Adding a separate Mail Node (optional)

Adding a separate Mail Node (optional)

What you'll learn: what a Mail Node is, when you need one, and how to add it to your panel.

What's a Mail Node?

A Mail Node is a second server that handles email only — Postfix, Dovecot, the works — separate from your main MaxPanel server.

Most people don't need one. If you're starting out, you can host email on your Main node and skip this article.

When does a Mail Node make sense?

Add a Mail Node when:

  • Email is taking up a lot of disk space and you'd rather store it on cheap, slower disk while keeping fast NVMe for websites.
  • Your reputation matters and you want to isolate email from web hosting (a website getting hacked never affects your email IP).
  • You want to scale email separately from web traffic.

The high-level steps

  1. Spin up a second VPS (Ubuntu 24.04). A bigger disk is helpful — 100 GB+ is a good start.
  2. Install MaxPanel on it as a Mail Node.
  3. Pair it with your Main node from the panel.
  4. Switch over your email so it routes through the Mail Node.

Step 1 — Install MaxPanel as a Mail Node

SSH to your new server and run:

curl -fsSL https://get.maxpanel.cenmax.in | MAXPANEL_FLAVOR=mail sh

The installer will print a 6-digit pairing PIN and a local console URL. Keep that pairing PIN handy — you'll need it in the next step.

Step 2 — Activate the Mail Node license

On the local console URL printed by the installer, paste your Mail Node license token (you'll have one from your customer portal — Mail Node licenses are billed separately).

Step 3 — Pair from your Main node

  1. In your Main panel, open the sidebar System → Mail nodes.
  2. Click Pair a mail node.
  3. Enter the Mail Node's hostname and the 6-digit pairing PIN.
  4. Click Pair.

Within a few seconds you'll see the Mail Node in the list with a green "Healthy" status.

Step 4 — Switch over

Once paired, all new mailbox operations go through the Mail Node. The panel will auto-publish the right DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for your domains so email flows correctly.

If you have existing mailboxes on your Main node, you'll need to drain them first (delete or migrate). The panel will guide you through this.

If something goes wrong

  • Pairing fails — the most common cause is a firewall on the Mail Node blocking the port. Make sure both servers can reach each other on the port shown by the installer.
  • "License customer mismatch" — both licenses must be on the same MaxPanel customer account. If you bought them on different accounts, contact support.
  • Mail Node shows "unreachable" — check that the Mail Node is up and that nothing changed about its IP or hostname.

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Need help? Contact support.