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  • Rolling your own email on linux in 2026

    From Bryn Hopkins@1:124/5016 to All on Wednesday, September 09, 2026 11:54:47
    Hi all,

    Starting to put together all of my stuff on self-hosting, and while file backups are easy enough,
    email is something that certainly I want to do, but I question how well advised it would be.

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remember it being a small pain.
    There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's
    in the man pages?

    xo
    Bryn
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Nigel Reed@1:124/5016 to Bryn Hopkins on Thursday, September 10, 2026 11:12:08
    On Wed, 9 Sep 2026 11:54:47 -0500
    "Bryn Hopkins" <bryn.hopkins@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

    Hi all,

    Starting to put together all of my stuff on self-hosting, and while
    file backups are easy enough, email is something that certainly I
    want to do, but I question how well advised it would be.

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I
    remember it being a small pain. There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or
    useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's in the
    man pages?

    xo
    Bryn

    You need mailcow. Installed it and never looked back. So many parts,
    postfix, dovecot, dmarc, dkim, webmail, admin interface, letsncrypt
    etc. mailcow is an all-in-one solution that puts it all together under
    docker and it just works.
    --
    End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
    telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Jean-Jack Riethoven@1:220/15.1 to Bryn Hopkins on Thursday, September 10, 2026 12:35:22

    Hello Bryn!

    09 Sep 26 11:54, you wrote to all:

    Hello Bryn!

    09 Sep 26 11:54, you wrote to all:

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remember it being a small pain. There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's in the
    man pages?

    Setting up your own email server is moderately involved, and does come with some maintenance, some of which can be automated (e.g. SSL keys).
    If you already have a homelab/self-hosting setup, some items such as hosting your own domain, etc., might already have been taken care of by
    you (it is one of the first steps I would do). But before you start on your journey, I would check wether your IP is not in any of the abuse
    databases, and/or if you are running this from a VPS (many VPS blocks are by default in the big companies ban lists, with little hope of
    getting out or getting an exception). It helps if you have a static IP, but not necessary, just keep in mind that if your ISP asigns you a new
    IP you might be, suddenly, in an abuse list.

    Anyway, I am running my own domain(s) and email server, for many years from my home IP, and now from a VPS. This is a reasonable step by step
    guide: https://gist.github.com/howyay/57982e6ba9eedd3a5662c518f1b985c7 if you start from scratch (it is Debian-oriented). Take things one step
    at a time, and test if they are working before going to the next step. The postfix.org manuals are there for more in-depth info, specifically
    when it comes to hardening your postfix/dovecot (and bind9 or other public-facing DNS server if you fully self-host).

    I always liked having my own domain and mail server, esp. so I can give out on-the-spot alias emails to websites and vendors. If they mess up
    QQ(i.e. data breaches or selling my info), I can easily ban that recipient email. Having a backup email at your email provider of choice is a
    good thing to have, though... I had to use a 'professional' provider in a handful of cases in the last 15 years or so that wouldn't accept my
    home email.

    Hope this helps, and I wish you good luck on your journey!

    Jean-Jack


    ... Error 404: Snarky science pun not found.
    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20260827
    * Origin: Jean-Jack Riethoven's [AKA Operon] Point (1:220/15.1)
  • From Andriy Dzedolik@2:463/1331.1 to Bryn Hopkins on Thursday, September 10, 2026 18:31:26
    Greetings, traveler ...

    09 Sep 26 11:54:46, Bryn Hopkins wrote to All:

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remember it being a small pain.
    There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's
    in the man pages?
    There are guides and omnipresent AI tools are quite good at summarizing them and guiding you by hand.
    "The world has moved on" (c) since 2015 -- you'll have to deal with DKIM and SPF records in DNS, you'll have to deal with whitelisting your IP if you use cloud virtual server or resedential broadband IP, you may need to deal with your ISP to allow tcp/25 in & out.
    There are good tools out there, like mxtoolbox.com to help you with testing and setting things right.

    But it is doable and viable even in 2026 :^)

    Good luck!

