Re: SMTP servers
On Thu, Jan 02, 2025 at 06:28:47PM +0800, jeremy ardley wrote:
I have been running my own inbound and outbound mail servers for over
30 years using ISP connections. The only time I ran into trouble was
with gmail recently and only because of mismatched SPF records for a
domain I host.
You're lucky, and your ISP is IMO atypical. Most ISP dialup
(consumer/dynamic) IP ranges are identified and blocked by various
anti-spam filters. Many ISPs also block outbound SMTP. My ISP does both,
and provides (provided? I haven't tried it a decade) an outbound SMTP
server which rewrote the Date: header (because why not), making it
impossible to use DKIM at all. Static IPs can usually be "unlocked", but
it's another hoop to jump through and static IPs often have a
significant cost premium over dynamic IPs. Even if your ISP lets you use
your IP for outbound SMTP, if it was previously used by a spammer you
can forget it. For anyone just starting out I absolutely agree that
running a mail server isn't worth the effort. For those of us who have
been running one for decades, it at least provides a nice excuse to
periodically complain about what the internet has become.
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