We're excited to announce three significant updates to OpenEFA that make deployment easier, email relay more reliable, and updates safer. These features were developed in response to community feedback and real-world deployment needs.
OpenEFA now supports configuring multiple domains in a single installation - perfect for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and organizations protecting multiple email domains.
Previously, you could only configure one domain during installation. Additional domains required manual configuration in three separate locations:
Now, the installer prompts you to add as many domains as needed, and configures all three locations automatically!
During installation, after entering your primary domain, you'll see:
Enter the primary domain to protect: openefa.org
Primary domain: openefa.org
Is this correct? (y/n): y
You can add additional domains to protect now, or add them later via SpacyWeb.
Add another domain? (y/n): y
Enter domain name: example.com
✓ Added example.com
Add another domain? (y/n): y
Enter domain name: client-domain.com
✓ Added client-domain.com
Add another domain? (y/n): n
Domains to configure (3 total):
• openefa.org
• example.com
• client-domain.comConfigure 10-50+ client domains in one installation session
All three configuration locations updated automatically
Complete setup in 10-15 minutes regardless of domain count
No risk of misconfiguring one of the three locations
The installer uses a loop that continues until you answer "no" to "Add another domain?" - so you can literally add hundreds of domains if needed. The only practical limit is the time it takes to type them in!
OpenEFA now properly handles ARC headers from major email providers, allowing it to work seamlessly as an intermediate relay server.
When emails are forwarded through multiple mail servers (like OpenEFA → MailGuard → Final Server), traditional SPF/DKIM/DMARC validation fails because the sender IP changes at each hop. This causes legitimate forwarded emails to be incorrectly flagged or rejected.
ARC (Authenticated Received Chain) is a newer email authentication protocol that preserves the original authentication results through forwarding hops. Major email providers like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo already use ARC extensively.
When processing emails from supported domains, OpenEFA:
This was developed in response to a customer request: "Relaying is quite bad with gmail and outlook as recipients. I have it working now, but with ARC enabled."
With ARC support, OpenEFA can now properly relay emails from these major providers through downstream servers (like MailGuard/EFA) without authentication failures.
The most critical feature for a project under active development: a safe, intelligent update system that preserves your configuration.
OpenEFA is under active development with frequent improvements:
Before today, updating meant manually editing files or reinstalling - neither is acceptable for a production system.
curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo bashThat's it! The update script automatically:
Timestamped backup before every update
Never overwrites your settings
Tests all 5 services after update
sudo ./update.sh --rollback
# Standard update
sudo ./update.sh
# Preview changes without applying (dry run)
sudo ./update.sh --dry-run
# Update specific component only
sudo ./update.sh --component email_filter
sudo ./update.sh --component modules
sudo ./update.sh --component web
# Create backup without updating
sudo ./update.sh --backup-only
# Restore from backup
sudo ./update.sh --rollbackemail_filter.py - Main email processing enginemodules/* - All security modulesservices/* - Background services (db_processor, APIs)web/* - SpacyWeb dashboardscripts/* and tools/* - Utility scriptsconfig/*.json - All user configurationsconfig/.my.cnf - Database credentialsconfig/.app_config.ini - Flask secret keylogs/* - Log filesAfter first update, OpenEFA creates /opt/spacyserver/VERSION:
VERSION=1.0.0
INSTALLED=2025-10-13
UPDATED=2025-10-13
COMMIT=872b1b0This helps you track what version you're running and when it was last updated.
All three features have been thoroughly tested on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS:
All services validated after updates:
The installer now includes all three features:
curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo bashYou'll be prompted to configure multiple domains during setup!
Update your existing OpenEFA installation to get ARC support and the update mechanism:
curl -sSL http://install.openefa.com/install.sh | sudo bashThis will:
Complete documentation available:
With these foundational features in place, we're focused on:
These updates are critical as OpenEFA moves from private development to public release:
The update mechanism is especially important - it gives users confidence to stay current as the project evolves rapidly during these early public months.
OpenEFA is open source and community-driven!
Ready to deploy AI-powered email security with multi-domain support?
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