Self hosted Zimbra Mail Server - looking for other options

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leonroy

Member
Oct 6, 2015
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Been using Zimbra mail server for many years, but think it's finally time to move on. The product's getting creaky and it's clear there's not a lot of development going into it.

We have a Synology Rackstation and we know our way around Windows Server.

Anyone have any recommendations on email software? Synology apparently have one. Of course Microsoft have a good one too. What's the go to for good quality, self-hosted email software these days?
 

_alex

Active Member
Jan 28, 2016
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Bavaria / Germany
depends what features and level of support you need.
iredmail seems to be quite good to handle without too much cli involved.
 

herby

Active Member
Aug 18, 2013
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I've run iredmail at home since 2013 and it works fine for me, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to administer in production for a bunch of users; I only have a handful myself.

It seems to be updated fairly frequently, but patching it can be a little annoying. To patch you're kind of following a checklist of packages to update and config files and databases to edit. If you get behind by a few "releases" it can suck to catch up.

The initial install on the other hand is quite simple if you aren't getting fancy. For the vanilla install you run through a simple install wizard and then a have few config files to edit for your certs and what not.

For me it's an easy way to install a Postfix, Dovecot, Roundcube and some web server and database without worrying about messing it up.
 

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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Biggest issue with self hosted is all the spam filtering etc, maybe you can keep it simply and front end the synology email with an external filtering product ? (Having sail that it’s not super effective)

O365 seems to be the best value for money if you use MS office and you get some sharepoint etc to use for collaboration.
 

dswartz

Active Member
Jul 14, 2011
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I'm using postfix+debian+rspamd on a debian 8 host. Webmail using roundcube+bitnami lampstack.
 

_alex

Active Member
Jan 28, 2016
866
97
28
Bavaria / Germany
i also run postfix + dovecot in a customized environment, backed by ldap, with mimedefang that does some magic, amavis and a utm for filtering/tagging.
but guess the op doesn't want to keep such a thing up and running.

can rspamd be integrated with ldap, for i.e. decide by recipients/recipient domain on the spam-action and also thresholds for the scores?
 

dswartz

Active Member
Jul 14, 2011
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that i'm not sure about. you'd have to look around on the rspamd site. i seem to recall seeing per-user stuff...
 

_alex

Active Member
Jan 28, 2016
866
97
28
Bavaria / Germany
just had a look, looks like there is no native ldap support for per-user settings :(
maybe via lua, but think i don't want this - who knows if this will ever work ...
 

epicurean

Active Member
Sep 29, 2014
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is it possible to run iredmail as a docker in xpenology/Synology 6? What kind of hardware specs would be required?
 

casperghst42

Member
Sep 14, 2015
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I've been using fastmail.com (formerly known as fastmail.fm), they allow domain hosting, with various kinds of accounts / pricing. I am not sure if they have an admin api like soap or rest (soap was mentioned in 2003, but thats all I can find).


I used to have (still have but it's dormant) a Google Domain account which I created back when it was free, but they changed some of the privacy stuff, but it's was good for testing some of my work stuff when I needed it (identity management ... I do nerdy stuff for a living), but I don't like Google looking over my shoulder... so I keep it so that I have access to the Domain API's ...

The biggest problem with running your own server (which I did for years) is that it's a lot of work, and if your connection drops you'll have no mail... and that you'll have no one to scream at when it's not working.
 

levifig

Member
Nov 27, 2017
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levifig.com
I've been using fastmail.com (formerly known as fastmail.fm), they allow domain hosting, with various kinds of accounts / pricing. I am not sure if they have an admin api like soap or rest (soap was mentioned in 2003, but thats all I can find).


I used to have (still have but it's dormant) a Google Domain account which I created back when it was free, but they changed some of the privacy stuff, but it's was good for testing some of my work stuff when I needed it (identity management ... I do nerdy stuff for a living), but I don't like Google looking over my shoulder... so I keep it so that I have access to the Domain API's ...

The biggest problem with running your own server (which I did for years) is that it's a lot of work, and if your connection drops you'll have no mail... and that you'll have no one to scream at when it's not working.
Exactly same boat here. Fastmail is a fantastic service (I actually prefer their web app over pretty much any other) and the cost is fair, especially considering I don't spend a single minute per month making sure it's working. I want total flexibility with my VPSes: changing hosts is SUPER easy when you don't have to carry along email accounts, servers, etc… ;)

Of course this doesn't answer the OP's question directly, but I can also tell you I have searched quite a bit for solid, stable, affordable self-hosted email solutions and have yet to find one that competes with my current Fastmail setup. In the cases of organizations, I simply tell them to pay Fastmail or, in rare cases, Microsoft (in case they need Office apps, which makes Office 365 plans a pretty solid and relatively affordable solution).
 
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