@homelab @jwildeboer Running mailcow (@doncow) on a vps for about two years now. I’ve spent the time to configure dmarc, spf and dkim. Got on a spamlist in the first week because a misconfigured rdns. Works like a charm. Only had one org reporting they didn’t get my mail but I suspect a user skill issue or something like that.

@jwildeboer @homelab people get blinded by the difficulty of email emission. It's not the most important part. Reception is much more important and is the easiest part.

@jwildeboer @homelab finally someone else. I thought I was the only one.

@jwildeboer @homelab

I ran my own email server for a while because I wanted to deploy DKIM and DMARC.

After a while, keeping up with security patches and upgrades while ensuring Postfix and Dovecot played nicely together became tedious.

Serendipitously, I had hardware issues in my server, and for my server rebuild I had enough resource to dockerise services.

At this time, I discovered Docker/mailserver.
https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver

Recommended for those who want to host their own email.

@jwildeboer @homelab same here. I use tye Mail In A Box (MIAB) solution and it is easy to setup. Bonus is i get my own dns to handle my domains (in some cases as secondary dns). For webmail I use tachyon webmail and actually I use it as my primary email client these days

@jwildeboer @homelab Looks interesting! I might try this as a learning exercise myself. Thanks for doing this :-)

Just curious though, how is your spam filtering? Is it about on par with commercial services like Fastmail?

@jwildeboer

Nice, I have similar setups with Debian + postfixadmin + roundcube so management of inboxes can be delegated to a standard team of IT support people.

@homelab

@jwildeboer
I do this for 17 years now with now 5 domains and I can confirm: Beyond initial setup it is low maintenance. My biggest obstacle so far was getting my smtp host whitelisted by the Deutsche Telekom because although they will always send out mails to whereever your MX record points to, they rightout refuse accepting mails via SMTP from server IPs they don't have whitelisted. And their process to get whitelisted is questionable or shitty, depending on how hardass the sysadmin is, who takes your ticket. I was lucky the first time and now it's impossible to move the service to a new server ip because the person who took my ticket just was like "FU, bro!"
@homelab

@jwildeboer @homelab Does that (netcup?) include a fixed ipv4 address with rDNS? might be worth learning German for ;)

@jwildeboer @homelab Well, in my experience, such statements mostly come from people, who install "Exchange" and give up weeks later, because it still does not magically work by itself. Hosting an email server (MTA) demands knowledge, and people who possess such knowledge will have no problem getting that stuff up and working properly. It gives you wild control over who you communicate with though. Priceless.

@jwildeboer @homelab
I'd like to try this. Right after I'm done with renovations :)

@jwildeboer @homelab

Hear hear! i have also been running my own email for about that long. 23 years according to the age of my domain name registration. Started out on a shared hosting server, moved up to a VPS, and for the past decade have been on a dedicated server. (i also use it for a couple of websites, some offsite backup storage, and misc dev work.)

There is a learning period, and i will admit that as someone who has a couple of decades of experience in the webhosting industry am not just an average person, but really the hardest part is the initial setup. After getting the basic server, i set it up to automatically install updates every night and did some basic security hardening, like disabling direct login as root via ssh, but other than that it's pretty hands off. As a small site it's not a target for any specially directed attacks and i've never had a security breach that i know of.

I've been operating a tiny mail (and web) server for my family and friends for 20+ years now, from qmail on a Pentium II in the basement to a postfix/dovecot setup on a tiny VPS, similar to what @jwildeboer set up. I endorse his message whole-heartedly; If you can, roll your own, or find someone in your bubble who can, and setup a mail server for a whole group of people.

I never bothered with high-availability. Never lost an important mail.

Until spammers broke the Internet even harder.

Receiving e-mails works great, but beware of using your own mailserver to send emails. Mails coming from dynamic IPs are typically rejected, which destroyed the true self-hosting aspect for most "normal" people. Also, you must closely monitor your reputation/logs, lest you end up on e. g. T-Online's blacklist for reasons like "no direct contact information deducible from the FQDN", and t-online.de users will not receive your mails.
Running one diligently on a VPS is still worth it, though, if you're aware of the pitfalls!