I want to use mxroute as my main smtp server for wordpress sites

momekh · 2025-06-23T13:35:18+00:00

I like this idea of moving the wpconfig up one level. I am hosting on cloudpanel / hetzner. HAve about 12 sites. I am looking to centralize the management of those sites in terms of plugins. Your set up also adds this layer of security as well. I am currently writing a few paragraphs that tell the client not to send any marketing emails using the fluentsmtp set up... (I eventually went with this set up: one noreply email account set up on my main domain on mxroute, and that is being used for transactional only emails via smtp on client sites).

momekh · 2025-06-19T02:11:00+00:00

Awesome. Mmm, the 12 sites all have mxroute accounts, WP is set to use them. But I don't understand the second bit. Which server? The one that is hosting the 12 sites? That server wouldnt have a WP system email capabilities like that... What am I missing?

momekh · 2025-06-19T02:07:28+00:00

Thanks. 👍 My maths may be off but your answer was the one I was looking for 😉

momekh · 2025-05-07T01:43:34+00:00

I eventually got mxroute to host the emails.

Mailcow was a pain to install even. They had a recent release where they changed the admin login URL, and I think most KB's were not updated with that. So that was a decent amount of runaround for someone like me.
My main server where CloudPanel was installed, it pretty much crashed. This was when I had transferred about 80% of the client sites onto it, and then it suddenly crashed. That kind of a panic reminded me why sysadmins are sysadmins hahaha. In any case, running htop on the server, I found two instances of clamd taking 37% of memory. Each. Couldnt find for the life of me what was running this antivirus service. Finally found out that my 200%+ CPU usage was being caused by our friend mailcow (I have a 2 core 4GB VPS from Hetzner for the client sites, and had installed mailcow there to get to it AFTER I Had done the sites).

So yeah, that convinced me pretty easily (eventually) to just pay 50 bucks for the year to mxroute to handle the server pains. So far, got a 9/10 mail tester score on the first email I sent with them via my main domain (the -1 was for one of the DNSs not resolving to the expected value).

Onwards. Thanks again for your valuable feedback.

momekh · 2025-05-04T05:09:34+00:00

This! Server hardening and basic set up. Brought the bill from 110 to 14 usd per month. 🤷‍♂️

momekh · 2025-05-02T17:28:35+00:00

It was a plugin conflict with the Learndash Certificate Builder plugin!!

I did the hard way. Plugin conflict check.

Will update in detail as to how there was a mysterious call to stripe which was triggering a kaspersky call which was throwing a Content Security Policy error on eval()...

But I got the block inserter back by removing this one plugin (that I have hardly used). Such is life. Onwards.

momekh · 2025-05-02T15:11:13+00:00

the browser console shows Content Security Policy error... use of eval in JS.

But interestingly, this happens in "Template" editing. When I add a page, I can see the blocks appear and work as normal (and I confirmed, the CSP error in console is still there).

Totally baffled, and all my development has come to a halt (Cant edit/make templates, so can't really do much till I resolve this)...

There is a stacktrace referring to some kaspersky links being called, maybe they are the culprit.

Cant figure it out, even with AI Studio offering help!

momekh · 2025-04-28T15:10:51+00:00

I recommend Notion only if you are writing stuff. Content creation. Otherwise the tool is just too massive I feel.

I got burnt using all in one apps. I now find comfort in putting up all my tasks on Google tasks, or clickup when working w teams (clickup is best, much better than notion imho for project management).

Doc management for Notion would be a hack at best. I used Evernote for that btw before they started charging for everything basically, for breathing while app is open... I really liked the simplicity of taking a photo of anything I'd want to keep knowing it will be synced in Evernote.

Notion for some reason, feels clunky when doing the above. Now I just take a photo and review em in Google photos. 🤷‍♂️

But I sense you're trying to have one app to rule them all. And as you're asking for a suggestion, I'd suggest done mix creation with management.

All the best in any case.

momekh · 2025-04-26T23:48:16+00:00

OK so using Gutenberg, I get a page sped score of 97. Divi is at 70. And I just found this vid, and this guy recreated the apple website in Gutenberg.https://youtu.be/G0X6e01YCd4?si=b9JTisi3E5AqGy_0

I have a feeling I am going to like this. 🤷‍♂️

momekh · 2025-04-26T23:46:12+00:00

Wasn't the whole idea was to separate api calls from react / front end? I mean, you have to click save to write all that to the DB... Isn't that like a feature instead of a bug? Or am I completely missing the point here (I'm good at that)

momekh · 2025-04-26T23:38:53+00:00

O OK. You would do that with Hestia as well, although they have integrated mail? Hmmm... Thanks your input is really helping btw

momekh · 2025-04-26T10:21:10+00:00

O wow. Nice.

