Host your own Mail Server, is it a good idea?

Host your own Mail Server, is it a good idea? I recently stopped running my self-hosted mail solution with mailcow and switched to a SaaS product (Microsoft 365). Let's try to find out when it makes sense to run a self-hosted Mail Server and in which cases you probably should not do it. #MailServer #Microsoft365 #Linux

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction
01:02 - Mail Servers are complex
02:09 - Responsibilities
04:18 - Control and Privacy
05:59 - Learning
07:08 - General Advice

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[TwstedTV]

The reason why people want to run their own server is to detach themselves from Large corporations like Google and Microsoft.
all your emails go through their servers. and the data dwells on their servers.

[funnyrunny]

The most underestimated point about mail hosting - to understand the concept of "mail". and what is connected behind. Like in the video already said - an understanding about about DNS, MTA, MDA, Protocols, Security and Server configs are really necessary to run a self-hosted Mail-server in a critical business, also an understanding of Backup/Restore. Even as homelab mail server - it can be really backfiring when the mail server is configured in wrong way and works as open SMTP-relay server and your provider doesn't allow it. Agreeing the with point of learning experience, but without basic and advanced knowledge of mail, those experiences can be frustrating.
Whatever you do, keep in mind, Mail is not easy as it seems at first and also takes big responsibility.

[isaacandersen]

This really helped me decide that I should run my own mail server… but probably not use it for anything important.

[markteams]

Can't be totally agree on the mentioned SaaS product or any other commercial services as an alternative to a self-hosted email server. Especially if considering privacy as the main concern. I get it that those commercial services offer way better security but at the same time where actual data resides is in their infrastructure.

[sstobbe]

If you want to learn to run a mail server, you can always set up something with a less important domain. That way you still learn everything but are not immediately in stress when something fails.

If you have a mail server service (or control panel), you should also be able to let that catch your mail if your own server goes down.

Security (knowledge) wise, I would be careful with running my own mail server. As you say, it costs a lot of time. Especially when you have others (family members, customers) that use that server as well.

[alexm.]

Microsoft does not use the latest encryption. In the past, the Excange server did not shine with security either! You should also consider that large providers also like to look for advertising opportunities in the emails, especially if the provider is free.

Also, no email provider has done anything to earn my trust. So why should I trust a third-party email provider with my mail? Many companies have their own mail server because they don't trust third party providers either!

In the european union, a law is being discussed called chat control. If it is passed, email providers will be obliged to search emails.

Yes, the learning effect is great and setting it up took me 2 days, which were also fun. The result is an email server that supports the latest standards. Anyone who wants to access my emails has to get past me. no secret monitoring in the background.

I also like to look at the logs, because they are manageable for me and my family and I find it interesting how other providers react to my mail server and what standards others are using.

[snax_]

Buy a Typewriter: cheap, easy to maintain and you get an answer for sure.

[leediffusion]

You gonna have a problem running a mail server "in the cloud" anyway. Most of the big networks like Google and Microsoft block entire netblocks in the same way they blocked ISP ranges. And many cloud providers will block essential ports like 25 anyway. I recently created a droplet on Digital Ocean and the IP given had previously been abused and was in the Spamhaus blacklist. Easy to remove, but annoying. I recommend perhaps setting up a mail server if you want to learn being a sysadmin and or Linux. Just don't run it for clients or anything mission critical. Just don't expect most of your wmail to get through! It would be shame to only allow big corporations to get the work now. Yeh lets leave it all to Microsoft and Google as if they haven't already got enough power over us! :)

[thehobknocher]

Every time I search for a video on advice see this guy and he is always on point.

[Frankie_Freedom]

I would suggest using a VPS that allows out going mail. As some don't allow that. I find that to be a decent service as you don't have to worry about the hardware and just the basic security of it.

[pierrec]

I am interested in self-hosting my email server precisely BECAUSE my provider has switched to Microsoft 365. I hate it. It does not play well with my email client, the spam filter is too primitive and it does not support a catch-all address, or if it does, the tech support I talked to had no clue about it.

[alejandrobalderas]

No kidding that was the first video I saw from you and since then you won a subscriber but I am also thinking about switching specially because of server blacklists. It doesn't matter who I host my server with I always have an IP in a blacklist of Microsoft 😅

[hawks]

Can you please do an updated video on your latest email set up?? Does the $5 a month include as many domains and email inboxes as you want? Does it include end to end encryption?

[gzcwnk]

I have been running a MTA for 22 years now. The key here is indeed the learning experience.

[Andy-sipl]

Thanks. Within the first 3 mins, I realised its not worth it for me. I have just migrated from a hosting company that let me down to Azure VM but my costs are going up so I considered whether my VM could be my email host.

But as a developer, it makes more sense to spend more time building the application not a mail server.

[Weeem]

Yea, I leaned a tonne when building and maintaining an email server a long time ago.
The only reason I'd have one now is to use with a discardable domain. i.e. use the domain to register on sites that force an email.

That way I can spin up the Server, get the email and close it down after.
Any spam that might follow will go back to the sender as undelivered, but if I need to reset a password then I can always spin it back up to collect the email I need

[benzflynn]

I take your point on mail servers - at least those that are based on the Postfix (or Exim) / Dovecot / SpamAssassin / MySQL model.
They are complex to configure and sensitive to changes in new versions of component packages or even the Linux version running them.
I just heard of *Mox* lately. It's apparently a whole new integrated mail server written in GO language rather than C.
Of course, it's still in evaluation mode. But it sounds like a good idea.

[Glatze]

thumbs up, bevor starting to watch the video, because of the good and wished theme 😁👍

[James-licm]

#1 reason for hosting your own mail server - YOU OWN YOUR OWN DATA

case and point... Project Veritas - Feds had a secret tap on Microsoft to send them all of their mail

[mistervacation]

Is having a snowball fight with pitching great Randy Johnson, a bad idea?