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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)

#201

Post by z3t4 »

Clubber wrote: post #157
rsync wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And then you're scrambling to figure out how the spammers managed to exploit your setup this time." ... " ... writing a MTA with the goal of minimizing configuration and being secure and resistant to attacks by default. " As a 20+ year UNIX sysadmin and fellow owner of my own email infrastructure for 18 of those, I am surprised to read this and am not even sure what you are talking about. Can you explain what you me…

I've run my own mail server since probably 1998 or so. I have had a few problems here and there, but nothing major. The worst is when the power goes out, but smtp has a wonderful resend feature when the destination server isn't responding. I know my emails aren't being farmed from the NSA (at least from my side). I know Google isn't scanning all my emails to sell me garbage. I know it won't be shut down because of so…

You can have a backup server that holds your e-mail until your main server goes back up. You configure priority in DNS zone file.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#202

Post by BenjiWiebe »

Torgo wrote: post #7

I started running my own email server around 2014. I am using every mitigation I can find, but I still get an unending torrent of spam that slips through. If tweaking spam filters and deleting spam is your idea of fun, then run your own email server.

I don't do spam filtering on my server, but I use Thunderbird and it's filter takes care of 99% of the spam.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#203

Post by Spivak »

sigstoat wrote: post #185
heartbreak wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> frankly if the message can't handle at least a few hours delay then email probably isn't the right medium for it. This may have been the case in the mid-90s, but it is certainly not the case today. I frequently receive emails that require immediate attention, whether from my employer, my bank, or any number of other notifications. Normal email users expect emails to be delivered in seconds, not hours.

> Normal email users expect emails to be delivered in seconds, not hours. their expectations are unreasonable. gmail, etc don't even manage that much of the time, let alone guarantee it.

Sure, everything is best-effort on the web but <10s delivery is pretty much the norm now.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#204

Post by [deleted] »

nerpderp83 wrote: post #190
andris9 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yes it is, we have around 200k users and fighting with old leaked passwords is like a full time job. Very easy to abuse as well, the attackers can make low frequency requests from scattered IPs and thus are almost impoasible to prevent

Identity aware proxy. User has to auth over http, then mail client can connect to IAP and ultimately to mail. And or two factor. Giving the user 10% easier usage gives the sysadmins 200% harder job. Take away the 10%.

[deleted]

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#205

Post by old-gregg »

smolsky wrote: post #200
agentultra wrote: post #41

I run my own mail infrastructure. To say the least I wouldn't recommend it even to my worst enemies. It's horrible. Actually it's fine until it's not. Then your email doesn't work and you could be missing out on important communications. And then you're scrambling to figure out how the spammers managed to exploit your setup this time. And you have to learn a tonne of crap in order to manage it... and the text files!…

I ran my own mail server (a few VMs in the cloud) for about five years. It's fun as you have control over accounts, aliases, forwarding, sieve tricks as well as backups. It's good to know that your broker and doctor's mail is delivered directly to your server and not Google. It sucks ass when your mail does not get through as GMail/Hotmail rejects a connection from the IP address your cloud company allocated for you,…

Actually one fun way of doing it is to run your own email setup using one of the big ESPs as a "proxy". You can do it for both inbound and outbound.

You can have a domain registered with Gmail or Rackspace Mail or whatever, and use the SMTP credentials they give you for outbound, while keeping MX records point to your own SMTP for inbound. Or you can let them process the inbound as well (fighting spam for you) and you just forward everything (or sweep via IMAP) and put it into your own Dovecot.

This way you control what's important to you (email storage/backups/etc) but outsource delivery and spam filtering.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#206

Post by Spivak »

CaptSpify wrote: post #179
heartbreak wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> frankly if the message can't handle at least a few hours delay then email probably isn't the right medium for it. This may have been the case in the mid-90s, but it is certainly not the case today. I frequently receive emails that require immediate attention, whether from my employer, my bank, or any number of other notifications. Normal email users expect emails to be delivered in seconds, not hours.

Then normal users need to adjust their expectations. Email has never been assumed to be immediate. Iirc, its even in the spec

Of course not, like most things email is best-effort. But it's hard to blame users when for the last 10 years we've been able to send/receive email in <10s.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#207

Post by DrPhish »

ams6110 wrote: post #71
agentultra wrote: post #41

I run my own mail infrastructure. To say the least I wouldn't recommend it even to my worst enemies. It's horrible. Actually it's fine until it's not. Then your email doesn't work and you could be missing out on important communications. And then you're scrambling to figure out how the spammers managed to exploit your setup this time. And you have to learn a tonne of crap in order to manage it... and the text files!…

OpenBSD's smtpd has worked well for me. It's also available in a portable version. https://www.opensmtpd.org/ Configuration is one file, very simple. It won't do everything a sendmail does, but it's never had me pulling my hair out.

I also am using opensmtpd, and have been for years. Even setting up starttls encryption and a DKIM proxy were simple. I have never had an issue with accidentally setting it up as an open relay or anything else that would place me on a blacklist.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#208

Post by DrPhish »

ams6110 wrote: post #81
linsomniac wrote: post #39

How to run your own mail server: Don't. How to run your own mail server (for experts): Don't. I say this as someone who has run my own mail server for 20+ years. Now, if you absolutely have to get off Google, and the other available hosted options don't work for you, then this article looks like a good start. I'd add roundcube for web access and letsencrypt for SSL. One thing you'll never really get, in my experience…

I run OpenSMTPD. It delivers my mail to a maildir. I read it in emacs. It's pretty simple. But not everyone's cup of tea. If I had to worry about IMAP, Webmail, etc. I wouldn't run my own.

I have my opensmtpd setup relay incoming mail to a Citadel IMAP/webmail server. It works a treat. I'm paranoid, so I don't allow external IMAP, force SSL on the webmail, GeoIP block it to only 3 countries and have a simple auth prompt on it as well just in case the landing page has an exploit.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#209

Post by perlgod »

mozumder wrote: post #137
perlgod wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe OS X uses many of the same components under the hood. I have toyed with OS X Server.app (mostly just to get the necessary certificates to get IMAP push notifications working with iOS/Dovecot[1]) and it seems like a really solid choice. Not sure how you go about colocating a Mac Mini in a datacenter though. [1] https://www.c0ffee.net/blog/dovecot-push-notifications

You use it with your home ISP on a static-IP address.

Any outgoing mail will almost certainly be spam-blocked if you send from a residential IP. Also, most ISPs block port 25.

Re: How to Run Your Own Mail Server (2017)

#210

Post by le-mark »

icelancer wrote: post #94

I use iRedMail and set up my own mail server for my small business. I am beginning to wish I hadn't, even though I've had literally 0 problems outside of a single reboot to fix an issue. https://www.linuxbabe.com/mail-server/ubuntu-16-04-iredmail-... I dunno. I feel like I'm sitting on a timebomb. It's hosted on DigitalOcean and while it works great with RoundCube and gmail... eh. I dunno why I even did it in the fir…

Other than the feeling of 'sitting on a timebomb' are there any other specifics you can cite? Have you looked into contracting someone for a few hours a month to check/update things? I have considered doing what you have done, and your feedback has piqured my curiosity.
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