Mail Services

[aXeptance]

Hi, i want to set up a own mail service/server on one of my home servers. Is there anyone here that are good with this that can help me out a bit or give recommendations on what to use etc.

 

Also i have a server running Windows 2012 R2 to. Im a complete newbie when it comes to mail servers.

What i need:
- What program/programs to use to either get Windows Server mail services to work with a webmail or another kind of mail server program.

- Eventually some tech support for the stuff i just really dont get. (Will be posting here.)

Would really appreciate any kind of feedback for this. Just struggling to get stuff to work sometimes

[Crunchy Dragon]

-Moved to Servers and NAS-

[Admiral Koba]

This depends on what you're trying to achieve. I am under the assumption you aren't actually running a mail server at the minute. I'd probably recommend hMailServer for Server 2012 R2. With this, you can use any webmail client or desktop client that supports IMAP and SMTP. In addition, there are many tutorials online about how to use hMailServer and configure it correctly (including video tutorials).

 

I am unsure what you mean by "Windows Server mail services" - could you clarify (do you mean the SMTP server you can install from Server Manager perhaps?) .

 

That being said, if you are planning to make this mail server public - please reconsider. IP address reputation can be seriously damaged should your mail server not be configured/secured correctly. It would be advantageous for you to play with this internally and learn some more about the fundamentals of how mail servers work before you attempt to go further with this. This is not meant to be mean-hearted but mail servers are a common target for malicious actors due to the profitability of unsolicited e-mail.

 

Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck with your project.

 

[KuJoe]

Most ISPs block port 25 and other common SMTP ports so running a mailserver at home is difficult.

[aXeptance]

11 minutes ago, Admiral Koba said:

This depends on what you're trying to achieve. I am under the assumption you aren't actually running a mail server at the minute. I'd probably recommend hMailServer for Server 2012 R2. With this, you can use any webmail client or desktop client that supports IMAP and SMTP. In addition, there are many tutorials online about how to use hMailServer and configure it correctly (including video tutorials).

  

I am unsure what you mean by "Windows Server mail services" - could you clarify (do you mean the SMTP server you can install from Server Manager perhaps?) .

  

That being said, if you are planning to make this mail server public - please reconsider. IP address reputation can be seriously damaged should your mail server not be configured/secured correctly. It would be advantageous for you to play with this internally and learn some more about the fundamentals of how mail servers work before you attempt to go further with this. This is not meant to be mean-hearted but mail servers are a common target for malicious actors due to the profitability of unsolicited e-mail.

 

Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck with your project.

 

Okay i will check out hMailServer. And yeah, were talking about the built in SMTP from the Server Manager. Noticed it wasn't that well explained!

I will test everything so it functions fully locally with encryption before actually making it work with what i want it for.
 

 

4 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

Most ISPs block port 25 and other common SMTP ports so running a mailserver at home is difficult.

Yes, i am well aware that most ISPs (including mine) block port 25. Tho if im not incorrect my ISP only changed from port 25 to 587..

[Admiral Koba]

1 minute ago, aXeptance said:

Okay i will check out hMailServer. And yeah, were talking about the built in SMTP from the Server Manager. Noticed it wasn't that well explained!

I will test everything so it functions fully locally with encryption before actually making it work with what i want it for.

Awesome! Yeah - this won't give you 'mailboxes' and only really acts as an SMTP relay. Won't be very useful. hMailServer is probably your best bet then. Good luck.

[KuJoe]

1 minute ago, aXeptance said:

Yes, i am well aware that most ISPs (including mine) block port 25. Tho if im not incorrect my ISP only changed from port 25 to 587..

Glad you researched it already, as long as your IP doesn't change you should be fine.

[aXeptance]

2 minutes ago, Admiral Koba said:

Awesome! Yeah - this won't give you 'mailboxes' and only really acts as an SMTP relay. Won't be very useful. hMailServer is probably your best bet then. Good luck.

Will try setting up hMailServer tomorrow, ill post if i have some issues along the way!

 

2 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

Glad you researched it already, as long as your IP doesn't change you should be fine.

Yeah, allready contacted my ISP to have a static IP adress to. (Had this for a while since i have websites running on the server to.)  

[Falconevo]

hMail with Afterlogic (lite) if you want to use webmail over IMAP.

 

 

[aXeptance]

10 hours ago, Falconevo said:

hMail with Afterlogic (lite) if you want to use webmail over IMAP.

 

 

Yeah, ive seen Afterlogic before but forgot the name.. Much appreciated 

 

23 hours ago, Admiral Koba said:

Awesome! Yeah - this won't give you 'mailboxes' and only really acts as an SMTP relay. Won't be very useful. hMailServer is probably your best bet then. Good luck.

Got everything to work locally now. But i cant seem to figure out what im doing wrong when trying to get it work with sending mail to ex. Gmail. I cant seem to understand what im doing wrong. Do you have any tips on how to search for whats wrong or something... 

[Admiral Koba]

11 hours ago, aXeptance said:

Got everything to work locally now. But i cant seem to figure out what im doing wrong when trying to get it work with sending mail to ex. Gmail. I cant seem to understand what im doing wrong. Do you have any tips on how to search for whats wrong or something... 

Is the mail hitting spam? You need to ensure your mail server is configured correctly for sending to the outside internet. (e.g domain has SPF rules, IP isn't dirty (check RBLs), correct PTR is set up on your IP address for the mail server, DKIM is set correctly (if using)) 

 

Alternatively, your ISP may be blocking it completely - in which case you'll have to find some other solutions.

 

[aXeptance]

On 12/28/2018 at 12:32 PM, Admiral Koba said:

Is the mail hitting spam? You need to ensure your mail server is configured correctly for sending to the outside internet. (e.g domain has SPF rules, IP isn't dirty (check RBLs), correct PTR is set up on your IP address for the mail server, DKIM is set correctly (if using)) 

  

Alternatively, your ISP may be blocking it completely - in which case you'll have to find some other solutions.

 

None blacklists on the domain used for this. Going to redo the DKIM and stuff.

Update btw;
I can get mail from ex. Gmail or Hotmail now, but when trying to send there is something wrong. (That's why im redoing the DKIM and SPF records.)

[aXeptance]

2 hours ago, aXeptance said:

None blacklists on the domain used for this. Going to redo the DKIM and stuff.

Update btw;
I can get mail from ex. Gmail or Hotmail now, but when trying to send there is something wrong. (That's why im redoing the DKIM and SPF records.)

Ignore my text. Figured out why.. 

Thanks for all the help!

[beyonddc]

AfterLogic Lite would be what I recommend for web mail.

 

Other alternatives include Rainloop and Roundcube

https://www.rainloop.net/

https://roundcube.net/

 

For mail server, I recommend Apache James because it is written in Java therefore it is cross platform.

https://james.apache.org/

[aXeptance]

4 minutes ago, beyonddc said:

AfterLogic Lite would be what I recommend for web mail.

 

Other alternatives include Rainloop and Roundcube

https://www.rainloop.net/

https://roundcube.net/

 

For mail server, I recommend Apache James because it is written in Java therefore it is cross platform.

https://james.apache.org/

Allready fixed AfterLogic Lite for it, but will check those out to. Much appreciated