

Ask HN: Do you run your own mail server? - vonklaus


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ac29a
yes, its a postfix mta with dovecot and sasl/clamav/postfixadmin set up to use
a mysql backend and suite b encryption. kinda a pita to configure, esp for
production, but very reliable and secure.

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ac29a
theres plenty of how-to step by step knowledge bases out there, google 'how to
set up postfix with dovecot'.. i think i used the gentoo wiki and copypasta'd
much of it.. it takes a bit of time to set up a decent mx server, in addition
to configuration, you gotta set up a db, generate/sign crypto certs, maybe do
a little web-dev to make shit easy to admin.. with regards to this you rly
dont want anything on a publically facing ip.. but once again tons of how-to
for config out there

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vonklaus
Do you remember which guide you used? I think, at this point, I am willing to
spend the time to configure it. I have free hosting, I want to set up a few
emails at my domain without paying anything other than hosting.

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alanpost
Why do you ask?

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vonklaus
I want to run my own mail server, but have never done it. I was hoping to see
how many people themselves do, and the potential pitfalls.

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alanpost
I found it much easier to start by using a store-and-forward service to
receive email and a relay service to deliver mail. A store and forward service
will accept delivery of your incoming mail, do the necessary spam filtering
and blacklisting, and then deliver messages to your mail system. The relay
service will accept deliver of your outgoing mail, do any necessary
validation, and see it to it's final destination.

Running a mail system involves a lot of moving parts, each of them requiring
study and practice to competently operate. It can be difficult to deal with
every piece all at once if you're just starting. The store and forward and
relay services let me build out mail infrastructure without having to expose
it directly to the internet, which let me deal with deployment in a much more
controlled manner.

Why do you want to run your own mail server? It's hard to avoid potential
pitfalls without knowing what you need to accomplish.

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vonklaus
I am really broke and have a lot of debt. I need a myemail@mydomain.com and
all of them cost money. I have ~$250 Digital Ocean credit so I have free VPS.
Also, seems like a good way to learn, although it might not be worth it as
this problem has really been solved well.

edit: thanks for the information though. I saw some of these services when i
was doing cursory research. This was pretty helpful.

~~~
alanpost
Use a burner domain and enjoy yourself, it's a good learning experience. It
is, as you yourself indicate, a pretty good waste of time too.

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ac29a
helps if you run your own dns as well

