Hold email if mail server fails

[Calimar]

I am not sure where the question belongs, but here it is - If my mail server were to fail, would untangle 'hold' the incoming emails until such time as the mail server comes back up or does it just relay them to a server that doesn't exist?

a little background: We have been running Untangle for about a year after deploying our own Exchange '07 box and we are loving it. The other day, an outside vendor did an audit and recommended this bit of functionality (of course, this could be done with a product that they resell...) and the boss is now thinking that this is a good idea.

Any advice - or even a feature request...

MH

[jonathan.penrose]

MXSave and DynDNS offer 'mail bagging' services that will queue your email if your server is unreachable (whether it is down, or internet is down). I like MXSave better because you can access the queued email remotely, if your server is down for an extended period --- only a couple bucks a month...

I've not used either, but we are planning to use MXSave as part of our managed services for all our clients...

[sky-knight]

Negative... this is one feature Barracuda has that UT doesn't..

UT simply monitors the SMTP session to run its spam filtration. It isn't an actual SMTP server to hold mail. I'm actually in the process of trying to figure out how to use Sendmail or Postfix on a FreeBSD installation to provide the backup MX.

Just be careful, the secondary MX is usually trusted by the primary. And the secondary has a nasty habit of being neglected in terms of how it perceives spam. It has to be treated like a separate mail server... because it is! Then it simply forwards all accepted mail to the primary MX for delivery.

[Calimar]

Alright, thanks for the replies - I can now give an answer that will keep people happy and keep me using Untangle (hopefully).

[dmorris]

Untangle doesn't do store-and-forward so it doesn't have any of these issues.

The original sender will continue to resend the email until it successfully transmits (just like as if Untangle wasn't installed)

[Calimar]

OK, so a slight variation on this theme - if the mail server were to fail and I have MXSave in place as a backup, would I have to disable the SMTP side of the Untangle box so that my MX 10 record was completely dead?

[sky-knight]

No, the connection to the mail server would fail because the mail server isn't there to talk to. Untangle doesn't determine that... it just eavesdrops on the conversation.

[dmorris]

No, the connection to the mail server would fail because the mail server isn't there to talk to. Untangle doesn't determine that... it just eavesdrops on the conversation.

Yep.
Another way to say the same thing is that untangle doesn't change the equation at all.

[sky-knight]

I like it... UT... the man in black next to the windows guy in those mac commercials...

[Gaurav bhatia]

:

I like it... UT... the man in black next to the windows guy in those mac commercials...