SpamWall Technical Support FAQ's

If you have a question that has not been answered here or if you require advice or assistance with any support or service related query or issue you can contact us via email at service@spamwall.com or complete and submit our online contact form.

These are the SpamWall Technical Support FAQ's, for SpamWall Product and Pre-sales related questions see the SpamWall Product and Pre-sales FAQ's.

SpamWall Technical Support FAQ's
What levels of support are available for technical and service related queries and issues?
What is an MX Record?
How do I change my MX Record?
How do I find my mail servers address?
What if I don't know how to change my "MX" records?
Can you change the MX records for me?
After I change my MX records how long will it take before email is being routed to my SpamWall system?
How do I know if email is being processed by my SpamWall system?
Will my email processed by the SpamWall system be secure?
Do I need my own mail server to use the SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall?
Will the SpamWall work with any web or email hosting provider?
What if my web hosting or DNS provider will not allow me to change my MX records?
Is there a limit on the size of email attachments with the SpamWall system?
Does the SpamWall system support whitelists and blacklists?
Does the SpamWall system support RBL/Blacklists like Spamhaus and SpamCop?
What if my mail server goes offline for some reason and is unable to accept email?
Will the SpamWall system make backups of my email in case I need it?
Does the SpamWall system support SSL/TLS encrypted SMTP delivery?
What if I change my email server, ISP, hosting provider or email server IP address?
How do I make contact for non-technical sales or service queries and issues such as upgrading my SpamWall system to a higher capacity model?
How do I connect to the web interface control panel on my SpamWall System?
How do I troubleshoot or locate a missing email message?
We received a Spam message that wasn't blocked by our SpamWall system, what can I do to block it?
What do I do when an email message that is not Spam is delivered to the Spam Quarantine?
What do I do if I have more questions or need technical support advice or assistance with my SpamWall System?

 

What levels of support are available for technical and service related queries and issues? [Top]
SpamWall technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have a query or issue or require advice or assistance with any matter related to our service or your SpamWall system we encourage you to contact us so that we can answer your questions and provide advice or assistance when necessary. You can contact us via email at service@spamwall.com or complete and submit our Online Contact Form.
 
What is an MX Record? [Top]
The term "MX record” stands for "Mail Exchange" record". An MX record tells mail servers around the world where to send the email for your domain. These records are contained in the domain "zone file" for your domain on the DNS server or servers which provide DNS service for the domain, this would be either your own DNS servers or the DNS servers of your ISP or hosting company.
 
How do I change my MX Record? [Top]
Information on modifying MX records can be found in the Setting up MX Records section of the online SpamWall Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.

If you do not have access to the DNS zone file for your domain then the technical administrator of your domain, which would likely either be your ISP, web hosting provider, systems administrator or IT department should be able to modify the MX records for you.

If you require any advice or assistance with modifying the MX records for your domain to route email to your SpamWall system you can contact SpamWall support for assistance with this.
 
How do I find my mail servers address? [Top]
Use the online MX lookup tool located here. Enter your domain name and select  "Lookup". This will tell you your mail servers host name or IP address.

If you require any advice or assistance with determining the IP address of your mail server or with any other support or service related query or issue you can contact us via email at service@spamwall.com or via our Online Contact Form.
 
What if I don't know how to change my "MX" records? [Top]
If you require any advice or assistance with modifying your MX records you can contact us via email at the service@spamwall.com address or otherwise complete and submit our Online Contact Form. We can email you the necessary changes and you can forward this info to your ISP, hosting company, systems administrator or IT department. Otherwise, we can provide you with direct assistance if required.
 
Can you change the MX records for me? [Top]
Yes, if you require any assistance with modifying your MX records and can provide us with access to the DNS server(s) which provide service for your domain either via telnet/ssh or via a web interface control panel we can assist you with modifying your MX records. To request such assistance you can email us at service@spamwall.com or complete and submit our Online Contact Form.
 
After I change my MX records how long will it take before email is being routed to my SpamWall system? [Top]
Due to distributed nature of the DNS system the MX records you have modified or set up to route email to your SpamWall system may not result in all email being directed to your SpamWall system immediately.

It may take up to 24 hours or more for the new MX information to propagate (be available to all other DNS servers) across the Internet so that all email for any given domain is directed to your SpamWall system. Until propagation is fully completed some email for your domain may be directed to your SpamWall system and some may continue to be directed to your regular email server however no email will be lost or mis-directed during this transition.
 
How do I know if email is being processed by my SpamWall system? [Top]
It is easy to tell if a particular email message has been processed by your SpamWall system. The "full headers" of email messages you receive which have been processed by your SpamWall system will contain the "X-SPAM-VIRUS-Scanned: Anti-Spam Firewall" tag. Note that these email headers are usually not visible unless you use the "show full headers" option in your email program.
 
