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How do I set up spam filtering for my server?

  • Applies to: (dv) 3.5, (dv) 4.0, (gs)

  • Difficulty: Easy

  • Time needed: 10 minutes

  • Tools needed: AccountCenter access or Plesk administrator access

 
  • Applies to: (gs)
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: AccountCenter access
  • Applies to: (dv) 4.0
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: Plesk administrator access
  • Applies to: (dv) 3.5
    • 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 (gs) Grid-Service.

MailProtect (Global Settings)

  1. Log into your AccountCenter.
  2. Click on your primary domain.
  3. Click on MailProtect (Anti-Spam).
    mailprotect01
     
  4. Configure your settings:

    Delivery

    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

    spamlevel

    • 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

    allowlist

    • 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:
      • kbuser@mt-example.com
      • @mt-example.com

    Block list

    blocklist

    • 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:
      • kbuser@mt-example.com
      • @mt-example.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 AccountCenter.
  2. Click on your primary domain.
  3. Click on Email Users.
    emailusers02
  4. Click on edit for the user.
    edit03
  5. Adjust the User's MailProtect Settings:
    mpusersettings
    • 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.

TIP:

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

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

TIP:

If the screenshots you see here don't match your version of Plesk, please see the (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 3.5 section. These screenshots are for the (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 4.0 and Plesk 10.

  1. Log into the Plesk Control Panel for your domain. See Figure 1:

    Figure 1. The Plesk Control Panel. Click for a larger view.
    Figure 1. The Plesk Control Panel. Click for a larger view.

    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 at the top. See Figure 2:

    Figure 2. Click on Mail.
    Figure 2. Click on Mail.

  3. Click on your email address in the list. See Figure 3:

    Figure 3. Click on your email address.
    Figure 3. Click on your email address.

  4. Then, click on the Spam Filter tab. See Figure 4:

    Figure 4. Click on Spam Filter.
    Figure 4. Click on Spam Filter.

  5. Check the box to switch on the spam filter. See Figure 5:

    Figure 5. Click on Switch on spam filtering for this e-mail address.
    Figure 5. Click on Switch on spam filtering for this e-mail address.

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

    Or, if you want to change the default settings, click on Show Advanced Settings. See Figure 6:

    Figure 6. Click on Show Advanced Settings.
    Figure 6. Click on Show Advanced Settings.

  6. Here, you can change the filter sensitivity, or add email addresses to your White list or Black list. For the sensitivity, a lower number will make the spam filter stricter, and a higher number will allow more messages through. Click OK when you're done. See Figure 7:

    Figure 7. Change your spam filter sensitivity, and access your block and allow lists.
    Figure 7. Change your spam filter sensitivity, and access your block and allow lists.

Your spam filter is now enabled.

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.

Further reading

Overview

SpamAssassin is the default spam filtering software that comes with Plesk on your (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server. You can configure spam settings for the overall server settings and for individual email users.

Server settings

To set up the overall server spam settings, click here. This is the Parallels documentation for Plesk 8.6.

Individual settings

The SpamAssassin controls for individual mailboxes work just like the ones for the server as a whole.

  1. Log into Plesk.
  2. Click on Domains on the left.

    Plesk domains.png

  3. Click on your domain.
  4. Click on Mail.

    Plesk domain mail.png

  5. Select the email address.
  6. Click on Spam Filter.

    Plesk domain mail spam.png

  7. Now, visit the Parallels documentation. It has detailed instructions on using the SpamAssassin interface to tweak your personal settings, and on how to enable individual spam filtering. You can also see Enable SpamAssassin filtering for Plesk users for assistance with enabling individual spam filtering.

Black and White Lists

If you have added an email address to your Black List or White List, and it's not being filtered as desired, you may need to add a different line to the list. See How can I block specific incoming emails? for details.

Additional resources

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