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

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

#301

Post by benbristow »

simon_acca wrote: post #165
jwr wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Email is one of the bastions of the decentralised Internet and we should hang on to it. This. I hope someone will eventually create an "E-mail server in a box" package for Ubuntu LTS, so that more people can run their own E-mail. I'm not saying it has to be super-easy for everyone, just that it should avoid unnecessary chore work (like configuring postfix to always use TLS, or plugging postgrey into postfix).

As long as you know Docker, this is pretty much what you are asking: https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver . I use it in combination with the rainloop webmail client: https://github.com/jprjr/docker-rainloop . Everything is configured with a single docker-compose, read about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11748036

I've been doing a similar thing but with Poste.io. https://poste.io/

It has a decent web admin panel built-in to the box and also a copy of RoundCube Webmail. It'll even automatically set-up LetsEncrypt SSL for you.

You might want to set-up rainloop manually though because RoundCube isn't the best.

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

#303

Post by simon_acca »

Kequc wrote: post #195
simon_acca wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as you know Docker, this is pretty much what you are asking: https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver . I use it in combination with the rainloop webmail client: https://github.com/jprjr/docker-rainloop . Everything is configured with a single docker-compose, read about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11748036

What is it if anything that happens if my internet cuts out at my home, should I instead use some sort of hosting provider for my mail server?

I forgot to mention that I use the abovementioned setup on a dedicated server, while also setting up a secondary MX dns record for bouncing the mail in case of malfunctioning as sister comments suggested.

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

#304

Post by seocombat »

Gmail and Hotmail are looking more at engagement as an indicator of an emails spamminess. If people are opening, clicking, moving from spam folder to inbox then they will conclude that an email is good despite the content.

Then, they look at the reputation of the IP address/email domain that you are sending it on. If a lot of emails coming from a specific IP address/domain have low engagement you may run into problems even if your content is squeaky clean.

And if you’re sending a lot of emails to invalid email addresses or receiving a lot of complaints, then Hotmail/Outlook will block your IP and domain. You can use to Outlook Smart Network Data Services to check your reputation https://postmaster.live.com/snds/index.aspx and then take the decision about what you should fix based on the report.

Also, below are some other tools to deal with delivery issues to Hotmail:

https://mail.live.com/mail/services.aspx and https://mail.live.com/mail/troubleshooting.aspx

P.S. Most deliverability problems don’t start where many people think they do. The reality is, though, that list source is the root of deliverability success and deliverability problems. Where did those addresses come from and what do the people who gave them think you’re going to do with them?

So, the first step to diagnosing any delivery problem is to look at the list. All of the things ISP use to measure reputation measure how well you’re collecting addresses. Changing IPs or domains or content doesn’t change the reason mail is being filtered. It just means the filters have to figure out something new to key on.

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

#305

Post by zatkin »

mancerayder wrote: post #287
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…

How realistic is it to be able to do all this from a Digital Ocean or other VPS, given that those IP blocks may have already been used by spammers or may be used periodically by spammers? I.e. it's trivial for them to set up VPSes on the fly. I'd feel nervous about doing this at home. For one thing, my ISP is a residential cable internet provider, and not 100% guaranteed uptime as a result. I'd hate to miss mail or w…

>- make sure your IP (IPv6) is clean and not listed in any RBL, use e.g. http://multirbl.valli.org/ to check

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

#306

Post by psynaut »

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…

Embedded mail servers are worth a look. E.g:

https://own-mailbox.com/

https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Hardware

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

#308

Post by gentoo »

daxorid wrote: post #281
tqwhite wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

DigitalOcean is just as susceptible to surveillance as Google or Microsoft.

I don't think the point is to avoid surveillance (although self-hosting may make it slightly more inconvenient to snoop). The point is to own your own data, not depend on Microsoft/Google's benevolence.
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