mails with no public IP

[johnyb98]

Hello LTT members!

 

Please, I would like your help and recommendations in the following issue I have.

 

Last days, I started reading and searching about domains, domain buy, public IP buying, my web hosting, mail servers, etc.

The issue I mentioned above that I have is this one:

 

The things I want to do at the same time are:

 

a. Buy a free domain I like

b. Enter domain cPanel in order to learn building A an MX records, mainly

c. Install on a PC a MS Exchange Server, build some accounts there, and, in combination of these accounts together with the domain (e.g. mary@example.com), to make some experiments about sending and receiving mails inside and outside the domain (e.g. send/receive from yahoo.com). But, not only this. Also, learn MS Exchange Server.

 

From my until now reading, I have understood that, without a bought public IP,  which is kind of more expensive,  and I cannot afford,  I cannot "play" and make c. Because on the MX records, I cannot target a destination. Or maybe there is some other things I escape now.

 

So, have I understood things well? No public IP means at the same time no mail staff?

 

p.s. for the beginning of this scenario, please do not suggest me any solutions like free trial mail servers, or no-ip staff, etc. At the moment, I would like your precious help to help me understand I have understood things correctly by now.

 

Thank you for your time!

[SupaKomputa]

1. Buy domain name, or get a free .GA, .TK etc domains.

2. Go to cloudflare, host your domain there for free.

3. Get a free mailbox (yandex, zoho, etc) https://www.freshtechtips.com/2016/12/free-custom-domain-email-hosting.html

4. Follow the instruction on the mailhost to edit the MX in cloudflare.

 

 

[Denned]

There's free DNS services like Cloudflare, but you would still need a domain name. Payed ones doesn't cost a lot, otherwise there's free alternatives like .tk

 

But you don't actually need all that, if you're just want to set it up and try to get it working. You can just use a local domain with a local DNS server and set up your Exchange server with that. Now obviously it wont work outside your network. But you would be able set it up, and get it working with PC / mail clients on your local network.

[Kilrah]

There are services to link your domain to a dynamic ip, but I don't know any that are free. Managed DNS from no-ip is $30/year.

[TehDwonz]

23 minutes ago, johnyb98 said:

The things I want to do at the same time are:

 

a. Buy a free domain I like

 

No such thing as a free domain. If it's free, you generally don't own it.

Why not learn MS Exchange on an internal network first? You could virtualize the entire thing, including a NAT firewall to simulate an Internet facing server. Maybe look into learning a free VM setup like ProxMox?
Alternatively, you could tinker with the same thing using VirtualBox on your current PC - or even Hyper-V. Performance wouldn't be top-tier, but it's fine for learning.

[SupaKomputa]

Don't use your IP address to send your email, especially dynamic ip, your mail will probably ended in SPAM folder or blacklisted completely.

Google / hotmail usually have a whitelist ip, this is where mailhost / email delivery service come to use.

 

2 minutes ago, TehDwonz said:

No such thing as a free domain. If it's free, you generally don't own it.

There are free domains, but usually they "lend" you for 1 year, after the period you can extend the free period or buy it. The price is usually lower than .com

https://www.freenom.com/en/freeandpaiddomains.html

[johnyb98]

Oops. You are all right wondering with my saying "free domain". I want to say a domain that does not own someone else. Not free from money side. Sorry!

 

Thank you all for your precious and informative answers. I really appreciate this.

 

I would like to apologise for my insist, but I would like to ask again if I have understood things correct in the scenario of the topic. Independent of the solutions you give me.

[brwainer]

You don’t need a static public IP (one that you pay for that will never change), just a public IPv4 address of any type. As long as the IPv4 address that your router gets doesn’t start with 10 (10.0.0.0/8) or 172.16-172.24 (172.16.0.0/12), or 192.168 (192.168.0.0/16), or 100.64-100.127 (100.64.0.0/10) then you have a public IP address. But, it is dynamic, meaning it may change as frequently as daily or as infrequently as almost never. To manage this you need a Dynamic DNS or DDNS. The common names for this service are no-ip.com and dyndns.com but you can also do it with cloudflare for free https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020524512-Manage-dynamic-IPs-in-Cloudflare-DNS-programmatically

 

Edit: also many domain registrars have free DDNS if you stay with them for DNS. I prefer Namecheap for registering domains (you can’t buy domains through Cloudflare, only transfer domains to them) and they have free DDNS.

