[Discuss] email server in Linux

[Tom Luo]

Thanks all for the answers.

On Sat, Jun 13, 2020 at 2:10 PM Matthew Gillen <me at mattgillen.net> wrote:

>
> On 6/13/2020 12:26 PM, Kent Borg wrote:
> > On 6/12/20 10:29 PM, Tom Luo wrote:
> >> Does anyone have experience setting a private email server in Ubuntu?
> >
> > If you like Ubuntu I would recommend Debian instead. It is what Ubuntu
> > was based on and they haven't ruined it as badly as they have Ubuntu.
> >
> > I run postfix and dovecot on Debian.
> >
> > But a warning: You are heading into very rarefied territory here. I
> > like think it gives me some sort of elite bragging rights, but I
> > suspect the reality these days is this is too obscure for that, it
> > just makes me a kook.
> >
> > I originally did it a zillion years ago because I could, and to learn.
> > I keep doing it because I keep learning and I don't want to lose
> > control. Sometimes I can go for long stretches and everything just
> > works, but periodically the very rules for what is a properly run
> > e-mail server change. That is a pain, but it also tends to keep me a
> > little up to date.
>
> Same here.  It's a lot harder to get started these days.  There's just
> so much to know with respect to setting up SPF, TLS, etc.
>
>
> > If you do do it, you probably want to do it in the cloud (Linode,
> > Digital Ocean, etc.). There is something nice about doing it at home,
> > on you own box, but then you need a static IP address at home, one
> > that isn't on spam blacklists, and I don't know a good solution to
> > that anymore, My old DSL is going way up in price and down in
> > reliability. I need to switch to something else and I don't know what
>
> I've done a public-facing server on a DHCP address for close to 2
> decades now.  You do have to pay attention to your public IP changing
> (which will change a couple times a year even if you're not switching
> providers, just because your ISP is doing internal reorganizations).
> And don't bother trying if you're on comcast; they are a nightmare.
>
> You could go the route Kent suggests, or you could start with a purely
> internal system.  Just don't start off accepting mail from the outside.
> Lets you ignore all the hard parts (like figuring out what tricks you
> have to use for your particular ISP/cloud providor), and a lot of the
> old/simple tutorials (that don't cover any of the security stuff) will
> work for you.  You could set up a system for a home network that your
> family all has accounts on.  Then if you are comfortable and still think
> this is a good idea, you can look at actually building out a system that
> interacts with the outside world.
>
> > Another suggestion: Don't offer e-mail addresses to others, or only to
> > a very few (spouse...) because doing tech support can be a lot of
> > work. I don't have an iphone, why can't my sister Google up out how to
> > install my self-signed certificate herself?
>
> Amen.  The other fun thing you can do is create unique email addresses
> for every website that wants you to make a login.  I just add a new line
> to /etc/aliases, run 'newaliases' (I do sendmail), and then I've got a
> site-specific email address that will go to my normal inbox.  When that
> site gets hacked and I start getting spam to that address, I not only
> know who leaked, but can decide if I want to keep that address anymore
> without impacting anything else.
>
> Happy to share tips if you share more about which direction you want to go.
>
> Matt
>
>
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