[TriLUG] recommendations for on-line Linux VM

[David Both via TriLUG]

I've been running my own email server for more than 25 years. I've had a
number of ISPs and never had a problem. I just told them what I wanted.

My current service is ATT Gb fiber which I've now had for about 4 or 5
years. The installer was a gamer familiar with Linux, and knew exactly
what I wanted.

We talked about blocking and he said that all blocking is performed in
the local router. The admin ID and password (yes, truly random) are
printed on the label. He turned off SMTP and IMAP blocking so I could
access remotely. He showed me what he was doing at every step of the
way. He put the router in pass-through mode so no blocks in either
direction.

Of course I have my own Linux router next in line which is where my real
protection is located.

Not all installers are that cool or knowledgeable, but just knowing that
SMTP blocking is in the local router is, um, liberating.

I hope this helps.


-- 

*********************************************************
David P. Both
He/Him/His

I'm no longer on the corrupted social media sites.
You can only find me on BlueSky, https://bsky.app/
at @linuxgeek46.bsky.social

*********************************************************
The value of any software lies in its usefulness
not in its price.

— Linus Torvalds
*********************************************************

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025, shay walters via TriLUG wrote:

> Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:28:13
> From: shay walters via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
> Reply-To: shay walters <shaywalters at gmail.com>,
>     Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> To: Joseph Mack NA3T <jmack at trilug.org>,
>     Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] recommendations for on-line Linux VM
> 
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 6:52 AM Joseph Mack NA3T via TriLUG
> <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>
> > I'm not planning on having my own e-mail server,
> > although it would be nice to have one. It would
> > seem that the big tech companies are making sure
> > that only they can do e-mail, by squeezing out the
> > small players by assigning reputation in blocks.
> > I would have to take them on and deal with
> > their requirements.
>
> I used to run the email for the company I worked for and we had been
> handling our own email for so long that we passed the "reputation"
> criteria, but the dual problems of hacking and spamming had grown to
> the point that it was taking a full-time person (me) to deal with
> incoming email.  It became a simple financial and logistical decision
> to offload the handling of email to a third party, and although I
> wasn't happy about it at the time, it definitely turned out to be the
> right choice.  Fortunately, we never had anyone hack in and take over
> an email account and start sending out bad email.  I can't imagine the
> damage control that would have been required to recover from that.  I
> have, since that time, set up a personal email server a couple of
> times, and it has been basically worthless because if you're running
> at a VM provider, you're almost entirely blocked from sending or
> receiving email by the major players because so many scammers and
> hackers use those facilities.  (That reputation thing.)  And you can't
> really self-host email because pretty much every residential ISP
> blocks SMTP, and for good reasons.
>    I guess my point is that it's not that the big guys are blocking
> the small guys from having email servers, it's just that they have to
> deal with the floods of bad email out there, and if you don't have a
> pre-existing good reputation on your IP block, there's really no way
> to establish it, so it has become a defacto lockout of anyone who
> isn't already a major email provider.
>
> -Shay
>