Using SPAMSteward actually makes it easier to change your email server, or your email server's IP address.

When making any changes, make sure that you leave the SPAMSteward load balancers listed in your domain's DNS MX records. This will ensure that mail sent to your domain continues to be delivered to the SPAMSteward service.

Once the new email service is configured (and tested) to accept email for your domain and users, simply change the "Customer Mailserver" setting in the SPAMSteward Control Panel for your domain to the new email server. This is the setting that tells SPAMSteward where to send your email after it is filtered. Changes take effect within 10 minutes.

If you have the "Customer Mailserver" set to an IP address and are just changing the IP address of your email server, you don't have to worry about DNS caching issues. You can simply change the "Customer Mailserver" setting to the new IP address and we will deliver your email to the new IP address within 10 minutes. No need to worry about your domain record's TTL (Time To Live).

Important note: If you have the "Customer Mailserver" set to a hostname and change the IP address that the hostname resolves to in your DNS (rather than changing the "Customer Mailserver" setting), you will encounter DNS caching issues. In this situation, our servers will continue to deliver email to the old IP address for the hostname for at least as long as your domain record's TTL or up to 72 hours.

Depending on your email transition strategy, changing email servers can be quite problematic, as your users may need to check their email on two different email servers during the transition. The SPAMSteward service doesn't make this part any easier, and it can take quite a bit of planning on your part for a smooth transition to a new email server.

We recommend that you leave the SPAMSteward load balancers in your domain's DNS MX records. Sometimes, however, when switching to an email hosting service that also administers your domain’s DNS, the new provider will make changes to your MX records. It is important to follow up with them to ensure that they keep SPAMSteward’s load balancers in your domain's DNS MX records. If you should lose the DNS configuration, you can find the recommended DNS MX settings for your domain in the SPAMSteward Control Panel under "View Recommended MX Records for your domain".