This tutorial will guide you through setting up a subdomain that will allow you to use your favourite webmail client everytime you access your webmail.

How to set a default webmail application using cPanel

With the addition of RoundCube, VERSION NEXT now provides access to three webmail applications which also includes Horde and SquirrelMail. When accessing your webmail you are normally presented with a page that allows you to choose the application you would like to use.

One method to always use the same application evry time is to “Enable AutoLoad”. Although the autoload feature is nice and easy to use, there is actually another way you can set the default and that is by setting up a subdomin and a redirect. To do this please perform the following setps:

1) Access your webmail applications tab by typing http://www.yourdomain.com.au/webmail. You will be presented with a pop up box requesting your username and password. Here you need to enter your full email address and the password you set up when creating your email account.

2) Once logged in you will be presented with a page giving you the option to choose the webmail application you would like to use. Select your application; for this example we are going to use RoundCube.

3) Once the webmail client of your choice has opened, copy the full url from the browser’s address bar and save it somwhere handy(e.g. into windows notepad). You will need this a little later when we create your new webmail subdomain.

4) Now that you have the url saved somewhere safe, logout of your webmail and then open up your cPanel and login. From the main cPanel page, select the “Subdomain” option under the “Domains” panel.

5) On the Subdomains page, enter “webmail” into the “Subdomain” form field(excluding the quotes) and then select “Create”. Don’t be concerned by the “Document Root” form field as this will auto populate.

6) Once the creation process has completed you should now be able to see your new subdomain under the “Modify a Subdomain” section. At this point it is not redirecting anywhere so this is our next task. Next to the newly created subdomain, select the “Manage Redirection” link.

In the “Subdomain Redirection” form field, enter the full url you copied down earlier(Using RoundCube as the example, this should look something like http://yourdomain.com.au:2095/3rdparty/roundcube/?_task=mail). Click save and your done.

9) Before closing down cPanel, you can test the redirect by opening up a new browser window and typing in your newly created subdomain http://webmail.yourdomain.com.au. When the login pop box appears(make sure you ahve allowed popups in your browser) enter in your email address and password. You should now be directed to your default webmail application. If it doesn’t work then you will need to go through all the steps again, this time carfully checking that you have correctly entered all details with no spelling mistakes.

Email spam is a very frustrating reality of the online world we live in. Many tools have been developed along the way to try and combat this probelm including both server and desktop solutions. This tutorial will guide you through enabling Spam Assassin on your hosting account using your cPanel.

Enabling And Configuring Spam Assassin

Spam Assassin is a very effective antipsam tool and it is offered with all of AUSWEB cPanel hosting plans.By default Spam Assassin is disabled in your cPanel but it is a relatively simple procedure to activate it. The key is configuring it to offer you extra protection whilst producing as few false positives as possible.

Enabling Spam Assassin

Once logged into your cPanel you will see Spam Assassin located under the Mail tab.

Clicking on the link will take you to the main configuration page where you will see a variety of options. To get started, simply select the “Enable Spam Assassin” button. This will turn Spam Assassin on using its default settings.

Filters

The default filter level is set to 5 which is good for most end users. A higher number will result in less spam getting tagged and reduces false positives. You can always change this number down the track if you find you get a high level of false positives.

e.g.
Low threshhold = 5 (default)
Medium threshold = 7.5 (slightly less spam caught but fewer false positives)
High threshold = 10 (much less spam caught but least likely to produce false positives)

You can also select to automatically delete spam as soon as it arrives. This can be helpful in keeping things easy to manage but is generally only recommended if you can deal with occassionally losing legitimate emails. Again, you need to be very careful with the settings you apply to reduce the chance of false positives.

Spam Box

When you first enable Spam Assassin it will simply tag emails as spam by putting ***SPAM*** in front of the subject(unless you have enabled “Auto-Delete Spam”). This setting allows you to then configure your email client to filter these message based on the tag. Enabling the Spam Box means that rather than emails just being tagged they are actualy moved to special folder on the server, therefore not actually getting to your desktop inbox. This folder is automatically created when the first spam message is caught.

The upside to enabling the Spam Box is that you avoid having to download unccessary junk, yet you can easily login to your webmail account to see if a message has ended up there by mistake. The downside to filtering with this method is that you then need to frequently login to cPanel to empty the Spam Box, otherwise it will use up your valuable disk space.

Configure Spam Assassin

This section provides you with a few advanced settings that can assist in either blocking or allowing mail based on a prtucluar address or an entire domain. For exmaple, if you were constantly losing emails from one company you could add their domain to the Whitelist, therefore telling Spamm Assassin that it is legitimate and to let it through. You can also do the exact opposite by blocking addresses using the Blacklist. Both the Blaicklist and Whitelist work in the same way and can accept wild cards * and ?; e.g. *@isp.com or *.domain.com.

To add a name to either list just put it in the appropriate box and hit save.