SUMMARY:

The (gs) Grid-Service utilizes a webmail application called "@mail" that we have set up. By default, this can be reached by simply navigating to http://webmail.mt-example.com/ . Although this software is very flexible and easy to use, we understand that there are many other options available for a webmail interface. For this reason, this article has been created in order to guide you through the proper recommended steps of overriding the page that comes up when browsing to the regular webmail URL. There are obviously many ways of setting this up. We have come up with two methods; Method 1 will show you how to prepare the folders for a local webmail installation, and Method 2 will show you how to re-direct the URL to a third-party webmail service such as Google's Hosted Email, or an off-site Microsoft Exchange Server's Outlook Web Access (OWA) page.

METHOD 1 - Local webmail:

1. Log in to your site through FTP, File Manager, or SSH.
2. Go to the 'domains' folder.
3. Create a directory called webmail.mt-example.com, navigate into that directory and create a folder called html.
4. Install your own custom webmail app of your choosing in this html folder, following the steps outlined by the software publisher.

METHOD 2 - Redirect URL to third-party webmail service:

1. Log in to your site through FTP, File Manager, or SSH.
2. Go to the domains folder.
3. Create a directory called webmail.mt-example.com, navigate into that directory and create a folder called html.

Create a .htaccess file with the following directive:

redirect 301 / http://external_email_host_address.com/

For example, to have http://webmail.mt-example.com/ redirect to your Google-hosted email login:

redirect 301 / http://mail.google.com/hosted/mt-example.com/

Or to use the alternative to @mail that we've set up (SquirrelMail):

redirect 301 / http://mt-example.com/.mtapps/squirrelmail

SUPPLEMENTAL KB ARTICLES:

What is an .htaccess file: http://kb.mediatemple.net/article.php?id=019
HOWTO: Create an .htaccess redirect: http://kb.mediatemple.net/article.php?id=242
Creating Email Accounts - All purpose: http://kb.mediatemple.net/article.php?id=002

EXTERNAL LINKS:

How to set up gmail for hosted domains - (mt)-Specific: http://paulstamatiou.com/2006/05/18/how-to-setup-gmail-for-hosted-domains/trackback/
SquirrelMail Homepage: http://squirrelmail.org/
RoundCube Homepage: http://roundcube.net/
SourceForge.net - OSS Projects Site: http://sourceforge.net/

Revisions:

08-27-2009: Fixed minor formatting issues
07-20-2009: Minor Fixes