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How to run your own mail server (2017)

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Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#191
Does anyone use Hashcash? I haven't run my own personal mail server in 5+ years, but I used to feel like Hashcash really helped keep my messages out of spam folders. It seems like SpamAssassin is really the only filter that implements it, and I don't know how prevalent that is today. But I used to spend 10-60 seconds computing a hashcash on every outgoing message that left my server, and has basically no problem with getting caught as spam. But I also had a domain and IP address with like 20 years reputation behind it...

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#193
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no one secret you can google. There is also no need to perpetuate the fear of running your own email. Decentralization of core internet services helps us all, not just the person doing it. So to anyone seriously interested and willing to learn, I highly recommend running your own email servers. If you expect 100% delivery rate, you won't necessarily get that, no matter who is running your email infrastructur…

I’ve seen emails marked as suspicious/phishing attempt between two GSuite domains owned by the same company.

Heck I have seen emails from Google itself, not any gmail username, but information from @google addresses landed in my Spam emails, making me double check the headers that if it is spoofed or real.

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#194
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly not getting blocked. Many sign-up fields will block foo+spam@bar.net if I try to use it.

That's why I use "." as the separator. Now try using an email from a domain name with more that 3 letters in the TLD. Almost no one considers that a valid address.

So if I bought my “name.rocks” I’ll have trouble using that as an email? I was looking forward to “firstname@lastname.rocks” and I never even considered it would be a problem. I’m disappointed

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#195
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly not getting blocked. Many sign-up fields will block foo+spam@bar.net if I try to use it.

That's why I use "." as the separator. Now try using an email from a domain name with more that 3 letters in the TLD. Almost no one considers that a valid address.

[deleted]

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#196
post #22

Then you realize the true pain of having a near-zero reputation when trying to email anything to people on Gmail, Yahoo, Live, etc, etc. Expect to go to spam even if you have DKIM, SPF, and no relaying. If anyone actually knows the secret to not having your own mail-server's mail go to spam on these bigger systems, please tell, I've Googled it for years with no success.

Easy. Dont run your own SMTP server and instead use Mailgun or other reputable SMTP servers to send emails. they are used by all large newsletter/marketing systems. Free tier services are largely enough for personal users.

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#197
post #30
post #22

Then you realize the true pain of having a near-zero reputation when trying to email anything to people on Gmail, Yahoo, Live, etc, etc. Expect to go to spam even if you have DKIM, SPF, and no relaying. If anyone actually knows the secret to not having your own mail-server's mail go to spam on these bigger systems, please tell, I've Googled it for years with no success.

Agreed! I've been running my own mail server for 20+ years, and I would not recommend that anybody do this on a lark. Deliverability to GMail is a huge problem for me and has been for years. I even asked friends at Google to find out what the story was. All I got back is that the mail group was so careful/paranoid it wouldn't talk to them either. I would long ago have switched over to a vendor, but I use qmail-style…

If nobody supports it then why did you choose it?

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#198
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you need to deal with IMAP at all for a webmail client? If the mail server is the one hosting the webmail frontend, you could read the Maildir or mbox (or whatever you're using to store emails) directly. IMAP's only really relevant for locally-installed clients (i.e. the exact thing webmail's supposed to replace).

If I were to write a webmail client for either myself or as a non-toy-project, I would definitely want to be able to host the webmail backend somewhere else than the MTA/MDA, and especially not give the webmail full access to every user's email. That leaves you with either using some protocol that already exists (IMAP or now JMAP as another persion mentioned in the thread) or coming up with my own.

There are still a couple options here besides IMAP:

- Use server-local users, and have the webmail prompt for those credentials and use them to browse that user's Maildir via SFTP. "Good enough" for small-scale operations. Probably not the best choice for large-scale operations, but likely "good enough" for small-scale.

- Store the emails in a SQL database (e.g. Postgres), with row-level permissions to SQL users for each address, and have the webmail prompt for credentials for those SQL users and use those to connect to the DB and query messages. Probably the ideal choice for large-scale operations.

Both of these options seem more reasonable to me than trying to do anything with IMAP.

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#199

I feel like if people are gonna take back email this process needs to be easier; like a single application with a web front-end. Hosting email is a pain! This is why everyone seems to outsource their email hosting. Read the comments in the 2017 discussion. Favorite quote: "I run my own mail infrastructure. To say the least I wouldn't recommend it even to my worst enemies. It's horrible." https://news.ycombinator.com/…

There are a few tools that offer simplified mail server deployments. iRedMail, MailCow, Mail-in-a-Box, and Cloudron (does more than just mail).

Re: How to run your own mail server (2017)

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen emails marked as suspicious/phishing attempt between two GSuite domains owned by the same company.

Heck I have seen emails from Google itself, not any gmail username, but information from @google addresses landed in my Spam emails, making me double check the headers that if it is spoofed or real.

I think that a good thing, since it mean they're committed to build a good algorithm, instead of just whitelist some big guy and throw everyone else to the trash.
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