Email Forwarders

What Forwarders Do#

A forwarder tells the mail server to deliver all messages addressed to one address directly to another address — without storing a copy locally. The original message headers are preserved; the envelope recipient is rewritten.

Forwarders are managed in Hosting Mode → Email → Forwarders.

Creating a Forwarder#

1. Navigate to Hosting Mode → Email → Forwarders.
2. Click Add Forwarder.
3. Fill in the form:
   • Forward from — the source address (e.g. sales@yourdomain.com)
   • Forward to — the destination address (e.g. yourname@gmail.com)
4. Click Save.

The panel writes the mapping to /etc/postfix/virtual and runs postmap to rebuild the hash index. The forwarder is active within seconds.

[!NOTE] The source address does not need to be an existing mailbox. You can forward contact@yourdomain.com to an external address without creating a local account for it.

Editing a Forwarder#

1. Find the forwarder in the list.
2. Click Edit.
3. Change the destination address.
4. Click Save.

You cannot change the source address — delete and recreate it instead.

Deleting a Forwarder#

1. Find the forwarder in the list.
2. Click Delete.
3. Confirm your account password in the confirmation dialog.

[!IMPORTANT] Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone. Once removed, mail to the source address will bounce unless a local mailbox exists for it.

Catch-All Address#

A catch-all catches all messages sent to any address at a domain that does not match an existing mailbox or forwarder.

To set a catch-all:

1. Navigate to Hosting Mode → Email → Forwarders.
2. Click Add Forwarder.
3. In the Forward from field, enter @yourdomain.com (the @ prefix indicates catch-all).
4. Set the destination.
5. Click Save.

[!TIP] Catch-all addresses tend to accumulate spam quickly because spammers probe random local parts. Consider whether you actually need one, or use a dedicated mailbox with aggressive spam filtering instead.

To remove a catch-all, delete the @yourdomain.com forwarder entry.

Forwarding to External Addresses — Deliverability Warning#

When you forward mail to an external provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.), the message is re-sent from your server using the original sender's address. This can cause SPF failures at the destination because your server is not listed in the sender's SPF record.

Common consequences:

• Forwarded mail marked as spam by the destination provider
• DMARC failures if the original sender has a p=reject or p=quarantine policy

Mitigations:

• Enable SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) if your Postfix configuration supports it — this rewrites the envelope sender so SPF checks pass at the destination.
• Accept that some forwarded mail may be filtered at the destination; this is a structural limitation of forwarding, not a bug in Opterius.

For more detail, see SPF, DKIM, and DMARC and Email Deliverability.

Related#

• Creating Email Accounts
• SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
• Email Deliverability