Update (2025-04-23)

I managed to setup the server. The emails are being properly sent without any issue. But I do need the reputed mail servers to recognize my email server as valid and not spammy. And for that I need your help. Please send email to sameer.dahal@crewvator.com

Setting up my own mail server

I have been working trying to setup a custom mail server for the whole day today. And i’m stuck. And i don’t think it is easily resolvable kind of stuck. I am stuck literally waiting for my VPS provider.

What am I trying to achieve?

• Some of you may know that I have been trying to work on my own product : Crewvator. And now I wanted to cold email some people. To seem authentic and serious, I have decided to send emails using the crewvator domain. None of the gmail shenanigans.
• Google workspace and Microsoft Office might be better but they’re still too expensive for me right now (Specially that I have decided to hire someone). I am actually thinking about getting Microsoft Office Business Basic after a while. But right now I don’t need it.

The problem

• Emails are hard. The monopoly set by giants have made every part of email self-hosting soo hard.
• DKIM, DMARC, SPF, SSL, even DANE to ensure that your mail isn’t flagged as SPAM by the email giants.
• having a small VPS running tons of software natively and trying not to use docker is much more pain. If i was planning to use docker, things would’ve been soo simple. there is already an image for it that just works with minimal configuration. https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver
• I want something running barebones on my machine to preserve little bit of resources I have available

The helping hand

Thank god someone created https://workaround.org/ispmail-bookworm/ . It has been a great help to learn everything about mail and make sure my setup is perfect.

Why in the world do i try to DIY everything

• I am a cheapstake
• Don’t wanna get vendorlocked in the future
• I have enough energy to learn stuff

I believe everyone should try building their own full-scale system at least once. Don’t rely too heavily on cloud services… take the time to understand what happens behind the scenes and get a sense of the actual costs involved. That said, email servers are the one exception; setting them up is just too much of a hassle but still kudos if you do it.