Why "box" in the hostname when it affects the URI?

Help with Setup/Upgrade
1

Hi
I’ve been searching mailinabox.email and github issues for information concerning the rationale behind the “box” hostname recommendation if there is any. Why “box” when perhaps “email” or “webmail” would be better from user perspective when the mail-in-a-box scripts use it to set up the URI?

Of course usually the hostname is service agnostic and you point cnames like “webmail” to a specific hostname but advanced configurations like that is out of scope for this project afaik.

Just curious if there is any rationale behind it, no big deal.

2

Any subdomain can be used — this is just what’s recommended for the purpose of making the documentation/setup easy. (You probably don’t need to use a subdomain at all, but I haven’t tested that in ages and I think using a subdomain is more flexible.)

I chose “box” because it’s a mnemonic for “Mail-in-a-Box.” And it’s shorter than “mail.”

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3

I am inclined to say that mail as the default subdomain would be preferable to “box”, as many email clients default to mail.domain.tld when guessing mail server name. I was under the impression from the installer that I should not choose another name, until I saw this.

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4

Would it by possible to create an alias ‘mail’ for ‘box’? Or is there a way of “renaming” a box.xxx.tld MIAB server to mail.xxx.tld (at the cost of re-issuing existing SSL certifcate(s)?

I’d also prefer to have mail.xxx.tld instead of box.xxx.tld to access email-server - but that’s just my personal preference…

Cheers,
Andy

5

You can just add a CNAME in DNS if you want. You’ll want an appropriate SSL cert if you’re not using a wildcard though.

6

I’m using puck.nether.net as secondary DNS server. Would adding a CNAME require to be added to the secondary DNS too (which isn’t possible with puck.nether.net from what I could figure out…)?

Cheers,
Andy

P.S. Adding only a CNAME in the DNS on the MIAB doesn’t work though…

7

Ok, I figured it out, that a CNAME works. Only thing is import to add the “dot” at the end of the MAIB address (e.g. box.yyyyy.tld. <- the dot is the important thing!)

Thanks!

Cheers,
Andy

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