[PLUG] Whether to host one's own email these days?

[Paul Heinlein]

On Sun, 20 Sep 2020, Eric House wrote:

> And so the question: what are those of you who have the expertise to
> run an email server doing? Do you handle your own mail, or do you pay
> a service to do it for you?

I run my own, and have ever since I registered by domain in the late 
90s.

Pros:
- easy to control aliases, forwards, etc
- access to raw log files useful for troubleshooting
- nice way to experiment with new features, software, etc
- easy to backup whole mail store natively rather than via IMAP
- server-side filtering via procmail, sieve, etc
- easy to set up temp accounts or accts for friends/family
- can set access restrictions (ex: require VPN for IMAP)

Cons:
- spam control is difficult and requires attention
- patching, monitoring, maintenance never disappear
- need to maintain SSL certs, probably
- IP blacklists**

**Concerning IP-based blacklists. I run my mail services on a VM at 
Digital Ocean. When I upgrade servers, which admittedly is not all 
that often, and get a new IPv4 address, I need to endure this period 
where my outbound messages are blocked. So I need to go cap in hand to 
Google, Microsoft, etc. and ask pretty-please would you not block 
messages from www.xxx.yyy.zzz.

Digital Ocean is now offering floating IP address (ala AWS) so my next 
upgrade will get an address that won't change from then on. Still, 
it's a hassle.

> If the former, what are the leading choices on a Debian server? If 
> the latter, services to be recommended?

I use CentOS, but I suppose the key software packages are all 
available on Debian:

- Sendmail
- Dovecot
- OpenDMARC
- SpamAssassin (and spamass-milter)

I stick with sendmail due to familiarity and inertia, but it hasn't 
been subject to a major vulnerability in a long time. I'd probably use 
Postfix if I were starting from scratch, if only because it seems like 
there's better community support for it these days.

There's no free lunch here. I pay for my VM in part for reasons other 
than mail hosting, but it's still a monthly charge. I don't mind 
paying for it, but it's still a monthly bill. On the other hand, I get 
to stay somewhat current with FOSS mail tools, even though I no longer 
maintain mail services at work.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W