    TTY later,
    \aID


    --- gossipEd-darwin/amd64 2.1-dev-e965cfa1
    * Origin: The Tower of Amon Sul (2:463/1331.1)
  • From Andriy Dzedolik@2:463/1331.1 to Jean-Jack Riethoven on Thursday, September 10, 2026 19:01:30
    Greetings, traveler ...

    10 Sep 26 12:35:22, Jean-Jack Riethoven wrote to Bryn Hopkins:

    good thing to have, though... I had to use a 'professional' provider in a handful of cases in the last 15 years or so that wouldn't accept my
    home email.
    Apple's icloud/me.com? I gave up trying to whitelist my VPS IP with thier IPBL provider ...

    TTY later,
    \aID


    --- gossipEd-darwin/amd64 2.1-dev-e965cfa1
    * Origin: The Tower of Amon Sul (2:463/1331.1)
  • From Tolik Vdovichev@2:385/180 to Bryn Hopkins on Thursday, September 10, 2026 19:28:03
    Hello Bryn,

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remember it being a small pain. There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's in the man pages?
    I'm running my own mail server, postfix+dovecot+postgres.
    Let's encrypt for SSL.

    I did this in pre-AI epoch, so used Postfix official documentation: https://www.postfix.org/documentation.html

    and a nice article at Digital Ocean, that looks simiar to this one: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-a-postfix-email-server-with-dovecot-dynamic-maildirs-and-lmtp

    ---
    With best regards.
    Anatoly, the Knight of the Truth Table.
    --- AfterShock/macOS 1.0.1
    * Origin: Little Station BBS @ ls.vdovichev.me (2:385/180@fidonet)
  • From Bryn Hopkins@1:124/5016 to All on Thursday, September 10, 2026 22:20:56
    Re: Re: Rolling your own email on linux in 2026
    By: Tolik Vdovichev to Bryn Hopkins on Thu Sep 10 2026 19:28:03

    Thank you all, that's enough reading to keep me busy for a few days. Not having a static IP certainly
    seems like it would make this more challenging, but I'll start perusing mailcow/postfix's documentation
    and see what I can manage once I find a box/provider with a static ip and space that isn't blacklisted. Have had enough of gmail's bulls#!7 to be willing to part way with a bit more money and time to make this happen.

    xo
    Bryn
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Enric Lleal Serra@2:343/107.1 to Bryn Hopkins on Friday, September 11, 2026 12:21:10
    Hi Bryn,

    Starting to put together all of my stuff on self-hosting, and while file

    Good point.

    email is something that certainly I want to do, but I question how well advise

    Yes. This is a critical point.

    By default, setting up from the scratch (and maintain) a production mail server for my day-by-day need had been a pain in the ass.

    It's not only how you deploy, configure, and maintain the whole setup.

    It's also critical the related to your connectivity (who is your ISP and what kind of IP do you have (static or dynamic)).

    I was using the old (Ivar Abrahamsen) Flurdy's guide[1] for many years, since I switched to Mail-in-a-Box[2] and finally go to Mailcow[3].

    Flurdy's guide is a step-by-step guide, useful to learn, difficult to be production usable with 100% guarantees. Mail-in-a-Box is an easy way to get up
    & ready. MailCow is an enterprise grade mail server.


    [1] https://flurdy.com/docs/postfix/ [2] https://mailinabox.email/
    [3] https://mailcow.email/


    A reveure!!
    Enric





    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
    * Origin: Pursuit Special - The last of the V8 Interceptors (2:343/107.1)
  • From Enric Lleal Serra@2:343/107.1 to Bryn Hopkins on Friday, September 11, 2026 12:29:46
    Hi Bryn,

    and see what I can manage once I find a box/provider with a static ip and spac
    that isn't blacklisted. Have had enough of gmail's bulls#!7 to be willing to

    Consider that it is not only a question of IP staticness but also particular policies of the other Big Mail Providers. In my personal experience, for example, Google used to be permissive with my non-Gmail Mail server (in the worst case, they would send my email to spam, but at least the receiver would get my email in his mailbox). However, Microsoft is a draconian Mail Provider, both in Outlook and Office mail servers: all my big troubles sending legitimate email last years have been against mailboxes hosted by Microsoft. And then, the solution is provided by a per-case-basis race throught they reclaim office.

