Use the DirectAdmin message system and notifications

DirectAdmin reports important events – finished backups, failed services, brute-force attacks, quota warnings, software updates – through its internal message system. Admins can also use it to talk to resellers and users. Making sure these messages reach you by email means problems are noticed early.

Before you start

• Admin access (users and resellers have their own message inbox too).
• A monitored email address for the admin account.

Read messages

Click the bell or envelope icon in the top bar of the Evolution skin, or go to Messages (sometimes Support Center / Message System). Messages are listed with subject, date and status. Open one for details – for example the output of a failed backup – and delete messages you have handled to keep the inbox useful.

Forward messages to email

1. Open your account settings (user menu → Settings or Account Config).
2. Set the Email address for the account.
3. Enable Forward messages to email (wording varies by version) so each system message is emailed as well.
4. Save, then trigger a test, for example by running a small backup.

Choose which events notify admins

In Server Manager → Administrator Settings, review notification options such as:

• Brute force notifications after a number of failed logins; see Brute Force Monitor.
• Service monitor alerts when web, mail, FTP, DNS or database services stop and restart.
• Backup results from Admin Backup/Transfer.
• Disk and inode quota warnings for users near their limits.
• License and update notifications for DirectAdmin and CustomBuild.

Too many low-value messages make people ignore all of them – keep only alerts you act on.

Message resellers and users

• At Admin Level, use Account Manager → Message All Users to send an announcement to all users, all resellers, or both.
• Choose whether to also email recipients.
• Use it for maintenance windows, policy changes or security advice.

Resellers can message their own users the same way; see manage users as a reseller.

Support tickets in DirectAdmin

Some setups enable DirectAdmin's internal ticket system so users can contact their reseller or admin from the panel. If you use a separate helpdesk (for example WHMCS), disable it to avoid two channels.

Troubleshooting

• No emails arrive: the admin email is wrong, forwarding is off, or server mail is blocked; check the Exim log. See Exim queue.
• Inbox flooded: raise thresholds for brute-force notifications and fix recurring service failures.
• Users miss announcements: tick the email option; many users never log in to the panel.

Next steps

• Administrator settings.
• CustomBuild updates.
• Access levels.