I'm setting up ISPConfig to be my new e-mail server. Previously I was using a cPanel-based service. The domain (example.com) hosted the e-mail addresses directly (e.g., [email protected]), and host mail.example.com was specified as the IMAPS and SMTPS server, though mail.example.com was merely a CNAME to example.com. The MX record pointed directly at example.com. I'd like to set up the same arrangement in ISPConfig. I set up ISPConfig itself to be foo.example.com. That is, the admin interface is served on https://foo.example.com:8080/. When I add the e-mail domain, the server is foo.example.com, and I specify example.com as the domain. Is this correct for [email protected], [email protected] addresses? How do I specify a mail.example.com address for SMTPS and IMAPS? Is Lets-Encrypt used for the TLS/SSL for SMTPS and IMAPS? Will a certificate automatically be created for mail.example.com?
Thanks, till, surprisingly I hadn't found that article, then. It doesn't address, however, setting up the mail subdomain. For that part should I simply create a CNAME record for mail.example.com pointing to foo.example.com?
You don't seem to have read the guide yet as it covers that topic in detail by explaining that this is not how an ISPConfig server works. On ISPConfig systems, the server hostname is used as mail server name in your mail client and not any kind of subdomain that you might have assigned from other domains. You might want to read the chapter "Configure Email client", which explains that.
Hi, till; thanks again. I did understand the guide (and watched the video), but I guess I was just looking for more functionality that just isn't there. If I understand correctly, it's quite simple. If I set up ISPConfig on host foo, FQDN foo.example.com, then any e-mail domain I add will necessarily use foo.example.com for SMTP and IMAP. It isn't possible, then, to add e-mail domain my-domain.com, and specify a SMTP/IMAP host of mail.my-domain.com. While it's technically possible to do so via manual configuration of the server, it's simply not possible in ISPConfig; at least not at this time. Is my understanding correct?
You come from a panel that is mostly limited to small servers and home servers and that's why you expect to find the same limitations in ISPConfig. But ISPConfig is made by and for internet service providers and is capable of having tens of thousands of mailboxes within the same GUI and installations consisting of hundreds of servers. In a professional ISP setup, you'll use just a single name for all mail domains like ISPConfig is doing it by default. And Let's encrypt has a limit of 100 domains and subdomains in one cert. And no professional ISP would limit its systems to such a low number of domains. That said, you can use such client email subdomains in ISPConfig, you just have to be aware that this is just suitable for very small servers and there is no real option to fix that later to a single domain name without reconfiguring all mail clients. As we do not want to limit ISPConfig users in such a way, we propose using a setup as used by larger ISP's and not a home user setup. But if you want to have this and aware that you intentionally limit your system, then create a website in ISPConfig for the hostname, add all these subdomains you want to have in that central cert as alias domains. Now change the SSL cert symlinks in /usr/local/ispconfig/interface/ssl/ to those of your central site like /var/www/server.yourdomain.tld/ssl/ and then restart the system.
Thanks again for your help, till. In the end, I came to the conclusion that, for a single-domain setup like mine, simply using the same hostname as ISPConfig for IMTP and SMTP as well was really no big deal, and it wasn't at all necessary to work with a mail subdomain.
