Running your own email server can be a rewarding experience, but it also requires a lot of effort and dedication.
Gmail is waiting to reject you as soon as you send something from port 25. If you want to end up someone's inbox, you need to follow some rules and standards. On the other side, security is a big concern. Internet is a wild west, as soon as you put something online, your server will start getting attacked, they are waiting to pull you apart, steal everything they can find, take over your server to run for their bad purposes.
You may think how they can even find you, right? It would take minutes for bots to find your server to start attacking it as soon as you put it online.
Are you ready to fight?
If so, why would you want to run your own email server? You may want to use your own domain for your email address? But there are many services that can do that for you, like Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, Proton Mail, etc. They let you use your own domain for your email address. So you don't have to worry about the security, spam filtering, backups, etc.
But if it might be expensive if you need many email addresses for you company. So having your own email server can be a good and cheaper alternative. You may also need privacy, you don't want your emails to be read by third parties. You may want to have full control over your emails, you don't want to be dependent on any service provider. Ok, it is convincing, lets look at the steps.
Get your hands wet
Fist you need to find a good Virtual Private Server (VPS) provider with port 25 open. You may also try to run your email server from your home or company network, but most probably your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will block port 25. Port 25 is the default port for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is used for sending emails. Most ISPs and VPS providers block this port as default to prevent spam and abuse.
Then need good IP reputation. Most of the VPS providers have bad IP reputation or already blacklisted, because they are used by many people, some of them may be spammers. You can check the IP reputation of your server using tools like MXToolbox, etc.So you need to find a clean IP address so you relay your emails from third party SMTP relay service like SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, etc.
Next, you need to install and configure an email server software. There are many options available, like Postfix, Exim, Dovecot, etc. You need to choose one that suits your needs and preferences. Or you can find some all-in-one opensource solutions like Mail-in-a-Box, etc.
And you need to set up DNS records for your domain. You need to set up MX records, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. MX records are used to specify the mail servers for your domain. SPF is used to specify which servers are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain. DKIM is used to sign your emails to prove that they are not tampered with. DMARC is used to specify how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks.
Are those enough?
These are the basic steps to run your own email server. But still you may end up in spam. If your domain is new, it might be recognized as unsafe and sent to spam. You build your domain reputation over time. If you are sending bulk emails, or newsletters, you also need to add unsubscribe link, and List-Unsubscribe header to your emails. So people wont mark your emails as spam.
Summary
Running your own email server can be a rewarding experience, but it also requires a lot of effort and dedication. You need to be prepared to deal with the challenges and issues that may arise. If you are not ready to fight, it is better to use a third party service provider.
If you are ready, good luck and have fun!
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