API to discard message with email Filter

hiredgeek

• April 07, 2020 20:20

Is there an API function to Discard Message with an email filter? In cPanel > Email Filters, the first option in the Action dropdown is Discard Message. However, I don't see that option in the UAPI - Email::store_filter. I see that there's an option for "fail", however my understanding is that will send out a bounceback to the sender. I'm worried if I use "fail" and the email addresses get excessively spammed, my email server could get backed up with sending out bouncebacks. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding how that works though. Thanks!

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  cPanelTJ

  • April 08, 2020 14:11

  Hey @hiredgeek , The webmail interface is using /dev/null
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  hiredgeek

  • April 08, 2020 21:54

  Thanks TJ, that makes sense. Is that the best way to handle incoming email that is unwanted? For instance, I am using a noreply@ mail account to send using SMTP, and I don't want any replies, and bouncebacks are unnecessary. Is setting the destination to /dev/null the same as a blackhole? I see alot of different opinions about whether to blackhole or fail, and some of it is outdated. What do you advise in 2020?

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  cPanelLauren

  • April 09, 2020 16:52

  Hi @hiredgeek So the only instances in which I'd recommend you save to /dev/null (silently fail or discard the message) is if you don't want to send a bounceback i.e., it's obvious spam or domain forgery and sending a bounceback would result in backscatter. In other instances though, the RFC compliant way to manage delivery failures is to fail it with a message so the sender knows why the message failed to be delivered. There is a fantastic and very informative discussion of this here:

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  hiredgeek

  • April 09, 2020 20:46

  Thank you Lauren and @sparek-3. It sounds like for my scenario, what I should use is a Forwarder (not a filter). And select the option to "Discard with error to sender (at SMTP time)", so that the remote server is the one sending the message. I would use UAPI Function - Email::add_forwarder, and fwdopt=fail. And then my server would not be receiving and handling the messages, correct?

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