Hello everyone, nice to meet you all.
This question was probably asked around here but is it really possible to be your own mail provider?
I think I’m experienced enough when it comes to homelabbing that I could take on something like this.
I THINK im aware of the technicalities, I did some research but it still begs the question, is it really worth it? would it be hard to build up a reputation so that your emails don’t land in spam folders?
I host my own mail, imap and authorative dns servers for my domains for more than 25 years now. I like it and seldom had any problems. I have two root servers in two different countries for that. Costs around 2x50€/month, but the load from said services is minimal. The servers also host gitlab, nextcloud and other services, most of them only available via vpn (eg. No public ssh). Every service runs encapsulated in it’s own vm with strict firewall rules and their own internal network. This makes migrating to another server relatively smooth.
I would recommend if you know what you’re doing and have fun doing it. Keeping services up to date takes sometimes a little time, mostly when there is a distribution update with configuration changes.
I do not know what “Experienced enough in homelabbing” means, but running mail and dns is not homelabbing. It comes with responsibilities. Running an open relay hurts other people. You also need two mail servers each with a static public ip adress from a different ip range and you must be able to add their public signing keys to your domains dns record.
I’d say if your willing to invest time and money because you like the technology and have fun doing it: absolutely go for it, if you think it’s a fire and forget weekend project then save your time…