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Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

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Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#31

Post by startling »

eikenberry wrote: post #17
bigiain wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question: where's your IP address come from? I'd have guessed that common cloud VM IP pools are likely all trashed permanently already? I somehow doubt AWS or DO or Linode or Rackspace et al are worthwhile places to host an outbound mail server? I'd also guess ISP pools of home IP addresses are probably just as poisoned. Is proper SPF/DKIM setup "enough" to overcome that? (Or are my suspicions about pools of IP addre…

Cloud providers are not as bad as you'd think. I've tested several DO IPs using various checkers, as I've been thinking about moving my server there (currently at prgmr.com), and they have all been clean. SPF and not being an open relay seem to be the 2 important things to keep you off the blacklists. I still don't have DKIM (been on my TODO for a while... but lazy) and haven't been put on a blacklist in many years.

I used Digital Ocean for a year. No problems, never sent spam. Then my mail started being spamfiltered, apparently because a neighbor was spamming. Seriously don't recommend using cloud hosts if you care about people receiving your email.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#32

Post by peller »

If you're comfortable with command-line Linux, and have a basic understanding of DNS, setting this up from scratch is actually not all that hard. After researching the hell out of this a few weekends ago, the best guide I found on the subject is: https://workaround.org/ispmail/jessie

Sure, it's technically for Debian, but if you're comfortable with Linux it's easily adaptable to other distributions. In order to get Gmail to accept your email without it going to spam, you need SPF/DKIM and a SSL cert. Let's Encrypt works, and is a cinch to set up.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#33

Post by empath75 »

mr_blobs wrote: post #2

I setup my own mail server last year and shortly gave up on the idea. Setting the server up isn't the problem. The problem is keeping your IP off of all the major blacklists. I wasn't even sending out mass emails and 30%+ of my email would never be delivered. I had to constantly check to see if my IP addresses were on the various spam lists (and fight to get my IPs off) and I just got tired of it. Companies like Goog…

The promotions tab is the only reason I even look at marketing email. Otherwise, I'd just ignore it completely. Every once in a while I skim through it and clear it out.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#35

Post by wjd2030 »

startling wrote: post #30
icebraining wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I stopped using my home connection because it was listed on Spamhaus' PBL, you might want to check that out if you plan on using yours: https://www.spamhaus.org/pbl/ I'm using DO currently and it's been working fine, though it's just for personal email.

I used DO for a year without a problem, and then my IP was blacklisted (apparently a neighbor was spamming) and I couldn't do anything about it. Be warned, and frequently check if Google accounts receive mail frequently.

I ended up using an smtp service from Mailjet to get around this issue. 600 free emails a month.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#36

Post by drdaeman »

viraptor wrote: post #10
voltagex_ wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Gmail and other really big providers are in a unique position for spam filtering. They have so many users that they get a continuously trained filter pretty much for free. They can instantly classify never-seen-before kind of spam in minutes because someone gets push notification on their phone and clicks "this is spam". Nobody with purely-technical solution to this problem can be better in practice. (although we're…

Run a honeypot. Just an usual Postfix with catch-all virtual mailbox and a learn-spam for the destinatin. Let spammers happily fill it (they will, in no time) and train your very own rspamd/spamassasin/whatever.

Sure, this works as long as they don't try to poison your filters, but given its a small and rare target, it's unlikely someone would bother.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#37

Post by balladeer »

eikenberry wrote: post #18
eikenberry wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you have SPF/DKIM in place and make sure your IP isn't already on a blacklist for some past (previous users) infractions you should be good to go. I've run my own mail server for years and have only had to remove it from a blacklist once. So once you get past some initial blacklist monitoring work, you are good to go. That does bring up the point of how to do blacklist monitoring. There are various commercial se…

Not something I can run, but http://www.mailradar.com/ seems like a better free service. They let you monitor 5 IPs for inclusion on blacklists which works better for a personal setup where you might have more than 1 domain but wouldn't have more than a couple VMs as the MX servers.

I signed up for mailradar.com and the confirmation email landed in the Spam folder of my Gmail account.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#39

Post by brightball »

eikenberry wrote: post #12
mr_blobs wrote: post #2

I setup my own mail server last year and shortly gave up on the idea. Setting the server up isn't the problem. The problem is keeping your IP off of all the major blacklists. I wasn't even sending out mass emails and 30%+ of my email would never be delivered. I had to constantly check to see if my IP addresses were on the various spam lists (and fight to get my IPs off) and I just got tired of it. Companies like Goog…

Once you have SPF/DKIM in place and make sure your IP isn't already on a blacklist for some past (previous users) infractions you should be good to go. I've run my own mail server for years and have only had to remove it from a blacklist once. So once you get past some initial blacklist monitoring work, you are good to go. That does bring up the point of how to do blacklist monitoring. There are various commercial se…

Don't forget DMARC. Setting it up strictly and monitoring it via something like dmarcian or other tools should keep your domain clean as long as the IP is safe.

Re: Mail-in-a-Box – one-click, easy-to-deploy email server

#40

Post by peterburkimsher »

I'd like a mail server for jailbroken iPhones. I tried to install one from Cydia, but it was designed for Apple TV and sent my iPhone into a boot loop and I had to restore.

Having a local mail server would be useful for making local P2P WiFi links, and emailing photos/music/etc directly between phones without Internet access.

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