Email glossary

The terms run from the dashboard’s own words to the DNS records and protocols behind them.

Alias#

An address on your domain, such as hello@lunavera.com, that forwards email to one or more destinations. It has no mailbox of its own. You create aliases on a domain’s Forwarding tab: see aliases and the catch-all.

Catch-all#

The alias written *. It forwards email for any address on the domain that has no alias of its own. A domain has at most 1 catch-all, and starts with 1 when you add it.

Destination#

Where an alias forwards: an email address, such as amina.kone@gmail.com, or on paid plans a webhook URL. An alias can have up to 10.

Bounce#

A message that tells the sender their email wasn’t delivered. When a destination refuses an email permanently, Mailyoto sends the sender a notice titled “Message not delivered” from no-reply@bounces.mailyoto.net.

MX record#

The DNS record that tells other mail servers where to deliver email for your domain. To forward with Mailyoto, the domain needs 2: mx1.mailyoto.com and mx2.mailyoto.com. See Add your domain.

MX priority#

The number in an MX record. Servers try the lowest number first and the next one if it doesn’t respond. Mailyoto’s records use 10 for mx1.mailyoto.com and 20 for mx2.mailyoto.com.

SPF#

A DNS record that lists the servers allowed to send email for your domain. Mailyoto’s is v=spf1 include:spf.mailyoto.com ~all. A domain has only 1 SPF record. If it already has one, add Mailyoto’s include: to it: see Merging SPF records.

DKIM#

A signature in each email’s headers that proves the domain sent it and that nobody changed it on the way. For sending, your domain points yoto1._domainkey and yoto2._domainkey at Mailyoto with CNAME records. See Setting up DKIM.

DMARC#

A DNS record named _dmarc that tells receiving servers what to do with email that fails SPF and DKIM for your domain. Mailyoto suggests starting with v=DMARC1; p=none;. See Setting up DMARC.

SMTP#

The protocol mail servers use to pass email to each other, and that mail apps use to send. Mailyoto receives on port 25 and accepts email to send on smtp.mailyoto.com. See SMTP ports and TLS.

STARTTLS#

The SMTP command that turns a plain connection into an encrypted one before any email or password is sent.

IMAP#

A protocol mail apps use to read a mailbox kept on a server. Mailyoto has no mailboxes and no IMAP server. You read your email where Mailyoto forwards it.

POP#

An older protocol for downloading a mailbox to one device. Mailyoto has no POP server, for the same reason it has no IMAP server.

ARC#

Authenticated Received Chain. A forwarder adds a signed record of the SPF, DKIM and DMARC results it saw. The next server can then trust a message that forwarding changed. Mailyoto adds ARC to every email it forwards.

SRS#

Sender Rewriting Scheme. A way for a forwarder to rewrite the envelope sender so SPF still passes. Mailyoto doesn’t use SRS: it sets the envelope sender to an address on its own or your domain, such as rp+<code>@lunavera.com.

Return-Path#

The envelope sender: the address that bounces go back to. It isn’t the From people see.

Webhook#

A URL that receives each email as a JSON request instead of a mailbox. See Deliver email to a webhook.