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menasheh
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menasheh

What mailserver can I run alongside my website on a $5 droplet?

November 23, 2016 1.1k views
Apache DNS Email Ubuntu

iRedMail says it needs 2GB of RAM. I have 512MB for the entire site... What can I do for mail?

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3 Answers
xMudrii November 24, 2016
Accepted Answer

Hi there.

To be honest, mail servers are not that hard to setup, they're pretty hard for maintance and security.
DigitalOcean has a article Why You May Not Want To Run Your Own Mail Server, which can explain what's the problem with mail servers.

DigitalOcean has a lot of mail server tutorial which you can look for under Email tag.

My personal recommendation would be Postfix one. How To Install and Configure Postfix on Ubuntu 16.04 is a great tutorial.

You can also go with something like Zoho mail. How To Set Up Zoho Mail with a Custom Domain Managed by DigitalOcean DNS will cover you. Zoho mail is service something like Google offer, but it also has Free tier that's great if you're under 25 mail accounts (at time of writing tutorial, it was 10).

If you got any more question, feel free to ask.

Why You May Not Want To Run Your Own Mail Server
When setting up a web site or application under your own domain, it is likely that you will also want a mail server to handle the domain's incoming and outgoing email. While it is possible to run your own mail server, it is often not the best option for a variety of reasons. This guide will cover many of the reasons that you may not want to run your own mail server, and offer a few alternatives.
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  • menasheh November 24, 2016

    Ahh, Thanks for that tidbit on Zoho! I've gotten it set up with one email. Is there a way to get a bunch of different emails in one inbox?

    • xMudrii November 24, 2016

      I'm not sure you can do it via Zoho interface. To be honest I never tried to have different mails in one inbox.

      You can give a try to some client. Thunderbird comes to my mind. You can setup Global Inbox or Unified Folders to get desired effect.
      Look at this How do I create a global inbox for Thunderbird on Windows 10?, it's for Windows 10 but is probably relevant to other OSes too.

      • menasheh November 25, 2016

        For future reference, I found that Zoho has an Alias feature which allows you to add emails to an inbox. Thanks.

Woet November 23, 2016

Plenty of mail servers are happy with 512 MB (Sendmail, Postfix, Exim). Or just use Google Apps.

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  • menasheh November 23, 2016

    Google apps = same cost as my server = useless.

    • Woet November 23, 2016
      [deleted]
    • Woet November 23, 2016

      If your time thats required to install and maintain a mail server is worth less than $5/month then use any of the three suggestions I made.

      • menasheh November 23, 2016

        My time is worth much more than I expend it for. I can't pay $60/yr for a service I'll use to receive 16 emails in that time just cause it's easier unless my site already brings in more than that in revenue.

        Sendmail doesn't receive mail, that's what I need to do.

        • Woet November 23, 2016

          It absolutely does receive mail if you configure it to do so.

          • menasheh November 23, 2016

            When there is no server? It shouldn't be nearly as complicated as it is. Seems to be an area of open source that's so neglected.

jesin November 24, 2016

Instead of maintaining your own mail server sign up with MXroute, it is a mail hosting service run by Jarland, the platform support specialist of DO. They have a 40GB storage promo that only costs $40 Biennially - https://billing.mxroute.com/announcements.php?id=81. But note that MXroute is not affiliated to DO.

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