How to Set the Max Emails Per Hour Setting in WHM?
Unrestricted email accounts have high risks for server stability. When one account is broken or a user wants to send mass marketing emails, it may lead to high CPU usage, which will result in slowing down the whole system.
By setting an hourly limit, you protect the reputation of your server, and you do not block or label as spam other users’ legitimate emails.
Why Limit Hourly Emails?
The most common reason for the blacklisting of a server IP is unchecked email activity. In case a hacker has used an account to send thousands of spam messages, large mail providers such as Google and Outlook might block all mail coming from your server.
Prevent IP Blacklisting: To have a clean reputation for your server IP, it is best to keep the volume at low levels.
Minimize CPU Usage: Thousands of emails per hour put a heavy burden on the mail server resources.
Detect Breached Accounts: When a user reaches his or her limit unintentionally, it is a good indicator that his or her account might be hacked.
How to Place an Hourly Email Limit
These limits can be set on a per-account basis through the account modification tool. The following are steps to follow to protect your mail server.
- Log in to your root account in your administrative panel.
- In the sidebar, search the Account Functions category and choose Modify an Account.
- Choose the desired domain from the list and click the Modify button at the bottom.
- Find the field with the title Maximum Hourly Email by Domain Relayed by scrolling down the page.
- Change the setting by clicking the second radio button, “Unlimited.” Type in the number you want (e.g., 250) in the text box.
- To implement the new restriction, click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
Recommended Limits for Shared Hosting
In most typical business accounts, a limit of 200 to 300 emails per hour is sufficient to run a normal day-to-day business. In case you have a client who really requires to send more, then you can always raise their specific limit without affecting the rest of the server.
Conclusion
One of the best solutions to ensure that the server is not overloaded is to have a limit on the number of emails sent per hour. It gives a backup against spam and makes sure that the actions of a single user do not spoil the experience of the other users. These steps will help you to protect your WHM environment against the mail-based resource abuse.
FAQs
What will occur when a user exceeds his/her hourly limit?
The server will stop sending outgoing mail for that domain until the next hour. The user will normally receive an error message in his/her mail client saying that he/she has gone beyond his/her quota.
Does this limit apply to received emails?
No, this setting only controls outgoing (sent) emails. There is no limit on how many emails an account can receive per hour.
Will this have an impact on mailing lists?
Yes, each person in a mailing list counts as one email. When a user sends a single message to 300 people, then it will be counted as 300 emails to his/her hourly quota.
Can I set a global limit for all new accounts?
It is possible to set a default limit on all new accounts in the Tweak Settings section of WHM under the Mail tab.
Is 250 a strict requirement?
No, 250 is a mere industry standard. You can set this number higher or lower depending on the specific needs of your clients and your server’s capacity.
