Queries about the autoresponder

[km9]

Hello,

I have root access on a WHM/cPanel server:

/etc/redhat-release:CentOS Linux release 7.3.1611 (Core)
/usr/local/cpanel/version:11.62.0.19
/var/cpanel/envtype:standard
CPANEL=release
Server version: Apache/2.4.25 (cPanel)
Server built: Mar 20 2017 15:23:03
ea-php-cli Copyright 2016 cPanel, Inc.
PHP 5.6.30 (cli) (built: Mar 22 2017 18:13:01)
Copyright (c) 1997-2016 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2016 Zend Technologies
mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.6.35, for Linux (x86_64) using EditLine wrapper

I have some questions about the autoresponder:

1. It seems to respond to everything, mailing lists, notifications, etc. Can I limit this to, say, something closer to the 'personal' exim filter?

2. The hours between responses is great, but if I set it to 999 it is rejected. Did I miss the valid range?

3. If an email address is forwarded, say 'sales', to a group, and there is an autoresponse set by any one or more of the group, an autoresponse is sent from the personal addresses. Can this be disabled?

4. In our last system, I had a default header and footer, including graphic, which the autoresponse text was merged with. Is there any way of setting a default template?

Thanks for your time.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

1. It seems to respond to everything, mailing lists, notifications, etc. Can I limit this to, say, something closer to the 'personal' exim filter?

It's not possible to limit the autoresponder, but note that internal case CPANEL-11294 will prevent automatic responses to Mailer-Daemon notifications in cPanel version 66:

mailer-daemon + autoresponders

2. The hours between responses is great, but if I set it to 999 it is rejected. Did I miss the valid range?

Intervals less than or equal to 720 hours are accepted in the UI (higher values are not permitted to prevent file clutter from unreasonably high ttls).

3. If an email address is forwarded, say 'sales', to a group, and there is an autoresponse set by any one or more of the group, an autoresponse is sent from the personal addresses. Can this be disabled?

You'd need to disable the autoresponder on the personal account to prevent it from sending the response.

4. In our last system, I had a default header and footer, including graphic, which the autoresponse text was merged with. Is there any way of setting a default template?

It's not possible to setup a default template for the autoresponder body, however I encourage you to open a feature request if you'd like to see this functionality:

Submit A Feature Request

Thank you.

 

[km9]

Thanks for the response, I am quite surprised at the apparent inflexibility of the AR. I have submitted a suggestion to address this.

I also haven't been able to work out how to send an autoresponse from a 'no-reply' type address, i.e. one that doesn't accept emails.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to open a feature request. Feel free to post the URL here once it's out of moderation.

I also haven't been able to work out how to send an autoresponse from a 'no-reply' type address, i.e. one that doesn't accept emails.

This depends on the default action you prefer for emails sent to the "no-reply" address. Do you want those emails to bounce to the sender, deliver to the account, or have the messages discarded silently?

Thank you.

 

[km9]

I guess I'd like them to bounce, as I don't want to deal with any more incoming email.

 

[cPanelMichael]

If you want the messages to bounce, you could setup a custom bounce message instead of using an Autoresponder. Browse to the "Default Address" option in cPanel and choose:

Discard the email while your server processes it by SMTP time with an error message — Select this option to send an error message to the sender. Enter an error message in the Failure Message (seen by sender) text box.

This option is documented at:

Default Address - Documentation - cPanel Documentation

Thank you.

 

[km9]

Ok, what if I want a formatted, html email, sent in response to an email sent to an address that is no longer active (e.g. an employee that has left) that should be sent from a 'no-reply' address?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

You can setup an AutoResponder for an email account that does not exist.

Thank you.

 

[km9]

Yes, I know, but I want the reply to come from a 'no-reply' (Please do not reply to this email, it is sent from an address that is unmonitored) address.

 

[cPanelMichael]

That functionality isn't directly offered, but you could setup the Autoresponder for the address, and then setup a global filter rule that discards the incoming messages:

Global Email Filters - Documentation - cPanel Documentation
How to Configure Mail Filters - cPanel Knowledge Base - cPanel Documentation

This would send the automatic response, and also discard any incoming messages to the email account. Would this achieve what you are seeking? Or, are you looking for a way to customize the actual bounce message format itself?

Thank you.

 

[km9]

No, not really. I can't be explaining myself very well! I want an autoresponder message with a spoofed sender address that doesn't receive emails.

By the way, no offence intended, but are these forums supposed to be general discussion forums for members, or cPanel support forums? If it's the latter, you're doing a great job, apparently on your own, but if it's the former then I'm afraid it's a bit of a failure. Is there anywhere better suited to a free and open discussion of ideas relating to managing a WHM/cPanel installation?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello @km9,

I want an autoresponder message with a spoofed sender address that doesn't receive emails.

I don't believe it's possible to spoof the address through any supported methods. Could you explain the benefit of using a spoofed address over an actual email address added to the account that utilizes a filter to discard or bounce all incoming email?

By the way, no offence intended, but are these forums supposed to be general discussion forums for members, or cPanel support forums? If it's the latter, you're doing a great job, apparently on your own, but if it's the former then I'm afraid it's a bit of a failure. Is there anywhere better suited to a free and open discussion of ideas relating to managing a WHM/cPanel installation?

The cPanel Forums are intended for discussions with both users and cPanel staff members. You are welcome to open new threads to seek out feedback from other users. You may also find our Feature Request website helpful if you are looking to gather user-feedback regarding a new feature. Websites such as StackOverflow and WebHostingTalk are also common places of discussion for cPanel-related topics if you seeking out additional user-feedback.

Thank you.

 

[km9]

The benefit is that it would avoid the contradiction of sending an autoresponse with a senders address that is no longer in use. I've cludged it for the moment by directly editing the .autoresponder files but I'm thinking that I might be able to bypass the cpanel autoresponder completely by using a filter and pipe to a program.

Thanks for the other info.