I would like to someday run my own personal email server (preferably running linux) and I was wondering, how powerful of a computer would I need? Since it would only be me using it, it can't require that much to run right?
Not much, but you do probably want reliable HW and a heap of storage.
Note that your ISP will be the limiting factor - you want a static IP, ensure port 25 in/out is unblocked, and that you aren't on a blacklist for spam, as most residential connections are. (Your ISP will also likely forbid this in their ToS.) You'll probably want to upgrade to a business line for statics/open port 25/allowed to run mail servers.
Note that your ISP will be the limiting factor - you want a static IP, ensure port 25 in/out is unblocked, and that you aren't on a blacklist for spam, as most residential connections are. (Your ISP will also likely forbid this in their ToS.) You'll probably want to upgrade to a business line for statics/open port 25/allowed to run mail servers.
Dual core would be fine. Since you'll be running Linux and it's only you, 4ish GB should be fine for RAM. Storage just depends on how much email you want to save. I get 50 GB from Office 365 and it's more than enough.
Like ampharos said, the biggest problem will be your internet connection. If you have a dynamic IP, you'll likely wind up on a lot of blacklists and ISPs love to block 25. Honestly, keeping yourself off blacklists and dealing with spam is the hardest part of running a mail server. If you can't get a business line / static IP, then you could look into getting a cheap VPS and either running the mail server on it directly or just use it as the gateway to your internal mail server.
Alternatively, you could look into a spam filtering service. Something like app river, proofpoint, or Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. There's also some free ones out there I believe, but I haven't used them so your mileage may vary. Basically these will act as your mail gateway, all inbound and outbound mail will go through them first so you don't have to worry about blacklists. You can configure them to use alternative ports when talking to your server, so you wouldn't need to worry about your ISP blocking 25.
Pricing isn't usually too bad, especially if it's just one mailbox and you don't need fancy features like archiving and encryption.
I'm actually been struggling to get mine working, I'll try to get to unblock port 25 by today. But yeah, a core duo or what ever you have in mind would work. Its not that very cpu intensive as one may think. Like BlueSun pointed out, 4GB should work just fine. As well as a big ass hard drive. (Depending on how you plan to use this server.) One thing I can't stress enough is that you should get a Linux OS that you know, and has great general support of users that have installed email servers on that system. As my server runs Open Indiana (Solaris 11.3), and you don't get those fancy install scripts that you may see on Debian/Ubuntu..
Dual core would be fine. Since you'll be running Linux and it's only you, 4ish GB should be fine for RAM. Storage just depends on how much email you want to save. I get 50 GB from Office 365 and it's more than enough.
Like ampharos said, the biggest problem will be your internet connection. If you have a dynamic IP, you'll likely wind up on a lot of blacklists and ISPs love to block 25. Honestly, keeping yourself off blacklists and dealing with spam is the hardest part of running a mail server. If you can't get a business line / static IP, then you could look into getting a cheap VPS and either running the mail server on it directly or just use it as the gateway to your internal mail server.
If it's the case that my ISP won't allow it, then I might have to learn how to set up a gateway but I also still kind of have to learn how to set up the mail server. But than again, my main goal is that I want my own mail server (for privacy reasons) and I don't know if trusting a 3rd party to act as a gateway would go against my goal.
Alternatively, you could look into a spam filtering service. Something like app river, proofpoint, or Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. There's also some free ones out there I believe, but I haven't used them so your mileage may vary. Basically these will act as your mail gateway, all inbound and outbound mail will go through them first so you don't have to worry about blacklists. You can configure them to use alternative ports when talking to your server, so you wouldn't need to worry about your ISP blocking 25.
I'm actually been struggling to get mine working, I'll try to get to unblock port 25 by today. But yeah, a core duo or what ever you have in mind would work. Its not that very cpu intensive as one may think. Like BlueSun pointed out, 4GB should work just fine. As well as a big ass hard drive. (Depending on how you plan to use this server.) One thing I can't stress enough is that you should get a Linux OS that you know, and has great general support of users that have installed email servers on that system. As my server runs Open Indiana (Solaris 11.3), and you don't get those fancy install scripts that you may see on Debian/Ubuntu..
All mail will go in and out of port 25 with no encryption on the wire. You can look into S/MIME or PGP for encrypting mail contents, but it won't encrypt metadata.
However, about privacy: if you ever mail with someone that uses Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc your mail can still be read from their end. To work around this, encrypt with PGP. However, this doesn't stop them from collecting your metadata (how much you email with who, length of the emails, etc). On the other hand, unless the connection between your servers is insecure (and even then only the servers are known, and they can have multiple users), if you mail with someone else who has his own server they won't have that.
Keep in mind though, hosting email is quite difficult, especially with all antispam these days.
Comments
Note that your ISP will be the limiting factor - you want a static IP, ensure port 25 in/out is unblocked, and that you aren't on a blacklist for spam, as most residential connections are. (Your ISP will also likely forbid this in their ToS.) You'll probably want to upgrade to a business line for statics/open port 25/allowed to run mail servers.
So by not much, like a dual-core CPU would be enough?
Ok, good to know.
Like ampharos said, the biggest problem will be your internet connection. If you have a dynamic IP, you'll likely wind up on a lot of blacklists and ISPs love to block 25. Honestly, keeping yourself off blacklists and dealing with spam is the hardest part of running a mail server. If you can't get a business line / static IP, then you could look into getting a cheap VPS and either running the mail server on it directly or just use it as the gateway to your internal mail server.
Alternatively, you could look into a spam filtering service. Something like app river, proofpoint, or Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. There's also some free ones out there I believe, but I haven't used them so your mileage may vary. Basically these will act as your mail gateway, all inbound and outbound mail will go through them first so you don't have to worry about blacklists. You can configure them to use alternative ports when talking to your server, so you wouldn't need to worry about your ISP blocking 25.
Pricing isn't usually too bad, especially if it's just one mailbox and you don't need fancy features like archiving and encryption.
Also have you looked into squirrelmail.org?
If it's the case that my ISP won't allow it, then I might have to learn how to set up a gateway but I also still kind of have to learn how to set up the mail server. But than again, my main goal is that I want my own mail server (for privacy reasons) and I don't know if trusting a 3rd party to act as a gateway would go against my goal.
That would go against my goal of having privacy.
Yeah, I don't know which distro I would use.
I haven't really looked into anything yet, and I won't be doing this for a while.
However, about privacy: if you ever mail with someone that uses Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc your mail can still be read from their end. To work around this, encrypt with PGP. However, this doesn't stop them from collecting your metadata (how much you email with who, length of the emails, etc). On the other hand, unless the connection between your servers is insecure (and even then only the servers are known, and they can have multiple users), if you mail with someone else who has his own server they won't have that.
Keep in mind though, hosting email is quite difficult, especially with all antispam these days.