On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 9:01 PM, Raghavendra Kamath < raghavendr.raghu@gmail.com> wrote:
I have heard that managing a mail server is a nightmare, so much so that, even most experienced admins think twice before doing it. Is this true? And how easy it is to self host mails, and possibly stay out of the spamhaus list? How much worth is it when compared to a paid service like Kolab now?
I'm not most experienced admin!
Home Hosted Server (only Personal) :
I had setup mail server from home using Static IP from MTNL for my personal use. It worked even when the IP was in one of the spam blacklist. Not using this setup anymore.
Pros : Virtually free (as in free beer). Home internet connection, old desktop hardware FOSS
Cons : No data center level connectivity Household power cuts Static IP by MTNL was in spam blacklist
G Suites (for business) : Using it on one domain for email service
Pros : All proprietary services available
Cons : Expense to purchase each account no FOSS
Go Daddy cpanel shared hosting : Offered 1000 emails for a domain. Not using this anymore
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Recipients complain that mail goes in spam, TLS/SSL not available Users didn't like webmail interface (squirrelmail/roundcube/horde) 5 to 10 minutes for mail to reach/receive No FOSS
Yunohost on Digitalocean VPS Bangalore: Using it for 12 users on 1 domain name
Pros: FOSS Unlimited users (subject to vps capacity) Letsencrypt Certificates available for all services/subdomains IP clean, not in any spam blacklist one of the web service grading email server and security ranked it 458th place out of 93148 domains tested
Conclusion : IP of the server decides whether it'll be in blacklist.
With all new projects like sandstorm.io, yunohost.org, cloudron.io, FreedomBox, etc. it has become very easy to install and manage (mail) servers I've not faced any problem "self" hosting from reliable VPS provider.
With commercial email service providers there are restrictions on email service, e.g. no. of emails allowed per account per day, attachment limits, port access limits etc. In case of VPS hosting, I've no restrictions anywhere.
Revant