Minimal Postfix and Dovecot for One Domain
A single-domain Postfix plus Dovecot inbox is small and honest: IMAP for you, DNS auth in place, and no claim that Gmail will accept your outbound.
Email9 min read
NetBay journal
10 practical Email articles from Netbay Engineering — written for operators running Linux and Windows VPS in India.
10 articles in this topic
AllLinuxLinux AdministrationWindowsLinux SecurityLinux NetworkingContainersContainers & OrchestrationKubernetesCI/CDGitHubSelf-HostingBackups & DataDatabasesApp DeploymentDNS & TLSObservabilityEmailAI AgentsAI InfrastructureAPI & AutomationProxiesCloud ArchitectureHardware & PerformanceDevOps Practices
Mail-Tester, Headers, and Received Chains
A 10/10 mail-tester score is not inbox placement. Read Authentication-Results, the Received chain, and spam headers on a real Gmail or Outlook copy.
Email8 min read
Bounce Handling Without Retrying Forever
Hard bounces must suppress the address. Soft bounces may retry with a cap. Infinite queues hurt IP reputation and hide dead users in your app.
Email8 min read
Self-Host vs SES, Mailgun, Postmark by Volume
Pick the sending path by daily volume, bounce work, and whether users must read the message. Direct VPS SMTP only wins at tiny, well-authenticated mail.
Email8 min read
Postfix as a Smarthost Relay to a Real ESP
Keep local sendmail and cron working, but hand the public hop to SES, Mailgun, or Postmark. Postfix sasl_passwd and smtp_tls are the whole design.
Email8 min read
DMARC Policy: From None to Reject Safely
Start DMARC at p=none, read aggregate reports, then raise to quarantine and reject once every legitimate sender aligns. Do not skip the report week.
Email8 min read
DKIM Signing With OpenDKIM on a Small MTA
DKIM survives forwarding when SPF does not. Sign with OpenDKIM on Postfix, publish a 2048-bit TXT key, and verify the signature on a received copy.
Email8 min read
SPF Records That Do Not Over-Permit Senders
A wide SPF record is as bad as none. Publish only the IPs and includes you actually send from, stay under ten DNS lookups, and end with -all.
Email8 min read
PTR, HELO, and Matching the SMTP Hostname
Receivers reject mail when PTR, HELO, and the A record disagree. Align the hostname, reverse DNS, and Postfix myhostname before you send mail.
Email8 min read
Why Transactional Email From a VPS IP Dies
Transactional mail from a new VPS IP often never reaches the inbox. This post covers blocklists, missing PTR, port 25, and when an ESP is the only path.
Email8 min read