Mail server

With your own mail server, your emails stay with you and not with a big provider. To make sure they still arrive reliably, I set up delivery properly.

What's included

• Your own mail server for your domain, for business or private use
• Clean delivery with SPF, DKIM and DMARC
• No subscription with the big providers
• Documentation and a walkthrough at handover

What I usually use: mailcow

For mail servers I usually go with mailcow: dockerized, an open source mail server suite that runs entirely in Docker. Everything a mail server needs comes included and works together:

• Postfix sends and receives your emails
• Dovecot manages the mailboxes, accessible via IMAP or POP3
• Rspamd filters spam and signs outgoing emails with DKIM
• ClamAV scans attachments for viruses, Office files are also checked for macros
• SOGo as webmail with calendar and contacts, which you can sync to your phone via CalDAV and CardDAV
• Certificates for encrypted connections are obtained and renewed automatically via Let's Encrypt
• When sending, the receiving side's TLS policies (MTA-STS and DANE) are respected
• After repeated failed logins, the IP address is blocked automatically
• A watchdog monitors all services and restarts them if something goes wrong

Afterwards you manage domains, mailboxes and forwarding yourself in mailcow's web interface. I'll show you how at handover.

In short: SPF, DKIM, DMARC

SPF defines which servers may send email for your domain. DKIM signs your emails so recipients can check they weren't altered on the way. DMARC tells other mail servers what to do with emails that fail these checks.