It’s been set up for almost a decade at this point, it’s shockingly low maintenance once it’s all set up and going. It is a pain to figure out Postfix’s and Dovecot’s fairly arcane configuration files, but smooth sailing afterwards. It’s been a long time since I’ve even got a mail rejected/not make it to the recipient’s inbox.
100%. I’ve been running my own mail server for 10-15 years now and you’re spot on. I’ve wanted to migrate it to a more modern platform but I’m loath to relive the process of configuring postfix and dovecot. DKIM/SPF and Let’s Encrypt certs for IMAPS were also a bit of a headache to get sorted, and warming up the sending IP so gmail would stop sending me to spam… but once that’s all sorted it’s been very very hands off. I log in once in a blue moon to update it but otherwise it just sits and does it’s thing.
I self host one of my emails on my VPS. I can’t even remember the software I used it’s been that long. One issue I have is spam. Have you found any way of controlling that?
I have my mail server set up as a catch all so you can send to anything at my domain and it’ll land in my inbox. I use this to create usage specific addresses. If it’s something I know will produce spam, I just dev null anything going to that address. I can then also track where a spam source originated. For friends and family who email me regularly; they also know to append the current year to my email address, this allows me to rotate my email address every year.
I also run spam assassin and implement greylisting as well as blocking IP ranges from countries I know I’ll never receive legitimate mail from… it’s been an evolution.
You’re self-hosting your email? Masochist.
It’s been set up for almost a decade at this point, it’s shockingly low maintenance once it’s all set up and going. It is a pain to figure out Postfix’s and Dovecot’s fairly arcane configuration files, but smooth sailing afterwards. It’s been a long time since I’ve even got a mail rejected/not make it to the recipient’s inbox.
100%. I’ve been running my own mail server for 10-15 years now and you’re spot on. I’ve wanted to migrate it to a more modern platform but I’m loath to relive the process of configuring postfix and dovecot. DKIM/SPF and Let’s Encrypt certs for IMAPS were also a bit of a headache to get sorted, and warming up the sending IP so gmail would stop sending me to spam… but once that’s all sorted it’s been very very hands off. I log in once in a blue moon to update it but otherwise it just sits and does it’s thing.
I self host one of my emails on my VPS. I can’t even remember the software I used it’s been that long. One issue I have is spam. Have you found any way of controlling that?
I have my mail server set up as a catch all so you can send to anything at my domain and it’ll land in my inbox. I use this to create usage specific addresses. If it’s something I know will produce spam, I just dev null anything going to that address. I can then also track where a spam source originated. For friends and family who email me regularly; they also know to append the current year to my email address, this allows me to rotate my email address every year.
I also run spam assassin and implement greylisting as well as blocking IP ranges from countries I know I’ll never receive legitimate mail from… it’s been an evolution.