recipient.domain1.com
    • Password: domain1
    • NOTE: User Name and Password are case sensitive. In other words, recipient.domain1.com is not the same as Recipient.Domain1.Com
    • Under More Settings:
      • Click on Outgoing Server
      • Select “My outgoing server requires authentication”
      • Select “Use same settings as my incoming mailserver”
  • For domain2.com
    • Your Name: Recipient Two
    • EMail Address: recipient@domain2.com
    • Incoming Mail Server: pop.domain2.com
    • Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.domain2.com
    • User Name: recipient.domain2.com
    • Password: domain2
    • NOTE: User Name and Password are case sensitive. In other words, recipient.domain2.com is not the same as Recipient.Domain2.Com
    • Under More Settings:
      • Click on Outgoing Server
      • Select “My outgoing server requires authentication”
      • Select “Use same settings as my incoming mailserver”

Distribution lists

These can be created by editing /etc/mail/aliases

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