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Tangential, but what is the contemporary go-to for standing up a mail server these days? The last time I had to do so was a decade ago. I remember Mail-in-a-Bo

Tangential, but what is the contemporary go-to for standing up a mail server these days? The last time I had to do so was a decade ago. I remember Mail-in-a-Box being popular at one point, wondering if that's still the case.

jeroenhd 2y ago
Really depends on what you want to get out of your server. Most easy to use server software I know seems to be geared towards personal use and small organisations. Mail-in-a-box still works, though last time I checked they were on quite an old Ubuntu LTS release. There are a few pre-packaged docker containers too (i.e. docker-mailserver) which seem to be popular. I myself use Mailcow, but that's pretty heavy for "just" a mail server. There's also a mail server that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, which packaged a whole bunch of stuff into one single binary you can run rather than use the classic "every part of the email delivery chain is a separate process" approach. I think it was written in Go?
- cuu508 2y ago
  > There's also a mail server that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, which packaged a whole bunch of stuff into one single binary you can run rather than use the classic "every part of the email delivery chain is a separate process" approach. I think it was written in Go? maddy or mox?
bongodongobob 2y ago
For a business? You don't. For hobby/fun? I still wouldn't. I tried years ago and you're just going to fight blacklisting constantly. If you're on a residential/consumer internet service, trying to set it up in your home lab, forget it.
cauterize 2y ago
I’m partial to https://gitlab.com/simple-nixos-mailserver/nixos-mailserver https://gitlab.com/simple-nixos-mailserver/nixos-mailserver Does require some NixOS knowledge, but is nice for upgrades.
ranger207 2y ago
There's a bunch of options: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted?tab=readme-ov-file#communication---email---complete-solutions https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted?tab... I personally use docker-mailserver https://docker-mailserver.github.io/docker-mailserver/latest/ https://docker-mailserver.github.io/docker-mailserver/latest... because it's a pretty traditional stack (postfix+dovecot+sieve etc) just already containerized and configured, so there's a lot of info already out there on how it works The number 0 requirement that you have to solve regardless of stack though is to get an IP with a good reputation. I've got Comcast Business to my apartment, which I think is probably the best way to get a good IP since it's relatively difficult for spammers to have used it in the past. Alternatively, relay everything through Mailgun/SES/whatever
hannofcart 2y ago
Recommend Stalwart https://github.com/stalwartlabs/mail-server https://github.com/stalwartlabs/mail-server (No affiliation to the devs)

jeroenhd 2y ago

Really depends on what you want to get out of your server. Most easy to use server software I know seems to be geared towards personal use and small organisations. Mail-in-a-box still works, though last time I checked they were on quite an old Ubuntu LTS release. There are a few pre-packaged docker containers too (i.e. docker-mailserver) which seem to be popular. I myself use Mailcow, but that's pretty heavy for "just" a mail server. There's also a mail server that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, which packaged a whole bunch of stuff into one single binary you can run rather than use the classic "every part of the email delivery chain is a separate process" approach. I think it was written in Go?

cuu508 2y ago
> There's also a mail server that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, which packaged a whole bunch of stuff into one single binary you can run rather than use the classic "every part of the email delivery chain is a separate process" approach. I think it was written in Go? maddy or mox?

bongodongobob 2y ago

For a business? You don't. For hobby/fun? I still wouldn't. I tried years ago and you're just going to fight blacklisting constantly. If you're on a residential/consumer internet service, trying to set it up in your home lab, forget it.

cauterize 2y ago

I’m partial to https://gitlab.com/simple-nixos-mailserver/nixos-mailserver https://gitlab.com/simple-nixos-mailserver/nixos-mailserver Does require some NixOS knowledge, but is nice for upgrades.

ranger207 2y ago

There's a bunch of options: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted?tab=readme-ov-file#communication---email---complete-solutions https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted?tab... I personally use docker-mailserver https://docker-mailserver.github.io/docker-mailserver/latest/ https://docker-mailserver.github.io/docker-mailserver/latest... because it's a pretty traditional stack (postfix+dovecot+sieve etc) just already containerized and configured, so there's a lot of info already out there on how it works The number 0 requirement that you have to solve regardless of stack though is to get an IP with a good reputation. I've got Comcast Business to my apartment, which I think is probably the best way to get a good IP since it's relatively difficult for spammers to have used it in the past. Alternatively, relay everything through Mailgun/SES/whatever

hannofcart 2y ago

Recommend Stalwart https://github.com/stalwartlabs/mail-server https://github.com/stalwartlabs/mail-server (No affiliation to the devs)