[johnyb98]

21 minutes ago, Denned said:

There's free DNS services like Cloudflare, but you would still need a domain name. Payed ones doesn't cost a lot,

That's exactly what I thought I would proceed with. Domains cost so little. So, I would buy a domain, and find a solution to proceed. A local networking exchange servering that you suggest me, and I really appreciate, is something I already knew, but I would like to make this work in real world conditions:Web.

[paddy-stone]

I like duckdns.org for dynamic DNS, it's really easy to use and free. https://www.duckdns.org/domains

[FitnessOgre]

You also need to make sure that SMTP traffic has access to the outside, and also that port 25 is listening on the same ip as your MX record is pointing to. I would assume that you are using some form of firewall/router. You may need to do some port forwarding. SMTP port 25 is needed. If you plan to use OWA you will also need to open port 443 as well. But that will require an SSL Certificate. So many little gotchas for things. 

If you buy a domain chances are the domain registrar has DNS already in place. You can change your MX record there. I have my email going to Microsoft 365 with little to no effort with my domain name. 

 

[FitnessOgre]

Also you need Active Directory. Exchange will not work without it.

 

[johnyb98]

1 hour ago, FitnessOgre said:

You also need to make sure that SMTP traffic has access to the outside, and also that port 25 is listening on the same ip as your MX record is pointing to. I would assume that you are using some form of firewall/router. You may need to do some port forwarding. SMTP port 25 is needed. If you plan to use OWA you will also need to open port 443 as well. But that will require an SSL Certificate. So many little gotchas for things. 

If you buy a domain chances are the domain registrar has DNS already in place. You can change your MX record there. I have my email going to Microsoft 365 with little to no effort with my domain name. 

 

Yes, I have in mind, since I have completed all staff with domain buy and IP addresses, mail servers, and all these, to arrange rules with ports, SSLs, and all other may need. Sure these are some little gotchas.

 

1 hour ago, FitnessOgre said:

Also you need Active Directory. Exchange will not work without it.

 

Yes, I also have in mind the first I should build Active Directory, and on that, install MS Exchange.

 

Thank you all for your precious and informative answers !!

 

p.s. Any plus answers would be of course great!

[johnyb98]

Not building another topic, I think my question fits this one.

 

Reading here and there, making so many Google searches, I have never found somebody saying that a mail server is a physical machine. A pc. Or, to say it in simpler words, a mail message, is just a data file, and a mail server is a PC with a hard drive, and on this hard drive, sended mail message (data file) is firstly stored, apart from the fact that afterwards the recevient will delete it or donwload it (POP3). Am I missing something?

[brwainer]

2 hours ago, johnyb98 said:

Not building another topic, I think my question fits this one.

 

Reading here and there, making so many Google searches, I have never found somebody saying that a mail server is a physical machine. A pc. Or, to say it in simpler words, a mail message, is just a data file, and a mail server is a PC with a hard drive, and on this hard drive, sended mail message (data file) is firstly stored, apart from the fact that afterwards the recevient will delete it or donwload it (POP3). Am I missing something?

You are correct. “Server” has two meanings. One is a software that provides a service - in the case of a mail server, it provides mail delivery via SMTP and mail retrieval via POP3 or IMAP or a web interface. The other meaning is a computer dedicated to running such software, whether by design (rackmounted, having resources like RAM or storage that are tuned to running services) or configuration (having a server optimized OS, running only services and not being used as a local desktop).

 

This is true of any “server”, not just mail servers. A minecraft server (software) can be run on any computer. A server (hardware) can be used as a high end workstation by putting in a GPU. A server (hardware) can be made out of regular PC parts, not ones designed for server use.

