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I recently bought a domain name and am wanting to setup my own mail server (if Hillary can do it,...


G+_Ben Reese
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I recently bought a domain name and am wanting to setup my own mail server (if Hillary can do it, it can't be that difficult). Does anyone have a good place to start? I found this excellent tutorial (https://samhobbs.co.uk/raspberry-pi-email-server) for setting up Dovecot, Postfix, and other add-ons on a Pi, but I'm now thinking Time Warner is blocking the ports for SMTPS and IMAP.

 

I know Gmail will let me use my own domain, but it's $5 per account per month - there's really no reason when I can buy hosting on a VPS for $5/month and host multiple accounts with multiple aliases per account. Gmail will also let you send email from another email account if you can provide the SMTP server, so I'm not opposed to a mail server that only forwards and hosts the SMTP.

 

Ultimately I'd like to setup a home "cloud" server for mail, docs, file sharing, and maybe even a pier to pier social network. The mail server seems to be the most difficult part so far though, so I'm starting with that.

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Stephen Bertoni?, I'll try again to see if SMTP is blocked here. Forums sound hit or miss plus a lot of people who don't understand ("I have no problems connecting to an IMAP or SMTP service when at home"....). It seems Postfix probably is the way to go then so I'll keep pursuing that.

 

I think that Linode article might be reverse from what I want... That's for connecting Postfix to an external SMTP service, but I'd want to host the SMTP service that others can connect to.

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You'll need to connect to an external mail server for outgoing mail though Ben Reese? Incoming mail shouldn't be a problem with Time Warner. Or you could get a business class account from TW.

Maybe things have changed with Time Warner but I did this for years and they never gave a rat's rear end that I was running an MTA. ;) Good luck with it all.

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Joshua Hamlett?, Namecheap actually has a dynamic DNS updater, so a static IP isn't necessary. It's also been discussed that most dynamic IPs are fairly static as it is - there's really no benefit to the ISP to change your IP unless they want to make a home server more difficult to maintain. I don't think mine has changed since I got a new modem 6+ months ago.

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Yup. But even virtual servers hosted by a well known provider can run into trouble. There's also the problem of having to keep the server up to date - residential or not.

 

http://www.epolk.com/microsoft-outlook-blocking-email-from-our-mail-server/

 

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/why-you-shouldnt-try-to-host-your-own-email/

 

There's also a ton of google hits about google themselves blocking all email coming from small businesses, claiming they're spamming when they're actually individual replies.

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Both links are mostly irrelevant. It's quite possible to halfass a mail server setup, but it's not trival or easy to properly set up or maintain an MTA.

Just noticed the talk about static vs. dynamic IP. Around here at least, Time Warner changes my IP address about once a year. Not a biggie unless you have a NIC die or decide to change NICs.

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I have my email server on a Synology NAS  Was fairly easy to set up.  I use a VPS as a relay for outgoing only since SpamHaus will flag a Dynamic IP (no PTR record)  ITs handling 2 domains (though incorrectly.  They should be virtual from what I've read for multiple domains) 

Funny thing, once I did the VPS relay, I wasn't flagged by Spamhuas, but Microsft flagged me as spam.  I had no probs with a customer until I set up the relay.  MS was cool about removing my block.

 

Then of course there is the whole SPF/DKIM/DMARC to set up once the basics are done.

 

Static vs dynamic IP not all that important.  The MX record point to the A record (usually).  So even a DynDNS could work.

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David Dennis VPS is a virtual private server.  In a nutshell its a server on the web running as a VM (like most internet servers these days)

I pay about $40 a year for a ubuntu server with about 3GB monthly bandwidth (that's a lot of outgoing email for me) It has a dedicated IP and I think 2 or 4 IPv6.  (but after the BSides Raleigh talk, by Earl Carter, IPv6 looks like a hacker's dream)

 

Its also nice to have a system 'outside' to test things. Port scan your house, etc.  I typically just ssh into it and do my thing.  (screen is a very good buddy for that)

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