📧 Self-Hosted SMTP Email Server – tyfsadik.org

A complete, production-ready self-hosted SMTP email server implementation for the domain tyfsadik.org. This setup ensures secure, reliable email delivery with enterprise-grade authentication protocols and security measures.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS server
Domain name (tyfsadik.org)
Static IP address
Root access to the server

✨ Features

SMTP Service - Postfix with TLS/SSL encryption
IMAP/POP3 Service - Dovecot with Maildir storage
Email Authentication - SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured
Security - Fail2ban, UFW firewall, SSL certificates
Spam Protection - Basic RBL checks and filtering
Reliable Delivery - Proper DNS configuration and reverse DNS

⚙️ Installation Steps

1. System Preparation

# Update system and install dependencies
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y postfix dovecot-core dovecot-imapd dovecot-pop3d \
    openssl opendkim opendkim-tools ufw fail2ban mailutils

2. Basic Configuration

Postfix Main Configuration (/etc/postfix/main.cf):

sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

Add/update these settings:

myhostname = mail.tyfsadik.org
mydomain = tyfsadik.org
myorigin = $mydomain
inet_interfaces = all
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain
home_mailbox = Maildir/
smtpd_use_tls = yes
smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/mailserver.crt
smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/ssl/private/mailserver.key

3. SSL Certificate Generation

# Create SSL directories
sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/private
sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/certs

# Generate self-signed certificate
sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 \
    -keyout /etc/ssl/private/mailserver.key \
    -out /etc/ssl/certs/mailserver.crt \
    -subj "/C=US/ST=State/L=City/O=Organization/CN=mail.tyfsadik.org"

4. Dovecot Configuration

sudo nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

Basic configuration:

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
protocols = imap pop3
ssl = yes
ssl_cert =


            
            
                🌐 DNS Configuration
                
                Essential DNS Records:
                
                    
                        
                            Type
                            Name
                            Value
                            Priority
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            A
                            mail.tyfsadik.org
                            YOUR_SERVER_IP
                            -
                        
                        
                            MX
                            @
                            mail.tyfsadik.org
                            10
                        
                        
                            TXT
                            @
                            v=spf1 mx ~all
                            -
                        
                        
                            TXT
                            _dmarc
                            v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:admin@tyfsadik.org
                            -
                        
                    
                
                
                DKIM Setup
                # Install and configure OpenDKIM
sudo apt install -y opendkim opendkim-tools

# Generate DKIM keys
sudo mkdir -p /etc/opendkim/keys/tyfsadik.org
sudo opendkim-genkey -D /etc/opendkim/keys/tyfsadik.org/ -d tyfsadik.org -s mail
sudo chown opendkim:opendkim /etc/opendkim/keys/tyfsadik.org/mail.private

# View DKIM record for DNS
sudo cat /etc/opendkim/keys/tyfsadik.org/mail.txt
            
            
            
                🔒 Security Configuration
                
                Firewall Setup
                # Configure UFW firewall
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 25/tcp    # SMTP
sudo ufw allow 587/tcp   # Submission
sudo ufw allow 465/tcp   # SMTPS
sudo ufw allow 993/tcp   # IMAPS
sudo ufw allow 995/tcp   # POP3S
sudo ufw enable
                
                Fail2ban Protection
                sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
                Add these configurations:
                [postfix]
enabled = true
port = smtp,465,submission
filter = postfix
logpath = /var/log/mail.log
maxretry = 3
bantime = 3600

[dovecot]
enabled = true
port = pop3,pop3s,imap,imaps
filter = dovecot
logpath = /var/log/mail.log
maxretry = 3
bantime = 3600
            
            
            
                🧪 Testing Your Setup
                
                Test SMTP Service
                # Test SMTP connectivity
telnet mail.tyfsadik.org 25

# Send test email
echo "Test message from SMTP server" | mail -s "Server Test" your-email@gmail.com
                
                Verify DNS Records
                # Check MX record
dig MX tyfsadik.org +short

# Check SPF record
dig TXT tyfsadik.org +short

# Check if ports are open
nmap -p 25,587,465,993,995 mail.tyfsadik.org
                
                Service Management
                # Restart all services
sudo systemctl restart postfix dovecot opendkim fail2ban

# Enable on boot
sudo systemctl enable postfix dovecot opendkim fail2ban

# Check status
sudo systemctl status postfix dovecot
            
            
            
                📊 Monitoring & Maintenance
                
                Check Mail Logs
                # Real-time log monitoring
sudo tail -f /var/log/mail.log

# Check for errors
sudo grep -i error /var/log/mail.log

# Monitor mail queue
mailq
                
                Backup Script
                #!/bin/bash
# scripts/backup-mail.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backup/mail-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup configurations
cp -r /etc/postfix $BACKUP_DIR/
cp -r /etc/dovecot $BACKUP_DIR/
cp -r /etc/opendkim $BACKUP_DIR/

# Backup mail directories
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/maildir.tar.gz /var/mail/

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR"
            
            
            
                🐛 Troubleshooting Common Issues
                
                Emails Not Sending
                # Check Postfix configuration
sudo postfix check
sudo postconf -n

# Check if Postfix is running
sudo systemctl status postfix

# Check mail queue
sudo mailq
                
                Authentication Problems
                # Check Dovecot status
sudo systemctl status dovecot

# Test authentication
telnet localhost 993

# Check authentication logs
sudo grep "authentication" /var/log/mail.log
                
                DNS Issues
                # Verify all DNS records
dig MX tyfsadik.org
dig A mail.tyfsadik.org
dig TXT tyfsadik.org
dig TXT _dmarc.tyfsadik.org
            
            
            
                📞 Support
                
                    Email: taki@tyfsadik.org
                    Domain: tyfsadik.org
                
            
            
            
                📄 License
                MIT License - feel free to use this configuration for your own projects.
            
            
            
                ⭐ If this project helped you, please consider giving it a star on GitHub!
            
            
            
                
            
            
            
                
                    
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                    © 2018 - 2025, TYF Sadik. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Type	Name	Value	Priority
A	`mail.tyfsadik.org`	`YOUR_SERVER_IP`	-
MX	`@`	`mail.tyfsadik.org`	10
TXT	`@`	`v=spf1 mx ~all`	-
TXT	`_dmarc`	`v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:admin@tyfsadik.org`	-