Configuring cPanel & Shared Hosting for MailShield

To allow MailShield to protect your organisation, you need to tell the internet to route your emails through our security filters. For websites hosted on standard shared hosting environments (like HostGator, Bluehost, or Namecheap), you will typically make these changes inside your cPanel dashboard.

Do not worry if this sounds highly technical. It is essentially like filing a change-of-address form with the post office, and the process only takes a few minutes.

Finding your DNS settings

First, log into your web hosting account and access your cPanel dashboard.

1. Scroll down to the Domains section.
2. Click on the icon labelled Zone Editor.
3. You will see a list of your domains. Click the Manage button next to the domain you want to protect.

Setting up inbound protection (MX Records)

Mail Exchange (MX) records dictate where your incoming mail is delivered. We need to point them to MailShield so we can intercept threats.

1. Delete existing records: In the Zone Editor, click the MX filter button just above the table to only show your mail records. Click Delete next to any existing MX records. This step is absolutely crucial; if you leave your old records active, spammers will simply bypass our security filters and deliver junk straight to your inbox.
2. Add the new record: Click the + Add Record button at the top of the table.
3. Set the Type dropdown to MX.
4. In the Name field, type your domain name. (cPanel may automatically add a full stop at the end of it—this is perfectly normal).
5. For Priority, type 10.
6. In the Destination field, paste the incoming server address provided in your MailShield dashboard (this is typically seg-in.cadmuscyber.com).
7. Click Save Record.
8. Return to the Fix MX Records page in your MailShield dashboard and click Run DNS Verification. The system will check your new records and confirm your inbound protection is active.

Securing outbound emails

To protect your outgoing emails and ensure they do not end up in your clients' junk folders, you need to route your outbound mail through MailShield. Because hosting environments vary, how you configure this depends on your level of server access.

Generate your Smart Host credentials

1. In the MailShield portal, navigate to the Outbound Setup page and click Generate Outbound Profile.
2. The system will provide you with a Smart Host address, a username, and a secure SMTP password. Copy this password immediately. For security reasons, it is only displayed once and cannot be retrieved later.

Scenario A: You have WHM Root Server Access (VPS or Dedicated Hosting) If you manage the entire server via WHM, you can configure Exim to route all outbound mail through MailShield universally.

1. Log into WHM as root and navigate to Exim Configuration Manager.
2. Open the Advanced Editor.
3. Under the Section: AUTH box, add your MailShield credentials.
4. Under the Section: PREROUTERS box, configure a Smart Host route pointing to your MailShield Smart Host address on port 587. Save and restart Exim.

Scenario B: You have Standard Shared Hosting (No Root Access) Standard shared hosting environments do not allow you to change the server-wide outbound routing. Instead, you must configure your individual email applications (like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird) to send mail directly through MailShield.

1. Open your desktop or mobile email application settings.
2. Locate the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) settings.
3. Replace your web host's SMTP server with your MailShield Smart Host address.
4. Set the port to 587 and ensure TLS / STARTTLS is enabled.
5. Enter the generated MailShield Username and Password for authentication. Save your settings. Disclaimer: Some shared hosting providers strictly block external connections on port 587 to prevent spam. If you update your email client and cannot send messages, contact your web hosting provider's support team and explicitly ask them to "unblock outbound port 587 for external SMTP relaying."

Updating your SPF and DKIM records Finally, you must authorise MailShield to send on your behalf.

1. Back in the cPanel Zone Editor, click the TXT filter button above the table.
2. Scan for an existing record where the Record/Value begins with v=spf1.
3. If you already have one, click Edit. You need to add include:_spf.cadmuscyber.com into the middle of the text, just before the ~all or -all at the end.
4. If you do not have an existing SPF record, click + Add Record, choose TXT as the type, type your domain in the Name field, and paste the exact SPF value provided in your MailShield dashboard into the Record field. Save the changes.
5. Add your DKIM record by clicking + Add Record. Set the Type to TXT, Name to cadmus._domainkey, and paste the long cryptographic key provided on your MailShield Outbound Setup page. Save the record.

Waiting for the changes

Once you have saved these records, return to the MailShield Outbound Setup page and click Verify DNS.

The internet acts like a giant, slow-updating address book. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for these changes to spread globally. During this short transition period, your mail flow will not be interrupted, and your MailShield dashboard will automatically confirm once everything is perfectly aligned.