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External email server vs port forwarding/vpn (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/selfhosted

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey-ho 👋

What is the best approach for selfhosting an email server with static IP or blocked port 25?

I've done it many times in many different ways, now doing it again and want to hear what is the best approach these days

My port 25 isn't even probably blocked, I just prefer to use my vps to help it with this stuff

Any suggestions?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I think mail forwarders are still a good way to go. It's hard to predict how Internet providers will react to email running in their networks.

These days I have an ec2 at AWS for my mail server and use SES for outbound mail. I'm thinking of moving "receiving" back into my network with a simple chat forwarding service but keep SES for outbound. They handle all the SPF and DKIM things and ensure their networks aren't on blacklists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

react to email running in their networks.

Is email dangerous? (I have no idea how email works so please don't bombard me with acronyms)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's spam they're concerned about. Spam email is kinda "big business" and one way they thrive is by using bots to just scan for poorly-configured or vulnerable systems to hack and install an app that will let them send email from your system. By compromising hundreds or thousands of individual machines it makes it hard for mail providers to block them individually. It also uses a ton of bandwidth on internet service providers networks.

So some time ago service providers started to simply block port 25 (used to send email) on their networks except to certain services. I think they've backed off a bit now but inbound port 25 can often be blocked still. It may even be against their TOS in some cases.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Oh wow, thanks for the explanation.