
Ask HN: How do email/SMS and SMTP servers work? - gavinray
Tonight I wasted ~4 hours trying to run a self-hosted email platform locally and see if I could email myself.<p>I am really frustrated, but I have to admit I learned a great deal about how complex mail server operation is compared to, say, something like HTTP where you can just expose &amp; tunnel.<p>It seems like a lot of the complexity stems from the fact you need multiple components for a mail system to function properly (SMTP Server, MTA&#x2F;MSA, Mail Store, Delivery Agent, IMAP&#x2F;POP server). And from what I gather, it seems as though ISP&#x27;s can choose to block the traffic regardless, which is entirely out of your control?<p>Is there anyone who might be able to explain how these things work, and what the bare-minimum requirement would be for an HTTP API that could only send outbound emails?
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sairamkunala
yes, ISPs can block certain ports. Best way to get a VPS with a non rotating
IP and host everything there.

If you are looking for a hosted solution with HTTP API, see mailgun like
services. You need a translater from HTTP to SMTP in order to send email.

