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

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21–30 of 92 posts

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

#22
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…

My company's mail is on Gmail, and because of some missetting on google's side ('webmaster@' and 'abuse@' addresses not mailable), we ended up on the RFC-Clueless blacklist.

I got that fixed, and have submitted half-a-dozen requests to have us removed from rfc-clueless, and they've all been ignored (and do their best to hide how to submit and what for). Fuck rfc-clueless - it's a blacklist for 'people who don't follow the rules', but they're bad netizens themselves and don't follow their own rules. Just... fuck them.

I can't imagine what it's like to end up on one of these ignored blacklists when you don't have the might of a professional email service behind you.

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

#23
This is good for those without existing infrastructure looking for a non-customizable mail system. I already run my own DNS, backups, firewalls, monitoring etc and want something I can hack on, so I run Citadel at home. Cit is the same idea (complete mail solution including webmail), but has many mechanisms for maintainably extending its functionality. Runs wonderfully on Debian with a single apt-get

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

#24
post #15

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…

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…

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.

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

#25
I run a pretty similar setup, but could never get z-push to work properly with iOS exchange sync. I spent a few days tinkering with it and trying to fix php bugs, but to this day I can't get search to work properly from my iPhone. Are there any alternatives to z-push out there, or has someone had success with this setup?

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

#26
post #21

This includes Roundcube which, the last time I checked (admittedly, 2-3 years ago) was basically unusable on a mobile browser. Has this changed in the meantime? (Not that it matters much, one could always install another webmail client elsewere).

It still is, unless you install a mobile skin.

This is the skin I installed, it's nothing to write home about but it does the job: https://github.com/messagerie-melanie2/Roundcube-Skin-Melani...

Having said that I recently migrated to fastmail as it costs me <$5 a month and just works for all of my domains. I found I was spending more time making my email work than actually building things in my limited spare time.

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

#27

Unfortunately, it requires a fresh Ubuntu installation / separate instance. I think it would be a perfect use case for Docker-based solution.

I would love this! Already have a Debian 8 server and (although I want to use this) don't feel like spinning up a new server for MiaB.

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

#28
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.

Hmmm, thanks for that. I just checked my CloudAtCost VM, which I'd never have considered running outbound mail from, and it's not on _any_ of the 90+ blacklists mxtools checks. This astounds me!

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

#29
post #21

This includes Roundcube which, the last time I checked (admittedly, 2-3 years ago) was basically unusable on a mobile browser. Has this changed in the meantime? (Not that it matters much, one could always install another webmail client elsewere).

It still is, unless you install a mobile skin. This is the skin I installed, it's nothing to write home about but it does the job: https://github.com/messagerie-melanie2/Roundcube-Skin-Melani... Having said that I recently migrated to fastmail as it costs me <$5 a month and just works for all of my domains. I found I was spending more time making my email work than actually building things in my limited spare time.

Thanks for the link, it seems that skin does the trick!

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

#30
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…

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.
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