Will my email processed by the SpamWall system be secure? [Top]
Using the SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall to process your email for Spam and Viruses does not affect the security of your email in any way. The SpamWall system does not back up or make copies of your email and the only email messages that are stored on the system are those which have been detected as being Spam or Virus infected. If you wish, you can choose not to have quarantined email stored on the SpamWall system as your SpamWall system can be configured to forward all quarantined email to any email address anywhere on the Internet.  As your SpamWall system is a dedicated unit and only you will have administrative access to your SpamWall system it is not possible for any third party to access access information associated with the email processed by your SpamWall system.
 
Do I need my own mail server to use the SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall? [Top]
Generally users of the SpamWall system would own or have access to their own email server which would either be hosted at their office, an Internet data center, ISP or web hosting provider. However, if you do not have your own mail server it is still possible to use the SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall.
 
Will the SpamWall work with any web or email hosting provider? [Top]
Yes, in general your SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall can process and deliver email to any web or email hosting provider or mail server anywhere on the Internet. All that you need to do is to modify the MX record associated with your domain to route email to your SpamWall system for processing. Information on modifying MX records can be found in the Setting up MX Records section of the online SpamWall Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.

If you do not have access to the DNS zone file for your domain then the technical administrator of your domain, which would likely either be your ISP, web hosting provider, systems administrator or IT department should be able to modify the MX records for you. If you require any advice or assistance with modifying the MX records for your domain to route email to your SpamWall system you can contact SpamWall support for assistance with this.
 
What if my web hosting or DNS provider will not allow me to change my MX records? [Top]
Most hosting companies and DNS service providers will not have a problem with assisting you to modify the MX records for your domain so that email can be routed to your SpamWall system for processing. However, should you encounter a problem with this we can provide you with DNS service including an easy to manage control panel access to your own domain zone files so that you can make the necessary changes to your MX records. If required, this service can be included free of charge along with your SpamWall system. Contact us for more information.
 
Is there a limit on the size of email attachments with the SpamWall system? [Top]
The default setting on the SpamWall system on setup for the handling of email attachments is 300MB however this can be easily increased if necessary.
 
Does the SpamWall system support whitelists and blacklists? [Top]
Yes, you will have full control over whitelisting and blacklisting of IP addresses, domains and email addresses which will be blocked or allowed to route email via your SpamWall system. Information on using the blacklisting and whitelisting functions on your SpamWall system can be found in the SpamWall Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.
 
Does the SpamWall system support RBL/Blacklists like Spamhaus and SpamCop? [Top]
Yes, a number of RBL/Blacklist options are available for activation on your SpamWall system such as sbl.spamhaus.org, xbl.spamhaus.org, pbl.spamhaus.org, bl.spamcop.net, dnsbl.njabl.org and others. Information on using the RBL/Blacklist functions on your SpamWall system can be found in the RBL/Blacklists section of the online SpamWall Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.
 
What if my mail server goes offline for some reason and is unable to accept email? [Top]
In the event your mail server goes offline, your SpamWall system will queue or "spool" your email messages. Your SpamWall system will queue and continually attempt to deliver your email every few minutes for up to 5 days. When your mail server is back on-line all queued email messages should be delivered within a few minutes. If for some reason your mail server is going to be offline for longer than 5 days you can contact SpamWall Support and we can configure your SpamWall system to queue all of your email for as long as necessary.
 
Will the SpamWall system make backups of my email in case I need it? [Top]
The SpamWall system does not make any backups of email messages which are processed by the system, it only acts as a secure email "gateway" system for scanning and processing your email for Spam and Viruses before being sent on to your regular mail server. The only emails which are kept on the system are those that have been blocked or quarantined by the system as having been identified as being Spam/UCE or Virus infected.
 
Does the SpamWall system support SSL/TLS encrypted SMTP delivery? [Top]
The SpamWall system supports SSL/TLS encrypted SMTP delivery so if your mail server supports this as well email can be delivered via the SSL/TLS protocol if desired.
 
What if I change my email server, ISP, hosting provider or email server IP address? [Top]
This is no problem. Your SpamWall system is compatible with all mail servers and mail server software and can relay your email to any mail server or IP address anywhere on the Internet. All that you need to do is to log into the SpamWall control panel and change the IP address associated with your former mail server to that of your new mail server. Unlike with MX records, these changes take effect immediately and your SpamWall system will instantly route your email to the new mail server.
 
How do I make contact for non-technical sales or service queries and issues such as upgrading my SpamWall system to a higher capacity model? [Top]
If you have non-technical sales or service related question or if you require advice or assistance with any matter related to our service or your SpamWall system we encourage you to contact us so that we can answer your questions and provide advice or assistance when necessary. You can contact us via email at service@spamwall.com or complete and submit our Online Contact Form.
 
