What is a virtual domain?

Answer

A virtual domain is almost identical to a normal full domain, with the exception that it does not require any additional IP addresses to be added to the GMS Server. A virtual domain piggy backs on a full domain and therefore uses the IP address of that full domain. To differentiate the users in a virtual domain from those in a full domain GMS Mail uses a postfix mechanism to uniquely identify the virtual domain. Although you continue to send mail to user@virtualdomain.com internally GMS Mail appends the defined postfix to the username, and the users mailbox will be stored within the base (full) domain users directory structure bit in the format username.postfix.

The advantages of using virtual domains are that:

1. It reduces the number of IP addresses required.
2. You can delegate domain administration.
3. You can distinguish between addresses like the following, whereas with domain aliases these two appear to be the same:
   user@company1.dom
   user@company2.dom

See Also:

• What is a postfix?
• If I set up a virtual domain do I need to inform users of the "postfix"?
• Why can I not create a virtual domain that uses my existing domain as part of the name?

Keywords:Virtual Domain full ip address