title: Service Proxying created at: Thu Nov 28 2024 10:17:25 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) updated at: Sat Feb 08 2025 14:22:50 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) --- # Service Proxying # Overview Service proxying configures local services to [proxy requests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server) for a cPanel account’s domains to a remote server. You can manage a cPanel account’s service proxying via API with the WHM API 1 [`set_service_proxy_backends`](https://api.docs.cpanel.net/openapi/whm/operation/set_service_proxy_backends/) and [`unset_all_service_proxy_backends`](https://api.docs.cpanel.net/openapi/whm/operation/unset_all_service_proxy_backends/) functions. You can configure the following services via service proxying: * Web Server (`httpd`) * Mailbox ([Dovecot](https://www.dovecot.org/) ) For information about a specific service, read our [cPanel service daemons](https://docs.cpanel.net/knowledge-base/cpanel-product/the-cpanel-service-daemons) documentation. # Service proxy configuration All service proxy configurations assign a host as the general proxy backend server. In the absence of any other configurations, all compatible services proxy requests to that proxy backend server. You can also configure different services to use different proxy backend servers. For example, you can configure the web server (`httpd`) to proxy requests to `web.example.com` server, while Dovecot proxies its requests to the `mail.example.com` server. To create such a configuration, you **must** first assign a general proxy backend server. Then, assign other backend servers to the related service group. For example, you can assign the `web.example.com` server as the general proxy backend server. You can then assign the `mail.example.com` server as the [Mail](https://docs.cpanel.net/knowledge-base/general-systems-administration/service-proxying/#mail) service group’s proxy backend server. # Service proxy groups Service proxy groups consist of a group of one or more related services: ## Mail The *Mail* service group consists of the Dovecot service, which handles the IMAP and POP3 protocols. !! Note: !! This service proxy group does **not** include Exim. !! While you cannot proxy SMTP, you can configure a manual MX redirect. To do this, use the WHM API 1 [`set_manual_mx_redirects`](https://api.docs.cpanel.net/openapi/whm/operation/set_manual_mx_redirects/) function. # Unsuspend an account To remove service proxying, unsuspend the account. For example, the [*Live Transfer*](https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/transfers/transfer-tool/#live-transfer) feature proxies services to the destination server. The feature then suspends the account. You can unsuspend the account on the source server to disable proxying.