Hey guys, I have a resellers account with about 40 domains on a Plesk 2.5 server at rackspace (not RS). I just got myself a new server at RS (Plesk 5.0.5) and will be transfering these 40 domains over.

Downtime should be easy to minimize as far as the websites are concerned because the websites will be up and running on both servers during the propagation.

However, I am concerned about email. Let's say my client's ISP resolves the day after we make the DNS change, but to someone in some other state, it hasn't resolved yet. If that person sends an email to myclient@thedomain.com, will it go to the old server or to the new server?

What is the most effective and efficient way to minimize the loss of email?

I had a couple of ideas... let me know what you think:

Update the MX record for the domain on the old server so that it points to the new server.

Web-based mail: If I go to webmail.domain1.com (domain1.com is on the old server), is there a way to access email on domain2.com (domain2.com has resolved to the new server and we need to access its mail on the old server)?

Temporary redirection - The only sure way that I could think of doing it was to have any email sent to the domain on the old server redirected to a temporary email address on a domain that has already resolved.

Any thoughts?

in your /var/qmail/control directory (may be elsewhere in 2.5 cant remember)


create a file called smtproutes and put this in it:



This will have the qmail box just forward ALL mail to the new ip address. While the domains are switching, all new mail will be on the new box but if a client doesnt see the change right away, they will eventually get the mail as soon as their isp does get the updated DNS.

another option is to create an "A" record in your domain in plesk, such as "rs.mydomain.com" and point it to the ip address of you RS box and use that hostname instead of the ip address. I know some older versions of qmail puked when you put an IP in the smtproutes file.

Dont forget to restart qmail after you make this change.