📧 SMTP Setup Guide

Email Signatures in <span class="grad">DirectAdmin</span>

Route outbound email through Badex Signature in DirectAdmin. Automatic DKIM-signed signatures for all accounts — server-side, no plugins.

📡 Badex SMTP Connection Settings
Outgoing Server
smtp.signature.badex.app
Port
587
Security
STARTTLS
Authentication
Normal password
Username
your-email@yourdomain.com
Password
your Badex SMTP password
✅
Before you start — make sure you have:
  • ✓ A Badex Signature account (start free trial)
  • ✓ Your email domain added in Badex dashboard → Domains
  • ✓ An SMTP account created in Badex dashboard → SMTP Accounts
  • ✓ DNS records configured (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Overview

DirectAdmin uses Exim as its mail transfer agent. You can configure Badex as a smarthost for the entire server, or configure individual email clients to use Badex as their outgoing SMTP server.

Method 1 — Exim Smarthost (Server-wide)

This routes all outbound email through Badex automatically for every domain and account.

Step 1 — Access Exim Configuration

Log into DirectAdmin as admin → Administrator Tools → Exim Configuration.

Step 2 — Enable Smarthost

Look for Use a smarthost option and enable it. Enter:

Smarthost: smtp.signature.badex.app::587
Auth username: your-email@yourdomain.com
Auth password: your Badex SMTP password

Step 3 — Save and Restart Exim

Click Save. Restart Exim from Administrator Tools → Services Monitor → restart Exim.

Method 2 — Per User Email Client

For individual users using an email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail), configure the outgoing SMTP server in the email client directly using the Badex settings shown above.

Method 3 — Roundcube Webmail

DirectAdmin includes Roundcube webmail. Follow our Roundcube guide to configure per-user SMTP settings.

Verify It's Working

SPF:   PASS with IP 157.173.98.136
DKIM:  PASS with domain yourdomain.com
DMARC: PASS
X-BADEX-Signature-Processed: 1
🎉 Done!

All outbound email from your DirectAdmin server now has professional DKIM-signed signatures.

Troubleshooting

❓ Exim fails to connect
Verify port 587 is open on your server. Run: telnet smtp.signature.badex.app 587
❓ Authentication errors
Check SMTP credentials. The username must match exactly the Badex SMTP account email.
❓ Signature not appearing
Make sure a Signature Policy exists and is active in your Badex dashboard.
Other Platform Guides
🟠cPanel / WHM 🔵Plesk 🔷Roundcube 🟢DirectAdmin 🦊Thunderbird 📘Outlook 🍎Apple Mail

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