I really don't know a lot about all the internet stuffs, on a quest to make my own mailserver happen though.
So far I've gotten that for setting one up I either need to get a VPS or my own hardware. I saw someone somewhere recommend Beagleboard but I was wondering if using a Raspberry Pi was possible as well. What's your opinion, Sup Forums?
Any other recommendations? Is this the dumbest idea of my life?
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Yes
o-okay
guess I'll keep using cock.li then
>Is this the dumbest idea of my life?
Yes. Running a mail server is misery. Spam, spam filters, abuse, blocked connections, etc.
If you want to host something, host a web server.
Honestly every major company that does not either buy google apps, buy hosted exchange, or hire a full-time mail admin is just waiting to be hacked. Mail is hard. Really hard.
But, it'll teach you a bit about linux, so you're welcome to try.
I wouldn't run it on an RPi. But that's just me.
It pretty much has to be hosted professionally unless your ISP allows you to set up reverse DNS. Most mailservers won't communicate with yours if the reverse DNS doesn't match your domain.
Use Postfix and Dovecot. Those are available on pretty much every linux distro. There's a great guide on Ars Technica. Not sure how up to date it is, and it's specific to Debian, but you can follow it well enough on other distros (I did it on Arch)
arstechnica.com
Whoa, web server sounds cool, too. But I'm still wondering about hardware.
If I'm right assuming that I could host a server on my own computer, I don't think I'd want to since it'd have to be on all the time. I have one more old PC around here, but that one is close to dead.
What is cheap hardware that I can use for making my own server?
Wha-wha? Reverse DNS?
sowwie, i'm bad at computers and things
DNS is domain => IP, reverse DNS is the reverse.
If you're bad at computers you should probably not host your own mail server. Start with an IRC server or a web server.
>IRC server
>easier than a mail server
the fuck?
Okai, thanks. Wouldn't have anything to put on a webserver or anyone to talk to on an IRC server but I guess I can try that first.
Reverse DNS is basically a lookup on an IP address that results in a domain name. If another mailserver reverse DNS lookups your IP and gets something like "c-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.hsd1.state.comcast.net" or whatever, instead of the domain name you have pointing to your server, it's going to deny your traffic. And yes, you absolutely need a domain name, unless you don't plan on actually sending any mail.
Your ISP will have to set up reverse DNS for your. In the case of hosting companies, they are either their own ISP or they have a close relationship with an ISP, so they can easily get it changed for you, as it's pretty standard procedure for a lot of services.
Email is pretty difficult to get set up desu. I've done it, but it took a long time and a lot of patience. Follow your distro's guide to setting up Postfix and Dovecot. Then, you can look up ways to secure it. Your distro's wiki page for it *should* have information on getting encryption set up and best practices for security.
The guide I linked is sadly somewhat outdated, as the certificate issuer they recommend has had their certificates invalidated, and I don't know if it will ever be fixed. The guide still has good info on other things though.
>I really don't know a lot about all the internet stuffs
Do NOT run a mail server
I hardly have anything to put on my web server, but I do use TT-RSS and a few other self-hosted things.
It's easier and safer, and gives you a little primer in setting shit up on Linux systems.
IRC servers are way easier to setup than mail servers. Have you ever dealt with either?
Irc is a lot easier to install and maintain than mail. And less problems when you inevitably fuck up
You sound like I could make something explode by accident in the process. Will there be explosions?
Thanks for the explanation. Sounds pretty complicated. ;~;
What certificate issuer?
>You sound like I could make something explode by accident in the process. Will there be explosions?
You will get yourself blacklisted from everything ever
>What's your opinion, Sup Forums?
Depends on whether you want to run spam checking. Spam checking is quite resource demanding, and it may overwhelm your poor pi or beagle board. It will work at a small scale, but may grind to a halt if you ever start using it for serious amounts of mail. Without spam checking, a pi will do fine.
>Any other recommendations?
Mostly that is right and mail is kinda horrible to self-host. In the arms race against spam, there is an unclear and constantly evolving set of requirements that your mail server needs to satisfy if you want it to work well with the rest of the internet; if you don't get that part exactly right, your incoming email will work but the mail you send will end up in people's spamboxes for no clear reason and there is very little feedback in what to fix.
Running mail servers that do NOT get blacklisted by google and microsoft and the like is something of a black art these days. It's very difficult to do it reliably without being a large company with hundreds of thousands of users. Not impossible, but very tricky.
>Is this the dumbest idea of my life?
Certainly not. BUT.
If you start messing with your mail server (or any other server, really), expect that you WILL mess it up and things come crashing down horribly at some point.
Your mail will end up in spam boxes, or removed on sight, at some unpredictable point in the future and you will never notice that your mail isn't arriving. People will manage to attack your server and send spam. Your mail account may well get compromised, allowing people to read/delete/otherwise mess with your mail.
This is the cost of learning, you WILL make these mistakes when learning how it all works. This need not be a disaster; but be very careful using your mail server for anything you actually seriously care about. Treat it as a sandbox that could explode at an opportune moment, containing only stuff you don't mind getting compromised, and you'll be fine.
>I really don't know a lot about all the internet stuffs
>on a quest to make my own mailserver
oh my
ran right over to the deep end, i see
one of the problems when setting up a mail server on a residental ip. can recieve mail but not send.
Despite your very best efforts and doing absolutely everything right most major mail providers will still send your mail to junk, or a black hole. Don't bother if you need to send mail to people reliably.
It's kind of sad, actually. It sucks that unless you have a bunch of money, these giant monoliths will shoot you down with their market dominance. I don't think it's just them preventing spam. I think they also want to maintain their dominance without outright attacking other big companies.
Yeah, Gmail used to accept mail from my server no problem. When I checked last week it went to Spam. I only use the server for receiving mail, if I need to send an email to someone I have to use my outlook account.
>sowwie, i'm bad at computers and things
OP I can help you but I won't do so until you stop talking like a 5 year old. It's not cute or funny, just super annoying.
>i am professional mail master
>talking like a 5 year old on Sup Forums is annoying
kek blesses us