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Does anyone run their own email server? (lemmy.one)

submitted 1 year ago by DidacticDumbass@lemmy.one to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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All this new excitement with Lemmy and federation has got me thinking that maybe I should learn to run my own instance. What always comes up though is how email is the orginal federated technology.

I am looking at proxmox and see that is has a built in email server, so now I am wondering if it is time to role my own.

I stopped using gmail a long time ago, and right now I use ProtonMail, but I am super frustrated with the dumb limitation of only having a single account for the app. I get why they do it, and I am willing to pay, but it is pricey and I don't know if that is my best option. I guess it is worth it since ProtonVPN is included. It looks like they are expanding their suite.

Is it worth it? Can I make it secure? Is it stupid to run it off a local computer on my home network?

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[–] neutron@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I did for a couple years, but moved to mailbox.org a while ago. The effort was much to high to save a few bucks and there is no real upside to it. E-Mail is a troublesome mixture of different protocols from the internet stone age held together by chewing gum (SMTP, POP3, IMAP, DNS, database or file storage, maybe ActiveSync, Web-Mailer, ...)

Even when everything is up and running there is always maintenance to keep your SSL certificates up to date, update your incoming spam filter technique, keep other mail providers assured that you are not spamming (DKIM, etc.), keep all the different system services (see above) up to date and interoperable, etc. and every few years when you want to move to a new server, provider or Linux distro you start it all over again.

[–] DidacticDumbass@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Damn, it is so bizarre that email of all things would be the least operable by tech savvy individuals. Someone linked an article that explains it, and it truly is depressing. Like, it makes me not want to even have email... which is not really possible if I want to be employed. Eh, it's not like I DON'T already have free email accounts, I just don't always like the decision my provider makes.

[–] neutron@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, there are plenty of providers out there there should be one that suits you. Having a domain of your own with DNS access and letting the provider doing the hosting is not (so) hard and gives you the flexibility to switch any time.

[–] DidacticDumbass@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

That is cool. Everytime I have created a new email account, it has been an island. Never learned to preserve emails... Well, except the one time I use Thunderbird. I should set that up again. Maybe it would solve my issue of multiple accounts??

In any case I like consolidation and I don't like logging into a website everytime if I can avoid it.