Ask HN: Is it possible to run your own mail server for personal use?

Post by daxorid » Sun, Aug 14, 2016, 2:37 PM UTC

tqwhite wrote: post #279

reallyimran wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something you can do to install that : https://mailinabox.email/

I've been using it for a year. Works great. One of the most thoughtfully designed and complete bits of software I've ever run into. I'm especially delighted with it's self monitoring and the status change email messages it sends me. That it includes webmail and gives me a nicely featured DNS server only makes it a touch more awesome. I run it at Digital Ocean for ten bucks a month. I support family and friends. My em…

Post by TheMog » Sun, Aug 14, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

lucb1e wrote: post #269

TheMog wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to use a previously unused IP address is usually a good thing, pity that there are so few of those left. ISPs definitely seem to have an impact as well, but some spamfilters at least used to automatically assign a negative score to anything originating from an IP block used by an ISP for domestic Internet connections.

Well, there's plenty of IPv6 around. My ISP gives out /48 blocks to all customers together with a single, static v4 address. The difference in number of public addresses is incredible.

Post by OJFord » Sun, Aug 14, 2016, 5:32 PM UTC

teddyh wrote: post #207

OJFord wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is it if anything that happens if my internet cuts > out at my home, You bounce any incoming emails in that period, and (obviously) can't send any. > should I instead use some sort of hosting provider > for my mail server? I suppose that's a trade-off against how reliable you consider your ISP and electricity supply, and the volume or importance of email you'd be likely to receive in such a period.

Bounce? No. The servers trying to send mail to your server will retry for up to, typically, four or five days, before they bounce the mail back to the sender. Mail was written to be resilient against network downtime.

Post by mancerayder » Sun, Aug 14, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

Nux wrote: post #59

It's absolutely possible to run an email server in 2016 and I encourage anyone capable to do so! Email is one of the bastions of the decentralised Internet and we should hang on to it. Every day more and more people are moving to Gmail/Hotmail/Outlook and while I do understand the reasons, it also puts more and more power into the hands of these providers and the little guy (us) gets more screwed (like marked as junk…

Post by sbierwagen » Sun, Aug 14, 2016, 7:20 PM UTC

philtar wrote: post #257

robertely wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why you soft bounce. It tells the sender that you can't receive the email _at this time_.

Pretty sure you can't do anything when you're not connected to the internet.

   The sender MUST delay retrying a particular destination after one
   attempt has failed.  In general, the retry interval SHOULD be at
   least 30 minutes; however, more sophisticated and variable strategies
   will be beneficial when the SMTP client can determine the reason for
   non-delivery.

   Retries continue until the message is transmitted or the sender gives
   up; the give-up time generally needs to be at least 4-5 days.  It MAY
   be appropriate to set a shorter maximum number of retries for non-
   delivery notifications and equivalent error messages than for
   standard messages.  The parameters to the retry algorithm MUST be
   configurable.