[johnyb98]

1 hour ago, brwainer said:

You are correct. “Server” has two meanings. One is a software that provides a service - in the case of a mail server, it provides mail delivery via SMTP and mail retrieval via POP3 or IMAP or a web interface. The other meaning is a computer dedicated to running such software, whether by design (rackmounted, having resources like RAM or storage that are tuned to running services) or configuration (having a server optimized OS, running only services and not being used as a local desktop).

 

This is true of any “server”, not just mail servers. A minecraft server (software) can be run on any computer. A server (hardware) can be used as a high end workstation by putting in a GPU. A server (hardware) can be made out of regular PC parts, not ones designed for server use.

 

This is an awesome and extremely informative and knowledge answer, that answers many queries I had on this all issue. Thank you!!

 

Now, I would like to give the total/gold query that is a kind of combination of the beginning/start of the topic and mail server. Saying combination I mean:MX Records in combination with Mail Server.

Reading about MX Records and seeing lots of videos, I have seen that there are at least two MX Records that navigate to a Mail Server. Now, what I have understood for this, is as follows:

 

Suppose mail server is a water fount, and people want to go to the fount to get water.

MX Records are different roads that navigate to that fount, so if many people want water, to be able to reach fount divided to these records, and not must go through one and only road (balance) and second reason if a road becomes unreachable, fount can be reached via other(s) road(s) (security/safety).

So, many MX Records, in reality, mean different roads/tunnels navigating to the same one and only Mail Server.

 

e.g. 3 MX Records mean three roads and not 3 Mail Servers. More than one Mail Server is another scenario, which is not my now analysis.

 

Have I understood correct about all that?

[brwainer]

32 minutes ago, johnyb98 said:

 

This is an awesome and extremely informative and knowledge answer, that answers many queries I had on this all issue. Thank you!!

 

Now, I would like to give the total/gold query that is a kind of combination of the beginning/start of the topic and mail server. Saying combination I mean:MX Records in combination with Mail Server.

Reading about MX Records and seeing lots of videos, I have seen that there are at least two MX Records that navigate to a Mail Server. Now, what I have understood for this, is as follows:

 

Suppose mail server is a water fount, and people want to go to the fount to get water.

MX Records are different roads that navigate to that fount, so if many people want water, to be able to reach fount divided to these records, and not must go through one and only road (balance) and second reason if a road becomes unreachable, fount can be reached via other(s) road(s) (security/safety).

So, many MX Records, in reality, mean different roads/tunnels navigating to the same one and only Mail Server.

 

e.g. 3 MX Records mean three roads and not 3 Mail Servers. More than one Mail Server is another scenario, which is not my now analysis.

 

Have I understood correct about all that?

If there is some sort of redundancy (either a cluster of mail servers, or a single mail server accessible via multiple IP addresses on different ISPs), then each redundant option would have its own MX record. Basically, its one MX record for each public IP address which has a mail server. Even though the MX record points to an A record, not directly to an IP address, it is not good to have a single MX record point to an A record with multiple IP addresses.

[johnyb98]

3 hours ago, brwainer said:

If there is some sort of redundancy (either a cluster of mail servers, or a single mail server accessible via multiple IP addresses on different ISPs), then each redundant option would have its own MX record. Basically, its one MX record for each public IP address which has a mail server. Even though the MX record points to an A record, not directly to an IP address, it is not good to have a single MX record point to an A record with multiple IP addresses.

About the fact that a MX record is pointing to an A record, is something I too was thinking writing previous answer. I did not even think the scenario that juat one A record could point to multiple IP addresses. Here concept needs a little more study, and I appreciate your answer. More learning will take place by studying such a scenario, too.

 

Thanks a lot!

[FitnessOgre]

While you can install Exchange on the Same server as an Active Directory Domain Controller, for basic testing and learning it will be fine, but aside from that its not recommended. Frankly on my home server I run Vmware and have multiple guest servers running on my host. I have a Active Directory Domain Controller, a File Server, and plenty of space for test servers such as Exchange, SQL, Web and Application servers. Having a virtualization host is a whole other rabbit hole. 

When you create a domain controller for your active directory domain, you will also install DNS and a few other Directory Services components that will be needed for Exchange Servers Setup to even start. The Exchange 2019 install will tell you what your pre-requisites are and will help you install them. 

