Jump to content

Understanding MX entries and deleting mail folder contents


Recommended Posts

Hopefully this is the right to post this, sorry if I've put it in the wrong forum

 

I am using google mail, so I thought I wouldn't have to worry about emails using up space.

Now I've found the folder: /mail/new/ is taking up a lot of disk space.

Also, looking at the MX entry in cPanel (version: 11.24.5-STABLE)  the column 'Always accept' says 'yes'

 

Am I right in assuming this means I am keeping a back up?

 

And that it's safe to change this entry to 'no'

 

And can I safely delete the contents of /mail/new/ ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does Google do your dns too?  Do you have an account with DynDNS.com?  What I think is happening is your DNS MX record does not accurately point to ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM  what you can do is to go to http://www.mxtoolbox.com/ and see if your mx record is correct.  Always accept is not for retaining local copies, and no it is not safe to delete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The domain and web hosting are with different companies, neither is Google.

 

The domain nameserver entry points to the webhosting nameserver and all the DNS settings are on the webhosting server.

 

The MX records point to aspmx.l.google.com, and I just checked that with mxtoolbox, a good tip.

 

So what is 'Always Accept' for?

 

And can I delete some of the older files if I back them up first?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I know about mail I'm guessing it relates to this scenario:

 

I send mail to

gabbitygook@yourcompany.com

 

there is no gabbitygook working here, but instead of just sending back an autoreply "gabbitygook don't work here"  you have that email go to an account that is designated as the universal recipient.  Who knows, the message might have been from publisher's clearing house and you might have just won $45 million.  (all i need is your bank account number to deposit the funds..... but I digress).

 

What ever files are in that directory might be from your mail server before it was moved over (I don't exactly know the whole scenario).  Check the dates of last modified for the files.  Note: I don't have a google app account so don't take this as gospel.

 

You can rename the directory to something like /mail/old and see if everyone looses their mail.  It probably is just old mail.  Your MX record is configured properly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've more or less figured this out now

 

The files are messages to ( and possibly from) the server relating to cron jobs.

 

I think they may be all mail undelivered reports, but at the moment I'm still going through the oldest files, backing up and deleting them.

 

When I get up to date I'll have more idea what's going on

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK it's sorted now

 

The email account I was using for notifications of cron jobs was getting full, and had started rejecting messages.

 

The rejections were sent back to the server and stored in /mail/new/

 

Deleted old emails, deleted contents of /mail/new/, everyone's happy again

 

:)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is more than a year old. Please don't revive it unless you have something important to add.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.