Hello. Let’s say I want to selfhost an email server (smtp + imap) that only will be used to receive email.

I only will send email internally (from my domain to my domain) and receive from 3rd parties.

Should I setup DKIM, DMARC, SPF and reverse IP lookup?

To be honest, I’m having a bit of hard time understanding the madness of email authentication. So I can’t figure it out by myself if those mechanisms are needed in my case.

I haven’t deployed anything, but probably will use Stalwart. It looks like it’s easy to deploy. Is there any other beginner-friendly email service I should read about?

Thanks!

  • @69420English
    2•9 months ago

    Some servers blacklist you even if you have DMARC, SPF, DKIM, DNS setup perfectly, but your IP is in a block of addresses that may or may not have been hosted by the same ISP of some unrelated server that was possibly compromised 10 years before you even set up the mail server. Ask me how I know.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•9 months ago

      Some servers blacklist you no matter what you do because you’re not a big player in the e-mail space… Outlook. Fuck Outlook. M365 doesn’t do that though.

      Also the idea that reverse IPs are needed (in practice) when SPF, DKIM and DMARC are in use is insane. I have literally told you my public key and signed the e-mail. It’s me. You don’t need to check the damn PTR!