Preventing Email Service Suspension: How to Manage Outgoing Email Volumes

Description:
A practical guide for Brixly shared hosting customers to understand and manage outgoing email limits, prevent service suspension due to suspicious activity, and ensure continuous email service.

Understanding Email Sending Limits
How to Monitor and Control Outgoing Emails
Best Practices to Prevent Suspicious Email Triggers
Practical Examples
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Useful Tools and Resources
Further Assistance

Understanding Email Sending Limits

To protect all users and maintain high deliverability, Brixly enforces outbound email limits on shared hosting accounts. Exceeding these limits or sending suspicious emails may result in service suspension.

Hourly and Daily Sending Limits

Plan Type	Hourly Limit (per domain)	Daily Limit (per domain)
Shared, Reseller, Infinity	150	4,000
Premium Business	250	4,000

Note: If you send to 250+ recipients in an hour, or 500+ in a day, additional warnings or blocks may be triggered—even if the total sent is within your daily limit.

Other Important Policies

Email marketing/bulk newsletters are not permitted via shared hosting. Use services like MailChimp or SendGrid for bulk mail.
There is a 25% buffer over your hourly limit. Exceeding this will queue, delay, or reject messages.
No global daily account limit: Limits apply per domain, not per entire account.

How to Monitor and Control Outgoing Emails

1. Check Outgoing Email Usage via cPanel

Brixly provides real-time outgoing email logs via the Enmail Gateway in cPanel:

Log in to cPanel.
In the Email section, click Enmail - Outgoing Emails.
Select your domain from the list.
Review:
- Total Sends (30 Days)
- Success and Failure Logs

Tip: Regularly check the logs to spot unusual spikes in sending volume.

2. Audit Your Email Accounts

Go to Email Accounts in cPanel.
Remove unused or suspicious accounts.
Enforce strong passwords.

3. Update Scripts and Contact Forms

Ensure all contact forms and scripts use SMTP authentication.
Avoid using old PHP mail() functions. Switch to authenticated methods.

Example (PHPMailer SMTP):

$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.yourdomain.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'your@email.com';
$mail->Password = 'yourpassword';

Best Practices to Prevent Suspicious Email Triggers

Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your domain (see cPanel > Zone Editor).
Avoid using generic addresses like info@, admin@ for mass mail.
Scan your account for malware regularly—infected sites can be used to send spam.
Never share passwords; use strong, unique credentials for each user.
Restrict automatic forwarding to external addresses—it can trigger spam checks.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Avoiding Hourly Limit Exceedance

If you have 3 users and a 150/hour limit:

Each user should not send more than ~40 emails per hour
Leave room for system or notification emails

Example 2: Setting Up a Basic DMARC Record in cPanel

Go to Zone Editor in cPanel.
Click Manage for your domain.
Add a TXT record:
- Name: _dmarc.yourdomain.com
- Type: TXT
- Value:
```
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:you@yourdomain.com
```

Troubleshooting Common Issues

1. Service Suspension or Email Blocked

Symptoms:

Outbound emails suddenly stop
Bouncebacks indicating "suspicious activity" or "limit exceeded"

What to Do:

Review the Enmail Gateway logs for details on failures or quarantine.
Check for compromised email accounts or scripts.
Remove or secure any suspicious email accounts.
Scan your website files for malware (via cPanel's File Manager or a plugin).
Change passwords for all email users.

2. Emails Marked as Spam