Some other gotcha's that I have learned.

Disk space. Make sure you have a reasonable amount of disk to allow Exchange to "Breath". With the release of 2013 and later Microsoft has increased the amount of diagnostic logging that the server does. All these logs will be located in the install directory for exchange, so if you notice that you are running out of disk space chances are its full of logs. The IIS inetpub directory will also fill with logs so you may want to look for a log cleanup PowerShell command to run or manually go in and clear the logs... Recommend a script of some sort as this can be very tedious. 

Exchange Databases need to be backed up or have Circular Logging enabled, otherwise the Exchange Transaction logs are going to fill up the disk, with circular logging the logs will be committed to the mailbox database regularly. For what you are doing circular logging will suffice as this isn't an production deployment. This will keep your disk usage under control. 

Exchange server is a disk hungry application. If those disks fill up, Exchange stops working. 

Try to install Exchange on a separate disk from your OS. At least of the Install drive fills up your sever won't completely crap out. 

Use powershell as much as you can to do exchange tasks. This really helps you to learn how to administer the server. Yes the Web Console is functional and frankly easier for some tasks. However I find that Powershell is more "verbose" about issues, learn to use the exchange management shell. Its helped me do a lot of things that the Console and ECP just don't do. 

If you decide to remove it and still want your Active Directory to work after, make sure you uninstall it properly. Otherwise there is all kinds of leftover bits and issues left behind. This was my experience with 2003 and 2010 version of Exchange. 2016 and 2019 seem pretty solid, though I haven't had to uninstall either of those. 

 

Seriously there is so many little things that Exchange needs to function. Good luck with your learning.  

 

[johnyb98]

On 7/9/2020 at 7:28 AM, FitnessOgre said:

While you can install Exchange on the Same server as an Active Directory Domain Controller, for basic testing and learning it will be fine, but aside from that its not recommended. Frankly on my home server I run Vmware and have multiple guest servers running on my host. I have a Active Directory Domain Controller, a File Server, and plenty of space for test servers such as Exchange, SQL, Web and Application servers. Having a virtualization host is a whole other rabbit hole. 

When you create a domain controller for your active directory domain, you will also install DNS and a few other Directory Services components that will be needed for Exchange Servers Setup to even start. The Exchange 2019 install will tell you what your pre-requisites are and will help you install them. 

Some other gotcha's that I have learned.

Disk space. Make sure you have a reasonable amount of disk to allow Exchange to "Breath". With the release of 2013 and later Microsoft has increased the amount of diagnostic logging that the server does. All these logs will be located in the install directory for exchange, so if you notice that you are running out of disk space chances are its full of logs. The IIS inetpub directory will also fill with logs so you may want to look for a log cleanup PowerShell command to run or manually go in and clear the logs... Recommend a script of some sort as this can be very tedious. 

Exchange Databases need to be backed up or have Circular Logging enabled, otherwise the Exchange Transaction logs are going to fill up the disk, with circular logging the logs will be committed to the mailbox database regularly. For what you are doing circular logging will suffice as this isn't an production deployment. This will keep your disk usage under control. 

Exchange server is a disk hungry application. If those disks fill up, Exchange stops working. 

Try to install Exchange on a separate disk from your OS. At least of the Install drive fills up your sever won't completely crap out. 

Use powershell as much as you can to do exchange tasks. This really helps you to learn how to administer the server. Yes the Web Console is functional and frankly easier for some tasks. However I find that Powershell is more "verbose" about issues, learn to use the exchange management shell. Its helped me do a lot of things that the Console and ECP just don't do. 

If you decide to remove it and still want your Active Directory to work after, make sure you uninstall it properly. Otherwise there is all kinds of leftover bits and issues left behind. This was my experience with 2003 and 2010 version of Exchange. 2016 and 2019 seem pretty solid, though I haven't had to uninstall either of those. 

 

Seriously there is so many little things that Exchange needs to function. Good luck with your learning.  

 

 

This is a very good analysis about Exchange Server usage, working environment, and importance of powershell usage learning.

 

Thank you very much!!