[GLLUG] Advice about my Freeance work

[John Winters]

On 25/10/2019 20:25, nickmount91 via GLLUG wrote:> Hi,
[snip]
 > I can upgrade my email to the professional version and associate it with
 > a domain. Would that be a good start? Then i can spend some time
 > installing an email server, learning about it and then use it for real.
 > Does this sound a good plan? Are there any alternatives?

Hi Nick,

If you want to learn stuff then setting up your own domain and email 
server sounds like a good idea.

Domain names are really very cheap.  Personally I use Mythic Beasts to 
register my domains, but there are plenty of similar around.  I would 
avoid using providers which do hyper-cheap stuff (£1 / year or the like) 
because they tend to put restrictions on what you can do.  If you use a 
proper provider then it's totally your domain and you can control every 
aspect of it.

For the e-mail server, your main requirement is for a fixed IP address. 
If you use a decent ISP (hint, hint: Andrews and Arnold) you may already 
have a fixed IP address.  If not then your best bet might be to use a 
Virtual Private Server (VPS) from BitFolk or similar.

Don't forget to set up DKIM and SPF on your mail server.  Without that, 
your outgoing e-mails are more liable to be categorized as spam.  If you 
have IPv6 connectivity then make sure you set it up for your IPv6 
address(es) as well.  I recently found my configuration was lacking even 
though it had been fine when I set it up.  Whilst other mail servers 
were IPv4 only all was well, but as they moved to IPv6 they started 
seeing my mail as originating from my IPv6 address and thus not covered 
by my SPF configuration.

Test by sending an e-mail to check-auth at verifier.port25.com

A good project and it will teach you a lot, besides giving you a more 
professional looking e-mail address.

Cheers,
John

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