In reply to a post by RobertoS:

too am paranoid about google. I would not under any circumstances entrust my normal email to them or Hotmail or Yahoo. I don't really see that as answering the question.

Ok. Would it not concern you if a bored employee of tsohost decide to have a gander at your mailbox though? Would you ever know?

Though I'm very hazy about how long sending servers will retry, and what happens if the address is in use elsewhere in the meantime?

SMTP servers are configured (or should be) to expect communication failure. Typically, if a message cannot be delivered the server will try again after 15 minutes; next time it will wait for 30 minutes, and so on. After enough failed attempts the server decides that the mail is undeliverable and returns it to the sender. Typically this will be after a number of days, which is far longer than this sort of DNS problem would last for.

If there does happen to be an SMTP server on the computer that now has the IP address (pretty unlikely) it will only be configured to accept mail for users in its domain, not that of the addressee. The mail won't be misdelivered, but it could be bounced back to the sender.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Privacy, reliability, security.

Meaningless, unless you explain in what way.

I thought it was obvious, but...

Privacy: Some may want their mail to not be stored on a remote server where others might access it. See the e-mail bit regarding data retention. Whether this applies solely to e-mails stored on ISP servers, or on all e-mail traffic passing through their network, someone else can enlighten me.

Reliability: A local mail server rather than a remote one will have less of a demand on it, so in theory will be less likely to fail. Weaknesses of in-house, as you put it are not something that can be addressed by residential users as there is no SLA (in many small business setups too). A repetitive problem will generally result in a customer leaving, rather than seeking compensation (which will be unlikely).

Security: Different from privacy. ISP mail servers will be higher profile targets for physical and virtual attacks, be they DDOS, spam and the rest. A local server will have a far smaller online footprint and be less susceptible to targeted attacks. Additionally, local e-mail filtering systems will be better configured to the local userbase, rather than using an ISP filtering system, which may block legit mail, or allow illegitimate mail (useless in other words).


It's all relative of course. Some folk are paranoid. Some are possibly exchanging mail with people on the fringes of the law. Some might just be geeky and enjoy the exercise, or they might have setup a system for a number of people in the house.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

But there are applications where static IP addresses are much more preferable, such as running a mail server. I don't think running a mail server is the sole preserve of businesses anymore, for privacy reasons an "in-home" mail server makes quite a lot of sense.

Indeed, I run one. After various experiences I'd far rather do that. It's why I won't be going to Infinity but will choose a different FTTC provider.

In reply to a post by AEP:

How much work is needed to make the mail server work if the IP address changes?

It should be automatic; just a question of waiting for a DNS change to propogate; probably in the region of 24 hours maximum for the average TTL.

24 hours would be too long. I know from my own experience that Amazon will give up sending an email after 12 hours. Unless it's changed in the last year or two.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by AEP:

If you're running a mail server, you really need to have your router on all the time. So it doesn't really matter whether your address is static or dynamic.

Not everyone has adsl uptimes running into weeks though. And dynamic IP address ranges are commonly blacklisted.

And very likely (as with Be) have port 25 blocked.

In that case I would say that Amazon's mail servers are misconfigured. Wherever I have worked the mail server would retry for at least two days.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Out of 19 million broadband users in the UK - how many know how to setup a mail server, let alone have the desire to run one.

It might be more than you think.

I have to admit that in the years I've been here I've never seen the question of why anyone should run their own mail server discussed.

Personally, I haven't a clue why one should do so, but can see (I think) good reason not to.

Anyone care to enlighten me as to their advantages? And disadvantages.

Put simply:I don't use any anti-spam software but I get zero spam(*).

Running my own server gives me greater control and allows me to give every contact their own address without having to actually do anything. The only time I have to modify the configuration is to block an incoming address that has gone bad. It's a great system that has served me well for over eight years and whilst it can be done using third party servers it's less elegant and usually incurs an additional cost. For a while I used my domain provider's server and had my mail server pull using POP3. Unfortunately that means I only get email on a schedule unless I want to spam the remote server with POP3 requests every five minutes

But other than that I have found reliability and recoverability to be better. My server failed a couple of months ago (a rare example of Windows update wrecking it). Everything was back up within two hours. By contrast the other servers I have used over the years have not come back for several hours especially if the failure occurs late in the working day or at the weekend.

But installing a mail server is actually pretty easy. I know of two Windows packages and they have installation Wizards that mean you just have to answer a few questions. I think they both even prompt you to contact your ISP to have the reverse DNS set up correctly and to create the MX records.

(*)My mail server gets plenty of spam. Over a dozen an hour last time I looked but incoming mail addresses have to meet a basic 'template' which stops random junk and then the address has to not be on the blacklist.

Edited by Andrue (Thu 18-Aug-11 15:45:40)

In reply to a post by AEP:

In that case I would say that Amazon's mail servers are misconfigured. Wherever I have worked the mail server would retry for at least two days.

I agree - mine at home is set to keep trying for a week although the delay on the last attempt is a couple of days. But misconfiguration or not - Amazon is a mail source that matters. I got so sick of adding independent shops to my blacklist that I've pretty much given up on them. I just buy everything through Amazon. Their mail system obfuscates the contact address so even their resellers don't know my address.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

It's all relative of course. Some folk are paranoid. Some are possibly exchanging mail with people on the fringes of the law. Some might just be geeky and enjoy the exercise, or they might have setup a system for a number of people in the house.

In my case originally it was because I thought it would be 'cool'. That was back when I thought it was 'hands on' though. I soon discovered that once installed and configured I almost never had anything to do with it so the geek effect soon fades

But I do like the control and since I used to be in data recovery I know how to ensure I good disaster recovery procedures. It's not something I have to do but it's something I prefer and would just consider moving back to third party provision to be a step backward.

Edit:One other thing - I can choose what the limits are. At present my inbox will accept any amount and size of email up to 850MB. That's because it will be stored on a 1TB drive that already has about 150GB on it. So feel free to email me a CD image if you want. It won't bother my sysadmin With advanced warning I can span the inbox over to another disk and increase the limit to 2.8TB so you can prolly email me DVD images if you ask me first

Edited by Andrue (Thu 18-Aug-11 15:53:40)