Hosting your own email server?

Serik

Serik

CAGiversary!
I'm a total newb when it comes to servers, hosting, email, etc. I once setup a website and that's about it.

Gmail is my mail program of choice, though I have privacy and security concerns with this. So why not host my own email?

Do I need a domain name to do this? How secure would my PC be if I'm leaving ports open for email traffic? And how would remote connections work (like opening Thunderbird on a USB drive somewhere)?

If I end up doing this, it'll probably be on my Linux box (ya, as if I couldn't make it hard enough on myself)

Thanks for the help
 
[quote name='Serik']I'm a total newb when it comes to servers, hosting, email, etc. I once setup a website and that's about it.

Gmail is my mail program of choice, though I have privacy and security concerns with this. So why not host my own email?

Do I need a domain name to do this? How secure would my PC be if I'm leaving ports open for email traffic? And how would remote connections work (like opening Thunderbird on a USB drive somewhere)?

If I end up doing this, it'll probably be on my Linux box (ya, as if I couldn't make it hard enough on myself)

Thanks for the help[/quote]

I've never done this, so all of the below may be worthless but...
Why not... I ask why?
You shouldn't need a domain name, just a static IP or use one of those places like dyndns.com (wouldn't really need that, but your email address would change as often as your IP).
Email ports are open on your computer by default, else you wouldn't be able to retrieve email IMAP/POP servers. Please correct me if this is wrong.
You'd access the server just like you access any other IMAP/POP mail server.
 
Damn. I only get 5 - 10 messages a day (and virtually no spam). Would they even notice it? Or do they check for open email ports?

mguiddy: that's the general idea I had. Most of the online guides are geared for Windows and the Linux guides, as expected, are a bit confusing.
 
I don't think they'd notice it. The "NO SERVERS!!!" rule is so business don't subscribe to the cheaper, but basically the same, consumer plan. Do you ever run any P2P apps or torrent anything? If so you are running a server. Most likely they would call you and tell you that you need to quit running the server or upgrade to a business plan.
They may block the port you need but you could always use a different port.

As for security, I'd guess you'd be as secure as the server you are running. As long as you'd install any upgrades/patches I'd imagine you'd be fine.
 
My plan has run into a snag: would my email address change if I switched hosts?

I guess what I'm asking is, would my email address need [email protected] because Comcast is my service provider?
 
[quote name='Serik']My plan has run into a snag: would my email address change if I switched hosts?

I guess what I'm asking is, would my email address need [email protected] because Comcast is my service provider?[/quote]
No. Your email address would be [email protected] or whatever@youripaddress.

Note: I'm not 100% sure email address work with IP addresses. In that case it would change whenever your IP address changes, so it WOULD change if you switched ISPs. But if you had your own domain (they are cheap enough) or used something like dyndns it wouldn't matter who your ISP is.
 
if your ISP disallows mail ports, you won't be able to set up a mail server period.

depending on how bad u want it, you could always pick up some cheap hosting for like $4-5/month, and a domain name will run you $6-7/yr. THEN you're have to learn to set it up properly.. i said properly because spammers look for misconfigured open relay mail servers to exploit (ie mask their tracks).

good luck
 
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