Code Crafters

I have looked for an answer for this but can't find anything pertinent, can I set up static routes but for whole email addresses, not just domains. reason being you can only specify one username /password for authentication but it fails if another user sends to that domain. This topic was discussed in 2009, talking about wildcards in the domain names, but did anything get done?
Steve in England

Static routes are still on a per domain basis only.

Could you clarify what scenario you are describing with "you can only specify one username /password for authentication but it fails if another user sends to that domain" so we can better understand your requirements?

Can you also recommend what would be the best solution going forward. Some improvements include:

1. Multiple domains per static route
2. Wildcard domains
3. Full email address matching (with wildcards potentially too)

We can add a feature request based on what you're looking for. If you really need this feature, we now offer a custom development option for a reasonable fee to get this implemented much sooner for you. Custom developments still will go into the public release to avoid custom builds but this option expedites the feature for you. We've only recently started offering custom development features to customers and have already done several new custom features in the last few weeks for customers.

Imagine this scenario, a user sends an email to an address like xxx@xxx.com. Xxx.com rejects any mail from Independent Mode so you set up a static route with authentication, and the mail delivery succeeds. A second user sends to yyy@xxx.com via the static route but because the authentication is in the name of the first user, it isn't sent by the static route's smtp server. The smtp server is BT.com so can't be changed in any way. The error is...

Rejected with: 550 5.7.60 SMTP; Client does not have permissions to send as this sender [

We understand the scenario now and agree that doing a static route per email address solve this issue. Assuming that bt.com allows you to send from any IP with the right credentials this should work.

Another solution would be to change the SMTP sender (but not the From header line) of any emails using that static route and chances are the email would be accepted fine then. This would still require a change to static routes but may be a simpler change although your original solution would send via BT in the more correct manner so probably is the better option.

We'll add your feature request to our list. If you really need the feature you can expedite this being added by paying for a custom development feature. If you want a custom development feature, please contact info@codecrafters.com for a quote.

Actually, thinking about it, this might still be a problem. If a static route was set up to billgates@microsoft.com and several people send emails to bill, then there could be only one user that could successfully send, the one who's credentials were used.

If you allowed multiple static routes to one email address then that would work, but lots of entries might need to be made. You could have a pick list here to speed up the entry making.

Wildcards are still useful because they would make for overall fewer entries, but multiple static routes to one email would be best.

Just to be clear, static routes are based on the destination domain (possibly email address in a future update) and not the sending domain. It sounds almost like you're wanting to have a static route based on the sender here; is that right?

Since spam filters and SMTP controls are getting tougher all the time, if you use relay servers to send your email to certain domains (because mail is rejected using independent mode), then there has to be a mechanism that somehow allows each user to authenticate to the relay server. Having just one username/password authentication per static route (whether domain, email or wildcard) means that only that one user can successfully send (as is the case with BT.com and Outook.com).

So, yes, a good place to set up these static routes would be inside the user's settings.

But before doing the programming for all this, possibly another method would be if there was a way that you could modify the email headers as they were sent to fool the relay server into accepting every user's email as it passed it along, so avoiding the "permissions" error. What I mean is that the relay server must be looking at the sender of the email, referencing who is authenticating, and then allowing or denying the delivery. Hopefully the receiver would get the right "FROM" though?

Usually, ISP SMTPs will allow you to send with your credentials for any SMTP sender but in your case this isn't true. Note that there is an SMTP Sender in the SMTP conversation but the From header line doesn't necessarily have to match this. It may be possible to send using a single user's credentials but change the SMTP sender to match the credentials without changing the email header lines.

I've just had a look at my Mdeamon mail server and they have a tick box that says "Allow per-account authentication" and they also have a setting in the users properties called Smart Host Access with a Smart host login and password...! So, basically you were right, it's settable by user.

We'll add your feature request to our list. As we said, if you really need this feature then paying for a custom development is the only way to expedite a fast feature implementation. Otherwise, features are added based on highest demand.