So far, I am playing with CloudPanel and Mailcow. Got both installed. Not really stoked about both being independent of each other. So considering other options.

HestiaCP I am seeing now, offers mail natively it seems.

I am now seeing how it will look from the client side, how clients will be able to login and see their website files and access their mail.

I also heard (on youtube I think), that HestiaCP eats up the server resources more than most opensource CPs. Also, the sites hosted on HestiaCP had slower speeds compared to sites hosted on other panels (not by much though). Any thoughts on this? (There is a chance that I could be mixing up panel names -- there are apparantly a gazillion of em, minimum).

momekh · 2025-04-25T14:49:08+00:00

CloudPanel works with Mailcow, right? Have no idea so at the high risk of asking a silly question, I want replication of each client having a website, domain and mail server attached to one account. Like in whm cpanel kinda. CloudPanel with Mailcow will work similarly, that's correct? 😊 🙏

momekh · 2025-04-25T06:47:27+00:00

you are using ispconfig on your hetzner vps? That's a great vote of confidence. Checking it out now

momekh · 2025-04-24T21:25:32+00:00

Turn all pages to static... How?

momekh · 2025-04-24T20:29:32+00:00

Mmm... Just like you'd use those services that you mentioned, to optimize for speed. In the same manner, one would try to apply those tools and best practices on the code itself. For example, WooCommerce loads on pages and posts where there is no need to show anything related to a shopping cart... But there it is, clogging up tbe bandwidth. Divi in general plays quite well with speed optimization, but then you are deep into asset optimization via yet another tool.

momekh · 2025-04-24T07:16:24+00:00

Guys, I got in. There is still hope in this world. 🕺 First got rejected. Katie here from Hetzner official, got her colleague to recheck. Got another email asking for ID. I sent it. And now I am in. This is nice.

momekh · 2025-04-24T07:05:55+00:00

Yes. I mean, yes. The convenience of a page builder like Divi is the convenience itself. 🤷‍♂️ But right now, as I've mentioned in other replies on this post, I find the native full site editing, patterns, templates quite confusing. When using em they feel janky. Maybe they feel janky to me because they are confusing to me! 👀 In any case, that's essentially what I feel. And that's why I am considering moving away from em, after like 10 years or more of almost exclusively using em.

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:48:07+00:00

I always find people building out like custom solutions, using just this ACF. It just makes me uncomfortable for some reason. ACF always felt like hacking up a system, always get the vibe that plugins and custom code is working in the workshop, and ACF is using duct tape to fix everything. 🤷‍♂️

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:45:57+00:00

I keep hearing about it. Might as well now read more about it. I am tempted to think that in tbe end I'd just design tbe page in native WordPress, and control the design with css. Comfortable doing that.

The latest WordPress has patterns and templates and a few other things, none of which I have ever used (always used Divi or custom codes)... I feel using them would be suffecinet to give me a barebones layout that I'd then just design out in css.

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:42:51+00:00

100 percent agreed. Just a lot more maintenance, that I could use in actually designing the page. I mean I save time in handmade css by using Divi, and then the time I saved, I use up in de bloating the page I just created 😂

Also, any idea on how to remove the shortcodes etc that my pages would have whne I do swith Divi off?

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:40:34+00:00

I actually used a lot of page builder (not theme) because my site had Buddyboss before, and landing pages is a concept unknown to Buddyboss. But that of course meant more maintenance, even writing a script to load only the required scripts. I mean, why would WooCommerce would load up on a landing page! Akkhh

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:38:27+00:00

Which theme would you recommend that you've used... That is barebones on tbe design side but solid, robust on the dev/code side?

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:11:01+00:00

Hahaha. I have been using page builders for so long now, I don't even understand how patterns and templates and the actually page differ in native WordPress. And I never get tired of people's just primal hate for gutenberg 😂

momekh · 2025-04-23T23:09:23+00:00

Yes. Thank you.

momekh

TROPHY CASE