Email server on Centminmod

Depends on the maths i.e. Google Gsuite is like US$50/user/yr so if you have 10 domains and each domain requires 10 separate @domain user accounts = 100 user accounts = US$5,000 per year. If you used Google Gsuite domain alias for those 10 domains but still require 10 user accounts = US$500/yr. Compared to maybe a US$20/month VPS + cpanel/WHM $15/month license = US$35/month or US$420/yr. Of course cost of cpanel/WHM based VPS server depends on how much disk, cpu and memory resources you require and for proper malware/anti-virus mail scanning you can expect those required resources to be much higher than low end VPS would provide.

But yes if you know how to setup your own mail server from scratch, then you can setup a separate dedicated mail server and not using cpanel/WHM.

For anyone thinking about setting up their own mail servers, here's Tecmint 5 part article on setting up your @domain.com emails on CentOS 7 below. Just read it to get an idea of what's actually involved for the basics.

But part of their steps assume Apache web server instead of Nginx i.e. for phpmyadmin (centmin mod has it's own phpmyadmin.sh addon installer) and use of firewalld instead of Centmin Mod's CSF Firewall (which already setup proper whitelisted ports). But most of the email site setup is applicable. For properly postfix @domain handling you need to utilise MySQL, anti-virus/malware scanner and implement anti-spam management = all these can increase server resource usage dramatically. Virus scanning can blow out to an extra 4-8GB of memory and alot more cpu usage and local email disk storage will increase.

• Part 1: How to Create and Setup Postfix Mail Server Database (MariaDB) Securely
• Part 2: How to Configure Postfix and Dovecot with Virtual Domain Users in Linux
• Part 3: How to Add Antivirus and Spam Protection to Postfix Mail Server with ClamAV and SpamAssassin
• Part 4: How to Install and Configure RoundCube Webmail Client with Virtual Users in Postfix
• Part 5: How to Use Sagator, an Antivirus/Antispam Gateway to Protect Your Mail Server
• As you also setup locally hosted @domain.com you'd have to setup all DNS requirements for SPF, PTR, DKIM, DMARC yourself Email - Steps to ensure your site/server email doesn't end up in spam inboxes | Centmin Mod Community If you used 3rd party @domain.com, like Google App/G Suite, Zoho etc then they have GUI based control panel/instructions for setting up SPF, DKIM at their end.
• You'd then need to constantly monitor your own server's IP address for blacklisting i.e. Email Server Monitoring Service - MxToolbox and deal with each blacklist for removal of your server's IP if blacklisted. With 3rd party @domain, they would be the ones monitoring and dealing with blacklist removal

 

For me personally, email reliability, uptime and security are very important. Think about it, every social media account, domain registrar account, web hosting account, and web hosting related services use email for registration, loss password recovery, notifications etc. Hacking via social engineering or hacking email accounts to get to your web hosting related services and domain registrar services is common too. So I don't mind paying for Google Gsuite even for personal emails/non-business emails. In this day and age, why risk the integrity and security of your emails ?

 

Yeah tricky and expensive so finding alternatives that are less expensive but still have security, uptime and reliability criteria. Really need to revisit and update discussions at Email - Free @yourdomain.com Email Accounts & Alternatives

Though the way I see if, not all my family members are internet/email security savy beyond general usage. So likelihood of relatives email accounts being compromised is potentially higher still. Those family members may use that email for important/business or other services not knowing any better.

 

Yeah true. Though with internet related hosting services a level of trust is still needed even if you have a self-hosted dedicated mail server - you still have to put some level of trust in your web host provider too.

But bringing it back to the point re: centmin mod hosted domains @domain email hosting. It's more about level competency as to how well you configure and secure your own self hosted mail server versus what folks like Google Gsuite/Microsoft can provide for their @domain email hosting services. Not to mention high availability and uptime of the mail servers compared to self-hosted @domain email hosting. How competent are you in moving and migrating email server/data to a different web host if needed if you opt for self-hosted route ? Can you afford @domain email servers to have downtime ?

In the context of Centmin Mod users who generally don't know how to setup/configure their own @domain mail server, such tasks are out of the question and as stated, I wouldn't be providing free support for such either.