How do I set up spam filtering for my server?

• Applies to: Grid
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Time Needed: 10
  • Tools Required: Account Center access
• Applies to: Legacy DV & VPS Hosting
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Time Needed: 10
  • Tools Required: Plesk administrator access
• Applies to: VPS Hosting
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Time Needed: 10
  • Tools Required: Plesk or cPanel access
• Applies to: DV 4.0
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Time Needed: 10
  • Tools Required: Plesk administrator access

Introduction

The following guide will show you how to mange the spam filter settings for your Grid.

MailProtect (Global Settings)

1. Log into your Account Center.
2. Click on your primary domain.
3. Click on MailProtect (Anti-Spam Settings).
   
    
    
4. Configure your settings:
   
   

   Delivery

   
   
   

   • Move spam into IMAP subfolder - This is useful if you use webmail or the IMAP protocol to check your mail. This will move any spam mail to a spam folder in your IMAP account.
     
     

     NOTE:

     You may need to subscribe to the spam folder before you can see it. Check with your email client software documentation.

   • Add tag to the spam's subject - This is useful if you are going to check your mail with a third-party email client on your desktop. You can use the rules available in your mail client to perform various actions like moving the messages to a folder, deleting them, flagging them, and so on.
   • Delete the spam - The message will be deleted from the server entirely. You would not be able to retrieve any emails that were deleted permanently using this method.
   • Do nothing - MailProtect will still scan the emails and apply a spam score in the mail headers themselves, but will not modify or move any messages. This is useful if you would rather have a client-side program to filter your messages based off the spam score provided in the headers. Rules set by entries in the Allow/Block list are still honored.

   Spam level

   

   • Please choose a spam level between 1 and 10 (Default is 5).
     • 1 blocks the most spam
     • 10 blocks the least amount of spam

   Allow list

   

   • Here, you can list any friendly email address or domain name to prevent them from being filtered by your MailProtect. Each email address should be placed on its own line. The following are two different examples of how you can list addresses:
     • [e-mail]
     • @mt-example.com

   Block list

   

   • Here you can list any email address or domain name to assure they are always filtered as spam. Each email address should be placed on its own line. The following are two different examples of how you can list addresses:
     • [e-mail]
     • @spammerdomain.com

   TIP:

   The Allow and Block lists for mail protect are compared against Envelope-From, also know as the Return-Path header. These Return-Path Headers are not always the same as the standard From header. For information on how to find the Return-Path Headers please read: Understanding a Email Header.

MailProtect Settings for Specific Email User

1. Log into your Account Center.
2. Click on the blue Admin button associated to your Grid Server.
   
   
   
   
3. For Grid Personal, Pro, and Elite users, look for SERVER SETTINGS and click Add/Edit Users.
   
   
   
   • For (gs) Grid Service and Grid Lite users this will be under EMAIL as Add/Edit Email & FTP Users.
     
     
     
     
4. Click on the edit button for the user.
   
   
5. Click on USER SETTINGS. Then click on Email Settings.
   
    
   
   
6. Adjust the User's Spam Settings:
   
   
   
   
   • Global Settings: Sets user to use the global settings which you configured as above.
   • Use Custom Settings: Allows you to set custom settings only applied to the user.
   • Disable Spam Scanning: Allows you to disable MailProtect for the user.
7. Click Update User to save your settings.

TIP:

An email user can also login and change these settings from uControl.

Mail by (mt) webmail interface

Anti-Spam Settings

Spam Filtering

You may select to use Global Site Settings (this is determined by your domain's administrator within the Account Center), Custom Settings, or Disable spam filtering.

Spam Filter Sensitivity

This is available when you select Custom Settings. Select the sensitivity for classifying messages as Spam. A lower score will be more aggressive for marking spam.

Message Handling

This is available when you select Custom Settings. Make your selection from the options: Mark as Spam (default), Move to Spam folder, or Purge Message.

Whitelist Senders

This is available when you select Custom Settings. Specify a list of email addresses and domains to whitelist. Each entry must be on its own line. Any email or domain that matches will automatically be flagged as trusted without being classified as Spam.

Blacklist Senders

This is available when you select Custom Settings. Specify a list of email addresses and domains to blacklist. Each entry must be on its own line. Any email or domain that matches will automatically be classified as Spam.

FAQs

How can I verify that MailProtect is working?

Log into an outside email address and send a message with the following text in the body:

XJS*C4JDBQADN1.NSBN3*2IDNEN*GTUBE-STANDARD-ANTI-UBE-TEST-EMAIL*C.34X

The subject is not important. This email should always be labeled as spam unless the sender is in the "Allow List".

Overview

Set up your spam filter to reduce the amount of spam in your inbox.

Instructions

Plesk

1. Log into the Plesk Control Panel for your domain. 
   
   

   TIP:

   If you log into Plesk with the admin user, you will be in the Server Administration Panel by default. To get to the Control Panel, click on Domains, then on the Control Panel link next to your domain.

   You can also create a user that will log into the Control Panel by default, which will save you a few clicks on day-to-day webmaster tasks. See Control Panel user.

2. Click on the Mail tab.
   
   

    

3. Click on the desired email address.
   
   

    

4. Click on the Spam Filter tab.
5. Check the box to switch on the spam filter.
   
   

   .

   You can now click OK, and spam will be enabled with default settings. You're done!

Your spam filter is now enabled.

White and Black Lists

For detailed instructions on how to block or allow a specific email address, please see: How can I block specific incoming emails?

TIP:
Once spam filtering is enabled, you can improve its accuracy by manually moving spam messages into the Spam folder. This MUST be the spam folder on the server - either the one in webmail or an IMAP Spam folder in your local email client.

cPanel

Note: The following guide was made using the cPanel theme "paper_lantern" if you are using a different theme, your visuals/instructions may vary.

1. Log into the cPanel account for the desired domain.
2. In the Email section, click on Spam Filters.
   
   
3. Ensure Process New Emails and Mark them as spam is enabled.
   
   
4. Your spam filter is now enabled.

Further reading

• Plesk 11 documentation