daknetworks.com

For the past 10 years, I've been running my own email server for a company of 750 accounts. It was built in my spare bedroom as a hobby and it intrigued my desire to learn. It worked very well and saved a ton of money, so I implemented it.

The Reasons

One of the reasons I did this was strictly control. I could easily control accounts, look into situations and make corrections if needed.

Another reason I did this was because of detailed information I could get by looking at the log files. Like above, I could easily look into the logs to see what's happening in real-time and didn't have to put up with cryptic or erroneous messages.

Another primary reason was speed. I could make changes via command line faster than most people could change channels on their TV. A simple command line and BAM!, the info I needed was there.

The last primary reason I did was because I trusted myself rather than someone else. I knew that as long as the hardware was working correctly, the Centos email-server would be the energizer bunny of the rack.

The Downfall

The downfall of all of this is actually running it. And everything that comes with it. The technical aspect was the easy part. As I said, most Centos systems are rock solid stable. The tough part is the people. When email doesn't go through, they automatically think that there is something wrong with the system. Especially when business is on the line. It's easier to blame the system rather than themselves. Never do they think or admit that they could have made a mistake.

The reality is much different. If this 10 year project has taught me anything it's that people make a massive amount of mistakes. Massive. Let me say it again: MASSIVE!

The Human Factor

Telling people that the email didn't go through because they spelled the email address incorrectly was nearly a daily occurrence. It went like this... They spelled the name incorrectly. They received a bounce message. They assumed that something is wrong with the email server. They complained to me. Never once did they actually look at the bounce message and read what it said.

>> NO USER BY THAT NAME

"Oh, I must have spelled the email address incorrectly. Let me try again and spell it correctly." Were never words that anyone said. It was always, "I need this email to go through!!! There is something wrong with the system!!! How can we operate like this!!!"

When you tell them the email address incorrect, they call you a smart-@$$ and grumble as they walk away. Really I have better things to do than spend my adult years telling other adults that they can't spell.

Spam

Then comes the big issue: SPAM. I've nearly devoted my life to rid my accounts of spam. It's been a back and forth battle. There were some days that I thought I would simply pull the plug and quit. But I stuck in there and eventually an updated RPM would come through fixing the problem for awhile until the process started again.

In recent years, the server has sometimes nearly choked on itself fighting the contents of messages but it kept pushing through.

Blacklisting

While blocking other blacklisted servers is a good idea in my mind it is obviously not good for the people trying to get messages. In my mind, the complaints sounded like this, "My friend has a GoDaddy account that she bought the other night for a dollar and the account is on a server that sending out millions of spam messages advertising pharmaceuticals. It's obviously black-listed for very good reason as most, if not all, blacklisted servers are but I need her messages to come through. Can you fix it?"

So I'm supposed to adjust my system because theirs is obviously broken.

Example

Here's the progression of an actual complaint taken verbatim:

THEM: "I've had repeated complaints of emails getting denied, kicked back or undeliverable when people use my [removed].com address. Am about to lose a new listing because of... What's the problem!?"

ME: "They are on a blacklist. We don't receive email from blacklisted servers."

THEM: "I contacted my friend. Here is what he said..."

"Your email server uses a German blacklist database provider that looks to be shady at best. The IP address [blah, blah, blah] is owned by Network Solutions who hosts one of the largest email systems. Any reputable black list service would contact Network Solutions directly before blacklisting one of their email servers seeing how blacklisting a Network Solution server would cause a great deal of email to be 'bounced' or undelivered to your system. I recommend removing this black list from your mail server immediately. I would also recommend using an ironport or some other reputable SPAM filtering hardware over a hosted database look up. If you do decide to use a hosted service to reduce SPAM, definitely choose a more reputable company than UCEPROTECT...."

ME: "The server is on more than 5 different blacklists. They can't all be wrong. There is obviously an issue with the other server."

THEM: "...the email addresses [sic] are famous for being undependable. (Just ask [removed] from [removed company], [removed], [removed] and more)... Many [removed] agents use their own email addresses due to the poor workings of [removed] addresses."

ME: "Their email is hosted on Unified Layer. One of Unified Layer's servers was behaving badly. Consequently, that server was put on an external BLACKLIST that we utilize. This blocked all email from that particular server. Unified Layer has full time staff to handle issues like this and they fixed the issue rather quickly so everything should be ok. It is a common issue with Unified Layer just search on google here: https://www.google.com/search?q=unified+layer+blacklist"

THEM: "Our regular [removed] emails are not all coming in. I did not receive multiple emails from [removed] a couple days ago, and apparently our new client (who is about to list a $1m+ with us) is being rejected. Please fix asap, as he is very techy [sic] and if we are not receiving his emails..."

ME: "He's so techy [sic] that he's using Unified Layer as his email. Not a good sign. They are black listed again. Look at the 17 million results when you search for it via google."

THEM: "If [removed], [removed], [removed] and I (repeatedly)are all kicked back from [removed]- we have a problem. I know other agents have addressed this same concern - answer always comes back that it is not [removed]'s issue. Yet our ability to receive necessary email continues to be compromised. More than likely, this very message will be kicked back. This is beyond frustrating - has been going on for 2+ years now with no success in remedying this crippling situation. It is not just 1 or 1 isolated incidents. Too many senders are being rejected."

ME: "Thanks for contacting me. You can help me by contacting me if you have a particular issue. You need to let me know what the issue is and what bounce message is. In other words, if someone sends you a message and they receive a bounce message, find out what the bounce is and send it to me. I'll be glad to look at it and point out where the issue is and make adjustments if necessary.

Can I make adjustments on technical information that is never sent to me? No I can't. Which is why I ask for your help.

They don't all get kicked back. Unified had a problem with one of their servers. They fixed it as they should. You can see from the info below that Barracuda agrees that this is an issue outside of [removed].

Nobody has sent me any bounce messages from [removed] but [removed] and I email each other on a regular basis. In fact we traded emails over the weekend.

Nobody has sent me any messages from [removed].

Concerning your email, you might have sent a message in the past but not recently. Again, if you are receiving a bounce message, let me know what it is."

Boring

The above is boring. That is my point. It's boring and pointless. They are trying to convince me that something is wrong on my end. I am trying to convince them to use a good email service like gmail so something similar that costs less than $5 per month.

The Switch

Today, I put an end to all of it. I switched over to a cloud service. It came down to Gmail or Microsoft Hosted Exchange. I chose Hosted Exchange because I don't like where Gmail is headed with the funny and ultimately too small compose message box on their web site. Yes, that is really why I did't choose them.

The total project is going to cost 50K per year or 500K of the same period I was doing it for free.

The biggest relief is that I don't have to do it anymore. If something is wrong, it's their fault. Do you think I will still get complaints?