How to Create a Catch-All Email Account in DirectAdmin #
A catch-all address tells your server how to handle email sent to addresses at your domain that don’t actually exist — for example, a typo like `info@` instead of `information@`. DirectAdmin gives you three options for handling these messages.
How to Set Up a Catch-All Email #
- Log in to your DirectAdmin control panel by accessing https://yourdomain:2222
- Look for the Catch-All E-Mail (under Advanced Features) link and click on it
- You have three options here:
– Fail: the sender will be notified that the recipient doesn’t exist (recommended)
– Ignore: the email is dropped; no message is sent back
– Address: the email will be forwarded to an email address of your choice
Click the Update button
Why “Fail” Is Recommended #
Forwarding everything with Address (a true catch-all) may seem convenient, but it comes with real risks:
- Directory harvest attacks: spammers send messages to random addresses at your domain to find out which ones are “live.” A catch-all confirms every guess.
- Backscatter and blacklisting: if the forwarded address later bounces spam back to the original (often forged) sender, your domain’s server can get flagged as a spam source.
Fail rejects unknown addresses immediately at the mail server, avoiding both problems while still letting real senders know their message didn’t reach a valid mailbox.
If you’re worried about missing typo’d emails, a better alternative is email forwarding or creating additional named email accounts for the specific addresses you expect people to use.
