When would I use it?
During a network outage, planned maintenance or a temporarily unreachable receiving server.
PACKAGE 1
Backup MX
Secondary MX: temporary queuing and delivery to your existing mail server, without spam/virus/content scanning or quarantine.
THE EVERYDAY USE CASE
When your primary server pauses, incoming mail can wait
What do I gain?
A secondary incoming route with temporary queuing and retries after recovery.
Without this layer
Recovery depends on the original sender retaining and retrying the message. Retry behavior varies.
The route at a glance
- Primary availableBackup MX stays on standby.
- Primary unavailableEligible incoming mail can enter the temporary queue.
- Primary recoversQueued mail retries delivery to your real server.
Know the service boundary
Existing mailboxes stay
Your team keeps the same mail platform.
Queue has a lifetime
Expiry and permanent failure can produce a delivery failure notice.
No incoming inspection
Spam, antivirus and quarantine belong to Email Protection.
What Backup MX gives you
Keep the current mail platform
Your existing server continues to host mailboxes. Backup MX has no pre-acceptance mailbox/user lookup, SMTP AUTH or mailbox list. The receiving server decides recipient validity during normal delivery.
Backup MX stays on standby while your primary server is available
Backup MX reads the latest scheduled SMTP health result. Available means a logged temporary refusal. A recent closed result requires a bounded SMTP greeting check before accepting new mail; recovery returns the standby refusal without looking up the recipient. Missing, changed, expired or uncertain observations temporarily defer. System Admin controls the scheduled refresh interval (five minutes by default); outages and recovery can be noticed later. Previously accepted mail continues normal delivery after recovery.
Choose continuity without content filtering
Use this package when queue-and-forward service is the goal and message protection is already handled by your receiving environment.
Free Setup Assistance and Unlimited Technical Support Tickets are included. Your mailboxes remain on your existing server.
Protection and portal capabilities
Message inspection and personal quarantine are available in Email Protection (base Package 2). Backup MX provides queuing and delivery without content scanning. Availability depends on package, enabled controls and supported analysis limits.
Mail traffic and account activity
All packages
Use Logs to distinguish mail traffic from account activity.
Scope and limits
Use Logs to distinguish mail traffic from account activity. Recorded setting changes include named old and new values where available. Customer access stays scoped to the account; historical records may contain less detail.
Brute Force Protection
All packages
Configured login and SMTP authentication protections limit repeated failed attempts.
Scope and limits
Configured login and SMTP authentication protections limit repeated failed attempts. This account and server protection is separate from message content filtering; enabled controls and administrator settings determine coverage.
Delivery history and security details
All packages
Open a Queue ID to follow recorded delivery attempts, SMTP responses, security decisions and rule contributions.
Scope and limits
Open a Queue ID to follow recorded delivery attempts, SMTP responses, security decisions and rule contributions. A local submission result, destination acceptance and inbox placement are different outcomes.
Choose Security in the main menu for analysis scope, or Company → What’s new for release details.
Installation steps
- Choose and verifySelect the base package and keep your ownership TXT record published.
- Connect the routeKeep primary MX for Backup MX; set the real manual target and only SecuraWall MX for Email Protection.
- Check the outcomeTest your own domain and review the recorded queue, scan and destination result.
Full setup checklist
Select and activate the package
Create an account, verify an independent recovery email, choose the domain package and complete its initial payment.
Prove domain ownership
Publish the exact TXT token displayed in the portal. Keep this record published while the service is active.
Choose the receiving destination
Set automatic discovery of primary MX targets or a manual public mail-server hostname/IP and SMTP port. Delivery must never point back to SecuraWall.
Add the secondary MX
Keep all legitimate primary MX records. Add gate.securawall.com with a larger preference number than every intended primary.
Set delivery and notifications
Review TLS/certificate policy, complete-message size and the applicable queue lifetime. Enable the notification preferences you need.
Verify outage and recovery
With the primary available, confirm a temporary refusal and its log. During a controlled outage, send a uniquely identified message to a real recipient you control; confirm queuing and one delivery after recovery.
