Logging in

You need to log in, in order to use the control panel to manage your web site.

To log on:

1. Enter the address of your cPanel in your web browser. The address needs to be in the form of http://www.yourdomain.com:2082

2. Enter your user name and password in the User Name and Password fields.

3. Click on button. You will now be logged on to cPanel.

Logging out

You should explicitly log out whenever you have finished using the control panel, as this tells the web server that you have finished that session. If you do not log out, the server automatically closes your session after a set period of time, but there is a small chance that a hacker could use that open connection.

To log out:

1. Click on the button. This is located on the opening page of cPanel in both the default and iconic themes.

Mail Menu

The Mail Menu area allows you to manage all aspects of your email, from adding new accounts, managing mailing lists, and setting spam filters. There are quite a number of options available, so take your time.

Note: All email options can be used in conjunction with each other. For example, you could set up an auto-responder on your main account to email an "Out of Office" message, a forwarder to send the email to your uncle's house where you are staying, and a spam filter to reject all email with "credit" in the subject line. This flexibility is what makes email so powerful as a communication medium.

Reading your email

You can read your online email using NeoMail. This popular webmail script allows you to read your email, save them, keep an address book, and perform all of the other basic email functions that you are used to. The main difference between NeoMail and an offline email applications, such as Eudora or Microsoft Outlook Express, is that all of these functions are performed online, rather than on your own computer, and offline applications generally provide many more features.

NeoMail is optional. You can still use your favorite offline email applications, if you prefer. You can even use a combination of NeoMail and another tool - you can check your e-mail online, perhaps when you're at work, and download your email to your computer when you get home. You can automatically configure Outlook Express, or manually configure other mail applications.

To read your email online:
Click on the Web Mail link in the Mail Menu area to access your default email account, or click on the Add / Remove accounts link and click on the Read Webmail link next to the account that you want to read.

Note: You can also save this link as a bookmark, so that you can access it without having to use cPanel.
You are now in the NeoMail window for your default email address. Click on any message link to read the message, and use the toolbar to reply to the email, or perform any other function.
Email Accounts
You can set up as many POP (Post Office Protocol) email accounts as you require, up to your maximum limit. Each one of these is in the standard email formation of address@yourdomain.com. As with your default email address, you can access these accounts through NeoMail or through your own offline email application.

To add an email account:
Click on the Add / Remove accounts link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Add Account link.
Enter the first part of the email address and the password for the account in Email and Password fields.
Click on the create button. Your new account has been added.

Setting your default email address

Any email that is sent to an unknown account at your domain name, such as unknown@yourdomain.com, gets automatically rerouted to your default email account. All web site accounts are automatically assigned a default email address - user@yourdomain.com - which you can change, if required.
To set your default email address:
Click on the Default Address link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Set Default Address link.
Enter the complete email address of the new default in the field next to your web site name drop-down list.

Note: You can enter :blackhole: to throw away all incoming mail, or :fail: to bounce the email back to the sender.
Click on the change button. Your new default email address has now been set.

Auto-Responders

Auto-responders are email messages that are sent automatically when an email arrives for a specific email account. auto-responders are most commonly used for an "Out of Office" style message to inform your correspondents that you are not available, without you having to reply manually. You can have more than one auto-responder on one account.

Note: You can not add HTML code to the email reply - plain text only.

To add an auto-responder:
Click on the Auto-Responders link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Add AutoResponder link.
Enter the address of the account that the auto-responder responds to in the Email field.
Enter your name or address in the From field. You do not have to put anything in this field.
Enter the subject line of the auto-responder in the Subject field.
Enter the auto-responder message in the Body field. You can not use HTML code in this field - plain text only.
Click on the create button.

Blocking email

You can block an email using spam filters. There are many definitions of spam, but one of the most useful ones is the following:
"Spam: unsolicited email, usually of a commercial nature."
Spam is the electronic version of junk mail, and has been around since the Internet was created. Spam filters are a way of filtering your email to remove unwanted mail based on a variety of criteria. You can block any sort of email, not just mail of a commercial nature. Blocked mail is deleted automatically - it does not even bounce back to the sender. These filters are quite flexible - some examples are provided after the instruction on how to add a spam filter below. All filters are cumulative.

To add a spam filter:
Click on the Block an E-mail link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Add Filter link.
Click on the required header field in the first drop-down list. These are the various fields in any email message.
Click on the required filter action in the second drop-down list. This action will act on the text entered in the third field.
equals - match the text exactly (whole words only). "Credit" will block "Credit".
matches regex - matches the text based on regular expression (regex) rules. Regular expressions are a powerful but complex area. You do not need to use regular expression filters for most circumstances. Refer to these two good introductory tutorials - Using Regular Expressions and Learning to Use Regular Expressions - for more information.
contains - match the specified text in any circumstance. "porn" will block "porn" and "pornography".
begins with - match the specified text when it is the beginning of a word. "porn" will block "porn" and "pornography" but not "teenporn".
Enter the filter text in the third field. This text is a sensitive case.
Click on the activate button.

Example:
To block all email from "john@paradise.net", enter: From, equals, john@paradise.net
To block all email from paradise.net, enter: From, contains, paradise.net
To block all references to pornography, enter: Any Header, contains, porn

Forwarders
Forwards simply allow you to automatically forward email sent to one account to another account. This is useful when you work at two separate locations, or have gone on for holiday.
To add a forwarder:
Click on the Forwarders link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Add Forwarder link.
Enter the first part of the email address that will be forwarded in the first field in the "Add forwarder" area.
Enter the full email address that the forwarder will also forward in the second field.
Click on the add forward button.

Mailing Lists

cPanel includes a popular mailing list script called Mailman. Mailing lists are an ideal tool for communication between far flung participants and can be about anything you want. Mailman allows you to set up a mailing list with a large number of configurable options, such as who is on the list, where are mailing lists messages sent, and whether you include welcoming messages to new subscribers.
The Mailman documentation, which is incorporated into its Administration panel is clear and helpful, and should be referred to all the questions about using the script. The instructions in this section deal with how to set up, modify, and delete a Mailman mailing list from your cPanel.
The Mailman homepage is at the following address for more information: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman.html

Note: It is a good idea to be aware of spam and its definition before setting up a mailing list -which refers to Blocking email for more information.

To add a mailing list:
Click on the Lists link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Add List link.
Enter the name of the mailing list in the field"List Name", the password for the list in the Password field, and the domain it is for in the Domain drop-down list.
Click on the create button. The list is created in the /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/lists folder.

Spam Assassin
Spam Assassin is a mail filter installed on a mail server used to identify spam. It checks for spam using a large number of pre-set rules that check the header, body, and sender of all email messages sent to your domain mailbox.

To enable Spam Assassin:
Click on the Spam Assassin link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the "enable spam assassin" button.
 

Mail Exchanger (MX Entry)
cPanel manages your email through its own mail server. However, by altering your MX (Mail Exchange Record) Entry, you can point your email to another mail server, if this is required.
Note: cPanel will not be able to manage your email if you change your MX Entry setting.

To alter your MX Entry setting:
Click on the Modify Mail Exchanger (MX Entry) link in the Mail Menu area.
Click on the Change a MX Entry link.
Enter the domain name of the new MX Entry in the available field.
Note: You can only change the entry to a domain name (e.g. yourdomain.com), not an IP (Internet Protocol) address.
Click on the change button.