Due to the large amount of SMTP abuse and spam that hosting networks receive, DataPacket requires VPS and dedicated servers to send outbound email through a smarthost relay.
This allows us to filter outgoing email before it leaves our network. The filtering helps stop spam caused by compromised websites, hacked email accounts, infected servers, poorly configured mailing scripts, and other unwanted email that violates our policies.
Using a smarthost does not prevent you from running your own mail server. You can still host email accounts on your server and allow your users to send and receive email normally.
How Does This Work?
Your server can continue running its normal mail software, such as Postfix, Exim, or another SMTP server.
When your server needs to deliver an email to another mail provider, instead of connecting directly to the receiving mail server, it sends the message to the DataPacket smarthost. Our smarthost checks the message and then delivers it to its destination.
The basic flow looks like this:
Your user or website → Your mail server → DataPacket smarthost → Recipient
This gives you control over your own email accounts while allowing DataPacket to filter abusive or unwanted outbound email before it leaves our network.
Can My Users Still Use Port 587?
Yes.
If you host email accounts for your customers or users, they can connect to your server on SMTP submission port 587 to send email just like they normally would.
For example, a user can configure Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, a phone, or another email application to use:
Outgoing mail server: Your server's hostname
Port: 587
Authentication: Their normal email username and password
Your server accepts the message from the user and then sends it through the DataPacket smarthost for final delivery.
The SMTP restrictions apply to how your server sends mail out to the Internet. They do not prevent your users from connecting to your server on port 587.
How Do I Configure My Server to Use the DataPacket Smarthost?
Configure your mail server's outgoing relay, sometimes called a smarthost or relay host, with the following:
Smarthost: smarthost-01.interlayer.net
Port: 587
Authentication: Not required
Authentication is not required because our smarthost recognizes your DataPacket server by its IP address.
Once configured, your mail server will automatically send its outbound email through the smarthost.
If you are unfamiliar with configuring an SMTP server, DataPacket Support can help you configure your server to use our smarthost relay.
Why Does DataPacket Require a Smarthost?
SMTP abuse is a major problem for hosting providers. A single compromised website, stolen email password, or infected server can generate thousands of spam messages in a very short period of time.
This can damage the reputation of network IP addresses and affect legitimate customers who depend on email.
Requiring outbound email to pass through our smarthost gives us a way to identify and filter spam, compromised accounts, exploited websites, and other unwanted email before it can leave our network.
This helps protect both the DataPacket network and customers who use it for legitimate email.
Can I Use a Different Smarthost?
Yes. You are not required to use the DataPacket smarthost specifically.
You may configure your server or application to use a third-party SMTP relay provider instead. Third-party relay services commonly accept email using port 587 or another submission port.
Only direct outbound SMTP connections on restricted ports are affected.
What About Ports 25 and 465?
Direct outbound SMTP connections from VPS and dedicated servers on TCP ports 25 and 465 are blocked.
This prevents a server from bypassing the smarthost and delivering email directly to other mail servers over these ports.
Your own mail server can still listen for connections from your users. For example, your users can submit outgoing email to your server using port 587, and your server will then relay that email through the DataPacket smarthost.
This setup allows normal email hosting while giving DataPacket the ability to filter abusive outbound email and protect the reputation of our network.
