Resolved Plesk deletes all mailboxes when email service is disabled

[moswak]

Server operating system version

Centos

Plesk version and microupdate number

Plesk Obsidian 18.0.51 and later

In the past, you could simply deactivate the email service of a domain (e.g. after switching to office365) but the mailboxes were not removed. Now you can only deactivate the email service if you confirm that all mailboxes will also be deleted.

Is it not possible to avoid removing the mailboxes?

 

[Peter Debik]

It is not possible to keep the mailboxes on a domain where no mail service is available.

 

[AYamshanov]

Now you can select the [second] radio-button:

(o) Disabled for incoming mail
    This domain can only send mail, and only using Sendmail.

Emails are saved, incoming emails are not be accepted (and only scripts on a server is able to create outgoing emails; sometimes it is ok for websites that requires to send emails).

Ability to send email via Sendmail is more about scripts which are ran on the server. Probably, it is not affect the scenario you would like to use, is it?
In other words, there are no blockers to do the same way as previously, "disable incoming mails", switching to office365, etc. If you see some blockers, could you please provide more details why this solution does not help you?

 

[moswak]

When a customer migrates their domain to MS, they also need to migrate the content of their mailbox to MS. Customers often want to keep the mailboxes in Plesk for a while before they are finally deleted. But that only works if the email service is activated. If the customer has several domains in his account, Plesk will not send the emails from his other domains to MS if the mail service is activated. Only when the emailservice is deactivated and the mailboxes are deleted immediately will it be delivered to MS.
I found the options earlier better because you could only disable the mail service and decide for yourself when to remove the mailboxes.

 

[AYamshanov]

If the customer has several domains in his account, Plesk will not send the emails from his other domains to MS if the mail service is activated.

Hm... as I know, it is not intended to work this way, I would suggest contacting with the Plesk Support team to investigate the issue (e.g. try to find some misconfiguration with DNS record(s) or a bug in mail configs).

 

[moswak]

No, this is not a bug or a misconfiguration. If the customer has 5 domains but one of them has been switched to MS then this is normal. As long as the mail service is activated in Plesk, Plesk does not care which MX is set (Plesk has no DNS), but delivers the emails locally. Plesk only looks for the MX when the email service is deactivated.

 

[mr-wolf]

In an environment as a provider this is certainly a misconfiguration...

If 2 customers are on the same server, the one with the remote MX will not receive any mails from that other client on the same webserver.
Any mail he sents to a domain with local mail will be kept on the Plesk server.

 

[moswak]

at least with plesk without the dns extension this is the case. if plesk has activated the mail service for the domain, the emails are delivered locally. For domains that have an external mx, the email servoce must be deactivated, which is also not a problem apart from the fact that plesk then also deletes all mailboxes. In the past, this was solved in a more customer-friendly way and you could delete the mailboxes later if necessary.

 

[mr-wolf]

Local or remote DNS has nothing to do with what I'm bringing up.
If a server has active mail for that domain, it will not check DNS. It has always been that way and not only for Plesk.

I was merely bringing it to your intention.
An active mailserver without MX-records pointing to it can therefore be considered a misconfiguration.
I've seen it happen with me and I've seen it happen with others, even with big Microsoft Office.

I would call it a misconfiguration...
It's somewhat debatable (until they start complaining they never get any mails anymore from that nice man who also happens to be a client of yours).

I do agree however you should be able to keep your mails if the mailservice is disabled.
The new service could break down or some mails didn't migrate.

But Plesk never ever deleted mails if I disabled the mail service for that domain (I'm using Plesk for 20 years).
Or are you disabling the mailserver for the whole system? Why would you do that?

You are aware that Plesk is intended for providers and not for 1 domain?
Still, it doesn't mean you can't use it for 1 domain.

For years I've disabled the mail service for a specific domain and it never ever deleted any mails.
I therefore don't understand the problem, unless you disabled of removed the mail service.
In that case, that's asking for it.

When a customer migrates their domain to MS, they also need to migrate the content of their mailbox to MS. Customers often want to keep the mailboxes in Plesk for a while before they are finally deleted. But that only works if the email service is activated.

"But that only works if the email service is activated"

That's a strange offer to your customer and it will likely get you unnecessary questions.
You mean that they will continue to have your mailserver in their client even though it has become static?
I disable the mailserver (mainly to prevent local delivery).

I tell them that I continue keep their mails on my server in case they are concerned and I will keep them for a while and if necessary inform them before I delete them.

I've even written a script that will tell me if there are domains with mail service enabled whilst MX is pointing elsewhere.

 

[moswak]

That's a strange offer to your customer and it will likely get you unnecessary questions.
You mean that they will continue to have your mailserver in their client even though it has become static?

no of course not

I do agree however you should be able to keep your mails if the mailservice is disabled.
The new service could break down or some mails didn't migrate.

Yes, exactly, and that's no longer the case with the newer Plesk versions.

But Plesk never deleted my mails if I disabled the mail service for that domain.

this was the case in previous versions. but now the service can only be deactivated if you confirm that all mailboxes are also deleted, see picture

the email service can only be deactivated if the checkbox is activated and you confirm that everything will be deleted.

 

[AYamshanov]

I have asked Plesk Support to reproduce the issue and confirm the bug. Now I have an answer that we was not able to reproduce the issue; and it seems there is no bug - with "Disabled for incoming mail", Plesk tries to delivery email to an external server.

As previously, I would like to suggest contacting with the Plesk Support team to investigate the issue on the server with issue.

 

[moswak]

As previously, I would like to suggest contacting with the Plesk Support team to investigate the issue on the server with issue.

it's not about a possible bug.
I know that "with "Disabled for incoming mail", Plesk tries to delivery email to an external server." functions.

it's just that it was "before" possible to disable the email service "without" deleting the mailboxes.
it would be much better if you could deactivate the email service without immediately losing all mailboxes.
and that probably won't change.

 

[mr-wolf]

OK....
Everything above written by me was written without the knowledge of this new option.

As I see it, the 3rd option should be considered as something new.
Instead of "unconfigured", you should now set it to "Disabled for incoming mail"

When set for "disabled for incoming mail" it will send the mail to the MX-address.

I need to go through your posts again to see what your problem is exactly, but as I see it, you should just avoid option 3
The 2nd option behaves the same as before.

Some confusion is there when choosing option 3, but it has a clear warning.

 

[mr-wolf]

I've read your posts again considering the new options.

I can't see what has changed for you regarding your use case.
The only thing you now need to do is opt voor option #2 whenever you migrate a domain to another mailserver.

The 3rd option is a bit unnecessary IMHO.
I remove the mail accounts myself after I no longer deem it necessary to keep them.

I still can't come up with a scenario that this is an unwanted option. Unneeded, yes... but not unwanted.


I would rather have their webprogrammer spend that 30 minutes on making it possible to have NS-records starting with an underscore....
That way I can get an _acme-challenge.<domain> as NS-record.
I'm only waiting 4 years for that... and was forced to think of something to get that NS-record in my DNS-server (which was successful).

 

[mr-wolf]

@moswak

No comment?

 

[moswak]

actually everything has been said. I had written that I know that option 2 is chosen to prevent emails from being delivered locally. option 3 only to remove all mailboxes. It takes a little getting used to that this has now been changed and in my opinion it was solved better in the past, but that's the way it is and option 2 at least prevents the mailboxes from being deleted.
everything's ok ...