    Good luck, Bryn! ;-)


    A reveure!!
    Enric

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
    * Origin: Pursuit Special - The last of the V8 Interceptors (2:343/107.1)
  • From Jean-Jack Riethoven@1:220/15.1 to Andriy Dzedolik on Friday, September 11, 2026 09:26:56

    Hello Andriy!

    11 Sep 26 02:01, you wrote to me:

    good thing to have, though... I had to use a 'professional'
    provider in a handful of cases in the last 15 years or so that
    wouldn't accept my home email.
    Apple's icloud/me.com? I gave up trying to whitelist my VPS IP with
    thier IPBL provider ...

    Mostly very different institutions, mostly government or working-for-government adjacent (blocking residential IPs it seems). Recently, I noticed my employer using Proofpoint, so that indeed blocks my Hetzner VPS IP now... withing seemingly no way to get it whitelisted (several requests).

    Jean-Jack


    ... Error 404: Snarky science pun not found.
    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20260827
    * Origin: Jean-Jack Riethoven's [AKA Operon] Point (1:220/15.1)
  • From Robert Wolfe@1:261/20 to Bryn Hopkins on Friday, September 11, 2026 10:41:00
    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remembe
    it being a small pain.
    There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your
    email beyond what's
    in the man pages?

    I recommend IredMail. Everything you need installed by its own
    script using you Linux Distro of choice's package repository.

    ... "in the mowning to the awawm cwocks wawning" - Bachman-Fudd Overdrive
    --- Wildcat! v10.0.500.2 (Jun 28 2026), Editor Mod v1.7
    * Origin: Over the Brink : Grand Island, NY - brinkbbs.org (1:261/20)
  • From Nigel Reed@1:124/5016 to Bryn Hopkins on Sunday, November 08, 2026 18:47:16
    Re: Rolling your own email on linux in 2026
    By: Bryn Hopkins to All on Wed Sep 09 2026 11:54:47

    Starting to put together all of my stuff on self-hosting, and while file backups are easy enough,
    email is something that certainly I want to do, but I question how well advised it would be.

    I set up a small postfix/sendmail instance years back in 2015, but I remember it being a small pain.
    There a trustworthy guide in 2026 or useful tips to know about rolling your own email beyond what's
    in the man pages?

    One word - mailcow

    So frickin' easy. After decades of struggling getting postfix, dovecot, spamassassin, dkim, spf, dmarc, webmail, web based management, fail2ban, and all that working, Mailcow is a complete docker solution that includes a web based management interface along with separate domain management and webmail logins. It is easy to maintain, and easy to update. Just needs tweaking to your needs and just update it from time to time. I wish I had found out about this years ago.
    --- SBBSecho 3.38-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Nigel Reed@1:124/5016 to Bryn Hopkins on Sunday, November 08, 2026 18:55:51
    Re: Re: Rolling your own email on linux in 2026
    By: Bryn Hopkins to All on Thu Sep 10 2026 22:20:56

    Thank you all, that's enough reading to keep me busy for a few days. Not having a static IP certainly
    seems like it would make this more challenging, but I'll start perusing mailcow/postfix's documentation
    and see what I can manage once I find a box/provider with a static ip and space that isn't blacklisted. Have had enough of gmail's bulls#!7 to be willing to part way with a bit more money and time to make this happen.

    I think I recommended Mailcow a second time :) Oh well.

    The problem with a dynamic IP is that you're going to have problems with your MX records if you want to receive mail.

    One option would be to run mailcow locally but use a cheap linux VPS as a forwarder using iptables or nft if you like.
    https://lowendbox.com/blog/1-vps-1-usd-vps-per-month/

    The other would be to use some dyanmic DNS service so your MX hostname is updated when you get an new ip.

    I run my own DNS servers and run OpenWRT which includes nsupdate so for me that's pretty easy, but I don't run my mail server at home.
    --- SBBSecho 3.38-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)