How to run your own mail server

I do not run my own an email server but, as far as I understand, installing is not the hardest part ('sudo tasksel install mail-server' for a Postfix server). The hardest part is having your emails not being classified as spam by GMail & co.

name at domain wrote:
> Does someone here run his own mail server?
>
> How difficult is it?

I wouldn't know how to quantify the difficulty. The technical parts are not
difficult to understand or set up if you don't have a lot of email to
route. But your ISP might block you from receiving data on the SMTP port,
which will be problematic for you. You may need to look into getting a
"business" connection with your ISP (usually higher priced for no good reason).

You might want to look at Mail-in-a-Box.

Two takes on this.
First: http://sealedabstract.com/code/nsa-proof-your-e-mail-in-2-hours/ is a guide that seems to do a fine job at explaining how to run an email server.

Second: You might not want to do it in the first place. I actually considered it myself and ended up reading an article that persuaded me not to do so at the time. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to find the article again. However, this one gives a good overview as well: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/why-you-may-not-want-to-run-your-own-mail-server

DigitalOceans website also has a host of tutorials/guides on the topic, should you want to use a specific solution.

You should run Postfix.