Many web hosting plans include email. It looks simple: one bill, one cPanel, one server. But it also means that one problem on that server can stop your website and your email at the same time. If you keep the two apart, a problem with one does not stop the other.
Customers often ask us: “My website is with another web host. Can my email be with Office Niaga?” Yes. This post explains why that setup is often the safer choice, and how to set it up.
How your domain sends visitors and email to different places
Your domain has DNS records. Each record tells the internet where to send one kind of traffic.
| Record | What it controls | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| A or CNAME | Your website | The IP address of your web host |
| MX | Email that comes in to your domain | pmg.webimpian.net for Office Niaga Mail |
| TXT (SPF) | Which servers can send email for your domain | v=spf1 a mx include:spf.mailniaga.mx ~all |
These records are independent. You can point the A record to one company and the MX record to another company. The website and the email then run on different servers. Each one keeps working when the other one has a problem.
What can go wrong when both are on one server
Shared web hosting plans put many websites on one server. When the email is on the same server, the email has the same risks as the websites.
A hacked website can block your email
Old WordPress plugins are a common way into a website. Attackers often use a hacked site to send spam. Blocklists then list the IP address of that server. If your email goes out from the same IP address, other mail servers can reject your email or put it in spam. Your staff did nothing wrong, but customers do not get their replies.
A full disk or a slow server
Website backups, logs and uploads fill the disk of a hosting plan. When the disk is full, new email can bounce. When another site on the server is busy, webmail and IMAP can become slow.
An expired or cancelled hosting plan
If the hosting plan expires, the server stops your website. When the email is on the same plan, the email stops too. This happens often when a web designer paid for the hosting and then left.
Moving to a new web host
When you move your website to a new host, you must also move every mailbox, every password and every phone setting. If the email is separate, you only change the A record. The email does not change.
What changes when you keep them apart
With separate hosting, each service has its own server and its own job.
- Your website stays with your web host or your web designer. They can rebuild it, move it or restore it. Your email does not stop.
- Your email stays on a mail server that only does email. With Office Niaga Mail, incoming email goes through our mail gateway,
pmg.webimpian.net, which filters spam and viruses. Then it goes to your mailbox on SmarterMail, which we host in Malaysia. - Your outgoing email uses our sending service, not the IP address of your web server. Two DNS records (CNAME) prove that the email really comes from your domain.
- Your storage stays separate. Website files do not use your mailbox space. Each mailbox in our mailbox packages has 5 GB.
One rule: keep your DNS in a safe place
Separate hosting only protects you if the DNS is not on the web host. Many cPanel plans also manage the DNS of the domain. If that hosting account is closed, the DNS records can stop too, and that includes your MX record. Then your email stops, even though the mail server is fine.
Keep the DNS at your domain registrar or at Cloudflare. Then your web host can change and your email records stay the same.
The domain itself is the one thing that both services need. If the domain expires, the website and the email both stop. Set the domain to renew automatically, and use a contact email that someone reads.
How to set it up
You do not need to move your website. You only add or change some DNS records.
- Find where your DNS is managed. It is usually your registrar, Cloudflare, or the Zone Editor in your cPanel.
- Create every mailbox in Office Niaga Mail before you change the MX record.
- Delete all old MX records. Add one MX record:
pmg.webimpian.net, priority10. - Set one SPF record:
v=spf1 a mx include:spf.mailniaga.mx ~all. - Add the two sending CNAME records that we send you.
- Do not change the A record. Your website continues to work.
- If your website is on cPanel, go to Email → Email Routing and select Remote Mail Exchanger.
Our help guide Point your domain to Office Niaga Mail shows each step for cPanel and Cloudflare. To connect Outlook or a phone, use the email server settings.
Caution: Do step 7 if your website is on cPanel. If Email Routing stays on Local Mail Exchanger, the cPanel server keeps email from your contact form. That email does not get to your mailbox.
When one host for both is acceptable
A single plan can be enough for a personal blog or a test site with one address. If your business depends on email for quotes, invoices and orders, keep the email on its own service. The extra cost is small, and the risk goes down a lot.
What it costs
Office Niaga Mail works with any web host. You pay per bundle of mailboxes:
- 5 mailboxes: RM18/mo (RM194.40/yr)
- 10 mailboxes: RM36/mo (RM388.80/yr)
- 15 mailboxes: RM54/mo (RM583.20/yr)
Each mailbox has 5 GB. For more space, you can buy pooled storage in blocks of 100, 250 or 500 GB. Each order comes with an SST tax invoice and a MyInvois e-invoice in Ringgit. See the Office Niaga Mail page or all prices.
If your team also needs Docs, Sheets, Meet and Drive, read Office Niaga Mail vs Google Workspace. Google Workspace also keeps your email off your web server.
Not sure how your domain is set up now? WhatsApp us and we will check your DNS with you. To order mailboxes for a bigger team, request a quote.
Hanny RamzyHanny Ramzy runs Office Niaga at Web Impian Sdn. Bhd. (SSM 920163-H) in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, helping businesses and agencies move to Google Workspace and business email with Ringgit billing and local support.
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