What if mail server goes down?

exchange server redundancy

Generally when your mail server goes down incoming mail starts bouncing back to the people who are sending you email.

The time it takes before that happens varies by server.  Some servers will attempt to deliver email for up to 4 hours, some servers will attempt to deliver email for up to 4 days.  I rarely see an email server that will try to redeliver for more than 4 days.  Usually its more like 4 hours.

Before we get to the solution for the problem of email bouncing when a mail server goes down let’s review how email servers work.

When Server A sends an email to Server B, Server B must acknowledge the message has been received.  If Server A is unable to reach Server B, then Server A will do one of two things:

1- Automatically queue the email and try again every x hours for x number of times, then send a bounce back message to the person who sent it.

2- Send a bounce back message to the person who sent it with a note saying that it will try again every x hours for x number of times, then try again every x hours for x number of times.

Either way, if your mail server goes down, you run the risk of loosing credibility with your clients or completely missing important emails. Not a good thing.

Depending on the configuration of your customers email servers and how long your mail server is down, you might loose credibility with your clients AND miss important emails.

Fortunately there is an inexpensive solution for all this, which is AuraDev’s Email Redundancy Servers.  For $29.95 per domain, you can enjoy the peace of mind that your customers will never get a bounce back if your mail server goes down, and you will never loose an email due to your mail server being down.

Exchange Server Email Redundancy

exchange server redundancy24 x 7 Automatic Email Fail Over
In the event your Exchange Server (or any other type of Email Server) becomes unreachable our Email Backup Server will automatically start accepting inbound email.
email backup serversMultiple Users – no problem
Our Email Backup Server will provide incoming email redundancy for every user on your domain automatically. No need to setup per-user accounts.
email backup setupEasy Setup – No Server Modification Required
Once your Email Backup Server account is setup in our data centers, all you need to do is add our MX Records to your DNS.
no setup requiredNo Management Required
Once setup, our Email Backup Servers require no maintenance on your part. You can truly set it and forget it.
email bounceAutomatic Forwarding
When your Exchange Server becomes available your queued email will automatically start to be delivered. When there are messages waiting, our Email Backup Servers ping your server ever 5 minutes so you can get your email as soon as you are back online.
email backup serversComplete Redundancy
Our Email Backup Server has its own backup! In fact it’s a triple redundant system that lives in 3 different datacenters in different regions of the USA.

exchange server redundancy



  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Digg
  • Google Bookmarks
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • StumbleUpon
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Fark
  • Live
  • MySpace
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Sphinn
March 6th, 2009 | Categories: Email Redundancy | Tags: backup email, can you receive email if your email server is down?, do i lose my mail if my exchange server is down, domain, email backup server, email bounce, email if webserver is down, email is down message, email redundancy, email redundancy server, email server down bouncer, email server down how long will sending messages attempt to deliver, email server goes down, email server redundancy, email when server is down, exchange down email queue, exchange email redundancy, exchange emails bouncing server down, exchange queue if mailserver is down, exchange server email redundancy, getting emails when server is down, hosting, how do i get email if my exchange server goes down?, how do i know if my mail server is down, how do you know if a server is down, how do you know if a web server is down?, how do you know if your web server is down, how i automatically get message that my server is down in my mail, how long can an email server be down, how long will excahnge try to deliver a message?, how long will mail servers attempt to deliver a message, how often do mail server try to deliver mail?, how to be notified if exchange server goes down, how to check emails if mail server is down, how to get e-mail when server goes down, how to get emails when server is down, how to know if server is down, how to know if your incoming mail server is down, how to tell if email server is down, if a server goes down, if email server goes down, if exchange goes down, if my exchange server goes down, if my exchange server is down will i lose all my inbound mail, if server is down then how message can be sent to server, if server is down, do bouncebacks get delivered, if your email server goes down, incoming messages exchange down, mail redundancy, mail server down, mail server down bounce, mail server is down, mail server is down emails bounce, mail server redeliver, mail server redundancy, mail server was down what will happen to emails, my exchange server is down, my server is down can get emails, our mail server was down where are my messages, problem about mail server when down, risk of missing email when server is down, run redundancy mail servers, running two mail servers for redudency, send an email when web server is down, send email if server is down, system for when email server is down, wehat is mail server, what happen if we sent a mail and server is down, what happenes to e-mails if dns is down, what happens if a message is sent to exchange when its down, what happens if a web host server goes down?, what happens if exchange server goes down, what happens if mail server down, what happens if my email server goes down, what happens if my mx goes down, what happens mail server down, what happens to an email when exchange goes down, what happens to email if mailserver is down, what happens to email when server is down?, what happens to email when the mail server goes down, what happens to email when the server goes down, what happens to emails sent with exchange server down, what happens to emails when exchange server is down, what happens to incoming messages if exchange server goes down, what happens to mail if mailserver is down, what happens to mail if the email server is down, what happens to mail when exchange server is down, what happens to mail when mailserver is down, what happens when a mail server goes down, what happens when an exchange server goes down, what happens when your email server is down, what if a server goes down, what if my web server goes down, what if the email servers when down, what if the server goes down, what to do if exchange server goes down, what to do when email goes down, what to do when home server goes down, what to do when server goes down, what will happen if server goes down, what would be the problem if the server goes down, when server goes down, when the exchange server goes down, will email queue if exchange goes down, will email work if server is down, will webmail work if the exchange server is down