i think it's time to dispel the myth that #selfhosting #email is hard if a dumdum like me can set up https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver in a USD12/mo linode box (which also hosts my websites, so that's not USD12 for mail alone) in like 15 minutes
the hardest part is just getting the DNS DKIM, DMARC and SPF values right
@omegabyte @mavica_again DKIM goes a long way in staying off the block lists. I know because I have the same setup @ Linode, for a couple years, with no issues.
I would add some key steps:
- rDNS
- TLS
- reject bad DKIM when receiving
- check at least one DNSBL when receiving
- IPv6 because it's 2025
Configuring email is a journey :) But definitely learnable.
@omegabyte hi! the earliest email in my self-hosted inbox is from 2019. it's been going for 6 years. Hope I could help!
@mavica_again for me the scary part is this: what if your server goes down while you're very busy at work or worse if you're on vacation and you can't receive your boarding pass because you can't access your email?
@apex and that's a valid concern! but it's by no means "difficult" for anyone already versed in self-hosting to spin up a mail server. i would absolutely have qualms about my own ability to keep a 99.9% uptime too
@mavica_again I've been hosting my company mail for more than ten years now, and to me, the biggest challenge is the constant arms race with spammers and bots bombarding the server. Things have gotten noticeably more intense lately, and apparently, most of the attacks are from the US. Do Americans have some kind of tradition selling potentially harmful stuff to the criminals?
@mavica_again