Phase 15: Test the complete deployment

15.1 Incoming tests

Send from an external account to:

user@example.com
hello@example.com
support@example.com
unknown-test-address@example.com

These test:

• Primary mailbox delivery

• Alias delivery

• Catch-all delivery

• IMAP synchronization

15.2 Outgoing tests

Send from the new mailbox to several providers:

Gmail
Outlook
Yahoo
Another independent provider

Allow some time for a new mail server. Delivery may take several seconds or occasionally longer while providers evaluate a new IP.

15.3 Check authentication

In Gmail, open the received message and choose:

Show original

Confirm:

SPF: PASS
DKIM: PASS
DMARC: PASS

15.4 Inspect the Stalwart queue

If the message does not arrive:

Stalwart Admin
→ Management
→ Queue

A message showing a future “Next retry” time has been deferred, not deleted.

Check the logs:

CONTAINER=$(docker ps \
  --filter name=stalwart-mail \
  --format '{{.Names}}' |
  head -1)

docker logs --since 30m "$CONTAINER" 2>&1 |
grep -Ei 'delivery|queue|smtp|connect|error|421|451|550'