Email server setup
Hello currently I need to setup a new VPS for email duties, I'm planning to use a small KVM VPS (512MB RAM, 50GB HD, 1 shared core).
My feature requirements are:
- Multiple domain support
- Multiple email accounts
- Storage quotas
- Vacation response
- Easy managment (I will only setup the VPS and another person will add the mail accounts as they are needed)
- Admin GUI
- Ability to rate limit (per domain and email account)
- SMTP, IMAP, POP3
- Webmail
I have considered the following options:
- VestaCP / HestiaCP
- DirectAdmin (Free License provided by the provider)
- Redmail (is discarded as it requires a subscription for some functions that are needed)
Which one would you suggest as a better alternative from the ones I mentioned or do you kown a better option?
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Hello @mrtilde,
If you set up your own email server, you'll have to deal with several factors:
It is certainly not impossible to deal with all this, but perhaps the final cost (time and knowledge invested) will be greater than going with an existing solution. Especially IP reputation is very important so that messages can reach their recipients.
I would suggest taking a look at MXroute (mxroute.com). They have everything you need at an affordable price.
Cheers!
BF/CM - Buyer Beware. Conduct your own due diligence on the sustainability of the deals presented here as well as the provider's track record.
ProTip: Not worth it in the long run.
At this point of time where emails have become all-important, ask yourself whether you can afford to have your emails bounce or end up in spam. If your answer is yes, continue knocking yourself out with the options that you have already considered.
However, if you enjoy your sanity, you're better off paying a small amount to Google or M$ to continue making $$.
Last year's MXroute.com BF offer is still valid: https://portal.mxroute.com/cart.php?gid=13. The promo price is way cheaper than a VPS, you can do what you need, and most importantly, as other have pointed out, you will save a lot of emotional distress and troubleshooting time later.
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Iirc Mailcow won't work with 512MB of RAM
I've ran my own mail server for over 10 years, currently got 3. 2 use mailcow and one is just a pretty basic setup without gui, etc.
I've ran mailcow with 1gb RAM and 1gb swap, and it was fine but the GUI was a little slow. You could disable things like SOGo, and Solr which would help.
I'd recommend mailcow from experience but not sure how it'd work with your ram
its 2019, use docker with this https://poste.io/
dunno if it will work in 512MB if the antivirus is enabled, but i guess its free just for personal use
I would also recommend mailcow however clamav and solr use are pretty ram hungry. I would probably increase ram on the vps however mxroute (save yourself some white hairs) would be your better option if increasing vps specs is not an option.
Hello I'm well aware of MXRoute, but the problem its in the storage space, their current offer limits at 100GB.
At their current rate, they would use that space in less of a year and a VPS would be able to increase its storage space.
Then you will have a lot of grief soon. Or discuss with @jar about your space requirements.
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I ran my own mailservers for 10+ years. Multiple domains, users, etc. Changed to MXRoute a couple of years ago. DIY just isn't worth the hassle unless you're paranoid or doing it for the experience.
Edit: Other mailhosts are available too. Google if you're desperate.
Definitely stay away from self-management of mail, it's just a nightmare to keep it running smoothly, you can just install and forget about it, it needs regular attention.
Mailcow is decent but you probably want to increase those spect a bit. Speak to Jarland at mxroute about a custom plan, I am sure he will help you.
Same. Pushed it offsite because I was sick of dealing with it a couple years ago. Wouldn't want to bother with it again for the pennies it costs per day.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
You can use biz.mail.ru(It's signup is in Russian but you can happily change the webmail interface's language on each account to English). Alternatively, bump RAM a bit and choose DirectAdmin.
Some self promotion: We also offer managed email hosting.
Get some hosting at https://drserver.net .
I've settled with postfix+Kopano for quite a few domains and it's going fine. I had to (contribute to) code from scratch a (proprietary) custom panel à la postfixadmin some time ago for Zarafa/Kopano + postfix (self-hosted & native EAS was deemed necessary in a peculiar case) and I have to say that once you've set it up correctly, it's not even a burden to administer. I've replicated it on some personal boxes. I check daily but I'm pretty OCD so not sure if that counts. The webmail interface (which I don't usually use) isn't quite like rainloop or the new roundcube1.4 yet it's bearable. Zarafa-kopano has some interface (mostly CLI) to perform all the features requested in OP.
Yet, I have quite a few domains still on either Yandex (if 100% deliverability doesn't matters, and that's the case for some personal domains) or GSuite (if you're in contact with a reseller, check those marked down plans) et al.
Whilst I've said that it's not that much of a burden to administer once you've finely tuned it, today I'd probably prefer to set myself on fire than to redo everything from scratch again.
Provided you can trust your outbound emails, the most soul-consuming part is imho tuning postfix and spamassassin (or rspamd if you prefer). So, pretty much all of it.