Home Email Server?

A

Arch

Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2000
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I've been investigating setting up a home email server to tinker with. In my investigation I've found that running a home email server is problematic if your reverse dns name doesn't match the domain name of the email you're sending. Apparently this is a common anti-spam technique. I have two questions:

1. How many of you run a home email server? How do you deal with this reverse dns issue?

2. How many of you are using secure SMTP (TLS encryption)? It seems like a good thing, but honestly, is the email going to be encrypted end to end? If not, why bother? The email itself won't be encrypted unless you use s/mime or pgp so its readily viewable on the disk of whatever email server it lands on at its destination.

Thanks!
 
I have a mail server at my apt but its for business use.

I currently not running any reverse dns on my server.

But I am running spf records on my domain name so it points back to my static IP address.
 
For a long time, I've run a home mail server. As of 4 or 5 years ago, though, I stopped using it as a primary address. Too many sites tend to block 'residential' blocks. This sucks for business-class cable users, but alas. There's still room for a private mailserver though.

I use postfix, dovecot, fetchmail, spamassassin and procmail. When I connect in, I use SSL. I have my external (eg gmail) accounts forward in to my personal account, or in some cases I use fetchmail to have mail brought in to my personal account. When I send email, I either directly send via gmail. Because I'm tied to my own IMAP account, though, I have the sent message in my personal account. Could also smart-relay out thru a hosted server.

Basically its a way to maintain control over your spool files. You can have a massive archive of all your emails, and get to any of it securely via whatever means you desire. Using something like procmail I can write rules that perform whatever operations I want (eg, I can have emails matching a rule fire off a Prowl alert to my iphone.)
 
I have a home email server but it's only used for fetching mail from my online one. It runs it through an aggressive spam filter, then delivers it to my local inbox. It's nice to know that all my email resides in my house (and backed up online) and not on a server somewhere. If my internet goes down or my online server was to go down I can still access my emails. Home servers are also way cheaper as I'm not paying any monthly fee, so may as well do the processing there. I can add more processing power for a one time cost instead of monthly.
 
Well see I am using iredmail which is postifx,dovecot,mysql backend for my mail server.

With this mail server I got I am hosting on my residential FTTH line. But I am going to be switching it over soon as I get my WISP setup which will be on a business cable connection.
 
damacus said:
For a long time, I've run a home mail server. As of 4 or 5 years ago, though, I stopped using it as a primary address. Too many sites tend to block 'residential' blocks. This sucks for business-class cable users, but alas. There's still room for a private mailserver though.
Click to expand...

This is the problem I'm seeing. I have business class cable but I'm getting denied because its a "residential" address. Whatever. Even with an SPF record in place and working (Gmail confirms its in there and accurate).

I suppose I can relay through my ISP's SMTP server. However, I'm not sure its worth the trouble as I can't use TLS with them (hence the encryption question).
 
Arch said:
I suppose I can relay through my ISP's SMTP server. However, I'm not sure its worth the trouble as I can't use TLS with them (hence the encryption question).
Click to expand...

The other problem with relaying is some servers will require that your headers match their domain. eg, they won't let you relay your example.com emails through their isp.net server. Or the other side of that equation is that your ISP's servers are fine with it, but some poorly-configured / oversensitive / paranoid spam filter set up by a feature-kiddie decides your email smells like spam. (This is becoming less common thankfully as more mail services are becoming cloud-based and people complain when email doesn't work.. but still a factor to consider.)

I only worry about TLS for authenticated items, like my email clients and relaying mail to google. If your ISP doesn't do TLS but will relay unauthenticated, I wouldn't worry about it.

Really though, I think the answer is to just spend the coin on a linode/rackspace box and relay your SMTP through there.
 
I'm beginning to think this is more trouble than its worth. I have a domain name I'd like to keep using. However, I don't need web hosting service on it. Does anyone know a solid host through which I could host email on a domain I control?
 
So use a smart host/smtp relay. There are plenty of companies that offer the service for cheap and allow you to use your existing domain. I'm about done setting up my exchange 2010 box and that's the route I plan to take since I have a dynamic IP. Plus it costs 20$ a year so it's worth it to avoid the spam filter hassle.
 
Arch said:
I'm beginning to think this is more trouble than its worth. I have a domain name I'd like to keep using. However, I don't need web hosting service on it. Does anyone know a solid host through which I could host email on a domain I control?
Click to expand...

Google will do it for pretty cheap. Alternatively MS offers hosted exchange for $3 per mailbox per month.
 
Has anyone used Google Apps Free at home for just a few accounts? Is it terrible?
 
I've got a couple mail servers at my "home" Office. It is on the residential block. 1 is for business the others are for testing crap.

It costs a whopping $1mo to use Google's Postini spam service. Which also provides a smart host, so you get %100 delivered emails :)

As for mail archiving i use good ole Outlook (not express).
 
Don't know where I got $3 from, it is $5 per user per month. Though I have seen hosted IMAP for that cheap locally.
 
Arch said:
Has anyone used Google Apps Free at home for just a few accounts? Is it terrible?
Click to expand...

It works great for email hosting. I use it so that I can have email addresses for my immediate family on my own domain.
 
You could always setup a micro linux server on Amazon EC2 and send a request to remove the email sending limitations. You get the first year free to try it out.
 
I like the new exchange online. If you know anyone that is a an MS partner, they can get set you up with one of their free accounts. They are given 25 free yearly licenses. It has more features than Google apps and is less of a headache.
 
enuro12 said:
I've got a couple mail servers at my "home" Office. It is on the residential block. 1 is for business the others are for testing crap.

It costs a whopping $1mo to use Google's Postini spam service. Which also provides a smart host, so you get %100 delivered emails :)

As for mail archiving i use good ole Outlook (not express).
Click to expand...

Where does it cost $1 a month? The prices I am seeing is $20 a month per seat/user.

As for the OP, I run Exchange 2010 as a vm in my cloud at home.
 
If your IP is off a known dynamic pool then many to most email servers will reject your send requests outright. You need to use a smart host to bounce the mail off of first. Your ISP may have one (Comcast does, smtp.comcast.net with your comcast.net credentials as login), but if not you'll probably be looking at paying for one unfortunately.
 
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