How do I connect to the web interface control panel on my SpamWall System? [Top]
Once your SpamWall system is online you will be contacted by our service department and provided with the IP address and login URL details to your SpamWall system. All that you need to do is to connect to the IP address or URL provided in your SpamWall setup and configuration letter and use the username and password provided to log into the control panel on your SpamWall system. The SpamWall web interface control panel is compatible with most popular web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari however in general we recommend either Internet Explorer or Firefox as the best browsers to use with the SpamWall control panel.
 
How do I troubleshoot or locate a missing email message? [Top]
If you are missing an expected email you can use the Mail Log File Viewer in the control panel on your SpamWall system to search for information relating to the delivery of the email. Searches can be made on a variety of criteria including time and date as well as by either partial or complete email address, domain, and IP number associated with the email you are searching references for. You should also search the logs files on your own mail server as it's possible that they may contain information on the message you are looking for.
 
We received a Spam message that wasn't blocked by our SpamWall system, what can I do to block it? [Top]
The SpamWall system in it's default configuration with it's multi-layer Spam Filtering Technology and default set of Spam Scoring Levels is able to detect and block or filter up to 98% of all Spam/UCE received by the system.

The Spam Scanning & Filtering engine on the SpamWall system also incorporates a number of "self-tuning" and "auto-learning" mechanisms including Bayesian Analysis and Learning, which are able to automatically increase accuracy and sensitivity of the system over time.

It is possible to increase the percentage of Spam/UCE detected and either blocked, quarantined or tagged by modifying the "Spam Score Levels" in the Spamfilter Config screen of the SpamWall control panel. By "tuning" the system over time you will be able to achieve the optimum level of Spam/UCE detection and management for your particular email user base and the specific type and content of email messages received by your users.

For more information on tuning your SpamWall system to achieve the optimum level of Spam/UCE detection and management see the section on Tuning your SpamWall System in the SpamWall Online Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.
 
What do I do when an email message that is not Spam is delivered to the Spam Quarantine? [Top]
The SpamWall Anti-Spam Firewall system is able to provide high Spam/UCE detection rates of up to 98% or more and has one of the lowest false positive ratings in the industry. In it's default configuration the SpamWall system is designed to minimize false positives (legitimate email messages being identified and blocked as Spam).

With no additional configuration or tuning the false positive rate is typically at less than 0.1%, or less than one in every 10,000 email messages processed by the system.

If you see email messages that are clearly not Spam being diverted to the Spam Quarantine you can prevent this from happening by either placing the email address or domain of the sender in the system whitelist or otherwise by modifying the "Spam Score Levels" in the Spamfilter Config screen of the SpamWall control panel. By "tuning" the system over time you will be able to achieve the optimum level of Spam/UCE detection and management with the lowest possible number of "false positives".

For more information on tuning your SpamWall system to achieve the optimum level of Spam/UCE detection and management see the section on Tuning your SpamWall System in the SpamWall Online Operations Manual. You can also download a PDF copy of the SpamWall Operations Manual.
 
What do I do if I have more questions or need technical support advice or assistance with my SpamWall System? [Top]
SpamWall technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have a query or issue or require advice or assistance with any matter related to our service our your SpamWall system we encourage you to contact us so that we can answer your questions and provide advice or assistance when necessary.

You can contact us via email at service@spamwall.com or complete and submit our Online Contact Form.
 

 

 

 


SpamWall Lite
$39/month
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The affordable choice for smaller applications where support for between 1-25 domains is required. Service for up to 500 email users.

- Up to 500,000  emails/day
- Service up to 25 Domains
- Up to 500 Email Users
- 5GB Quarantine Storage
- 1GB Mail Log Storage
- 24/7 Customer Support



SpamWall Corporate/SME

$69/month
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A practical and cost effective solution for Corporate/SME applications. Supports up to 100 domains and up to 5000 email users.

- Up to 5 million emails/day
- Service up to 100 Domains
- Up to 5000 Email Users
- 20GB Quarantine Storage
- 5GB Mail Log Storage
- 24/7 Customer Support



SpamWall ISP/Webhost
$189/month
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A High Capacity Solution for Mid-size ISP's and Web Hosting Providers. Supports up to 1000 domains and up to 20,000 email users.

- Up to 10 million emails/day
- Service up to 1000 Domains
- Up to 20,000 Email Users
- 100GB Quarantine Storage
- 20GB Mail Log Storage
- 24/7 Customer Support



SpamWall Enterprise

$449/month
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An Enterprise Class Solution for larger ISP's, Web Hosting Providers and ASP's. Service for up to 5000 domains and up to 30,000 email users.

- Up to 30 million emails/day
- Service up to 5000 Domains
- Up to 30,000 Email Users
- 300GB Quarantine Storage
- 40GB Mail Log Storage
- 24/7 Customer Support