WinVPS mail and Google Apps - any issues?

[Andre]

Any one using Google Apps for their VPS?

If so, do you have any issues with emails from your website's web forms, like a "your feedback page, or some web server notification emails, not reaching your google apps email account?

I've had this annoying issue before with a php application hosted on other webhost (not jodohost). I could not get my php-based site to send mail to the google apps account for that domain. I later had to use a hack to get it work.

Google notes the problem here on their support page, and states the issue as

If you have a form (using PHP/ASP/etc) on your website that is configured to send a message to your Google Apps email account, but you never receive mail from your website's form

Their solution:

To resolve this issue, notify the mail agent running on the server that hosts your website that it is not also responsible for handling mail for your domain. Contact your web host for specific instructions.

I'm considering offloading my mail to an external mail host (I started another thread about this) but I'm wondering specifically if there are any issues with emailing to Google Apps from ASP.NET applications.

How do set the mail agent on my WinVPS to not handle mail for a domain? I assume I could still do mail for other domains, but just not for the domain tied to Google Apps? Any instructions on this?

As a sidenote for people with cPanel web hosts you can do this by unchecking the setting in the CPanel interface MX records configuration called "Always accept mail locally even if the primary mx does not point to this server."

I'm just unclear how to do it on a WinVPS machine and I only want to do it for domains that have a Google Apps account. Not all the domains on my WinVPS will use Google Apps but will use the servers mail agent. Any advice?

 

[Stephen]

you are best to still have a local SMTP server enabled on the server, and simply send through it with 127.0.0.1 in the code(or localhost as it is)

 

[Andre]

I'll try that. By sending mail via localhost on the server to Google Apps, it won't be regarded as spam and rejected?

And thanks for your prompt replies. You've been a great help as always.

 

[Stephen]

I'll try that. By sending mail via localhost on the server to Google Apps, it won't be regarded as spam and rejected?

And thanks for your prompt replies. You've been a great help as always.

you may need to add an spf record to allow google and your vps server base ip (the first one that shows in network properties), that will prevent it from being seen as spam in most cases, that in addition to a rDNs record as mentioned int he other psot.

 

[DavidG]

HI -

We use Google Apps email quite a bit on our VPS.

To avoid the issues you mention, as well as others, you have to disable mail for the domain via Plesk:

Domains> domain name > services > mail > Disable

Failing to do this will also prevent clients who are using Google Apps on the same VPS from emailing each other as well.

Even with the MX records (and mail CNAME) pointed at Google's mail servers, if mail is not disabled in Plesk, Plesk insinuates itself into the process and causes problems.

HTH,
David