Protocol decisions and responsibility
SMTP outcomes and mailbox responsibilities
Backup MX does not perform an active mailbox-existence check before accepting the message. It accepts eligible mail for the registered domain into its delivery queue. During actual forwarding, the receiving server can accept or reject RCPT TO or DATA. A permanent failure discovered at that stage is a delivery failure, not a portal username check.
No mailbox accounts are created or synchronized. Domain ownership verification proves control of the domain; it does not verify each mailbox. A local queue response proves gateway acceptance. A remote 2xx response proves acceptance by the receiving SMTP system, not inbox placement or user reading. Temporary failures retry within the queue lifetime; permanent failures and expiry can produce a delivery failure notification, which can itself fail.
Security and delivery settings
Security and delivery settings
These are available controls, not a claim that every switch is enabled. Administrator global policy, domain settings, package rights and device policy determine the applied behavior.
| Control | Scope | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Registered domain and service state | All packages | Receiving is restricted to registered, enabled recipient domains with valid ownership and service status. No portal username, mailbox password or SMTP AUTH is required from an incoming sender. Portal account login protects management operations only. |
| MX and destination safety | Package-specific | Backup MX uses a less-preferred secondary MX alongside your real primary MX records. Email Protection (base Package 2) requires gate.securawall.com as the only published MX and a separately saved manual delivery destination. Never discover the destination from the protected domain MX or point delivery back to SecuraWall. Current delivery target safety checks require validated public IPv4 addresses and, when explicitly enabled, validated public IPv6 addresses. Unsafe destinations are deferred. |
| Delivery TLS | All packages | Choose whether TLS is required, whether invalid certificates are accepted and whether legacy TLS versions are disabled. Certificate verification can use a configured server hostname. These are transport settings, not content inspection. |
| Message and queue limits | All packages | Administrators configure complete-message size, queue retention and retry timing. Domain size limits can be lower. A server outage does not reset message age. |
| Connection and rate limits | All packages · Administrator | Incoming-listener limits cover total concurrent connections, connections per host, emails per connection, recipients per email, emails per minute per host and connections per second per host. These protect service resources; Package 1 still has no spam or antivirus scanning. |
| DNS/SMTP monitoring and notifications | All packages | Administrators set DNS query budgets, SMTP timeouts, check concurrency and cycle budgets. Customers and administrators can configure available notification preferences. Background checks do not replace real delivery results. |
Backup MX has no AntiSpam, Antivirus, content inspection, authentication scoring or quarantine. Registered-domain validity, relay isolation, transport settings and resource limits still apply. Backup MX does not query whether a mailbox exists before accepting its message. A later permanent delivery failure is reported through normal SMTP failure handling.
How the package works
- Registered routeCurrent ownership and service status are checked.
- Package policyBackup MX queues during outages; Email Protection applies enabled controls.
- Delivery resultReview destination SMTP acceptance separately from inbox placement.
Detailed protocol flow
Incoming mail never requires a portal login or mailbox password. Temporary delivery failures remain queued within the configured lifetime. Permanent delivery rejection or expiry can generate a failure notification. Remote SMTP acceptance is separate from inbox placement.
Choosing and renewing this package
Package changes and manual renewal
One active package per domain. During an active period, an upgrade has no immediate charge and keeps its end date. The next manual renewal uses the selected package price. Downgrades apply at the paid period end. Moving between Backup MX and protected packages also changes DNS topology: save the real destination before a primary-gateway switch; restore the real primary MX when returning to secondary Backup MX. Check the saved gateway mode before changing DNS, especially on an older registration. Renew selected package opens the current package payment screen directly.
Current monthly price: USD 15.00 per domain, taxes included.
Choose Backup MXMX routing and scope details
Backup MX handles mail reaching its secondary route. Email Protection uses the only published MX; the SMTP Relay add-on keeps the existing receiving route; a separate manual target delivers to the real mail server. MX selection does not reroute mail already queued by another sender or prevent direct connections to the receiving server; restrict direct delivery there if required. These packages do not include hosted mailboxes, outage webmail or a permanent mailbox archive.