While I'm on the Subject of Hassles

Since I'm obviously pent up, and am in need of venting, let me tell you a little about the saga of mikeiscool email! If you thought reading about my adventures in blog-ville were tedious, you ain't seen nothing yet.

I'd say, conservatively, I've been trying (in vain) to get an email server set up on my domain here at mikeiscool  for at least 3 months. I had managed to get my DNS settings set up properly, which took several attempts and multiple checks via these guys to ensure I was right. I started with Sendmail and Postfix since it seems that most people like that combination of SMTP-POP servers. Well, I couldn't get it to work at all. I couldn't send or receive any mail. I read somewhere that Sendmail sometimes didn't like sharing with Postfix (something about competing for listening on port 25) so I uninstalled it. That left me with Postfix only, and I set up my email client to accept delivered mail via local "Spool" delivery. Still nothing. I then read that my ISP (bellsouth) blocks outgoing port 25 to prevent spammers from getting internet accounts and just using the crap out of them to clog the world's email boxes. I could understand that, so I found a workaround using "RelayHost" in Postfix. I set up Postfix to send outgoing messages from my box through Bellsouth's SMTP server, and it worked I could send messages from mikeiscool and they'd get delivered (even outside my LAN, wooohooooo!).

At this point, I was sure it was only a matter of time, since obviously, the only problem would have been that, right? Wrong. Try as I might, I couldn't get Postfix to receive any mail. I'd send stuff to myself from my bellsouth email, yahoo email, my work email, even from mikeiscool  email to itself, and I couldn't receive anything. Now, all the documentation and conversation you see on Postfix will tell you that it's simple and easy to configure and that the directions are a piece of cake and you'd have to be a moron not to be able to figure it out. Well, similarly to the wild world of blogs (actually, much much worse) I have a different interpretation. I think the so called "HowTo's" and "FAQ's" are written by uber-geeks for uber-geeks. I'm sorry, but there's nothing easy/simple/quick about :

Postfix daemon processes can be configured (via the master.cf file) to run in a chroot jail. The processes run at a fixed low privilege and with file system access limited to the Postfix queue directories (/var/spool/postfix). This provides a significant barrier against intrusion. The barrier is not impenetrable (chroot limits file system access only), but every little bit helps. With the exception of Postfix daemons that deliver mail locally and/or that execute non-Postfix commands, every Postfix daemon can run chrooted.

I mean, what the hell is that? This is but one of a myriad configuration parameters' instructions that are considered "clear". Whatever!!

So, I continued my search for open source, free MTA's (mail transfer agents) and stumbled across Hula . I gotta say, this sucker's pretty slick. It's got a nice GUI to administer it as well as a similarly nice GUI for the webmail interface. I was able to get it up and going on my server pretty quickly. I was able to punch holes in my firewalls to let me access both the administrative portal and the webmail portal from out on the net, but alas, I still couldn't get this sucker to receive mail. In fact, I lost the ability to send mail on it too, but I probably could've figured out how to enter the RelayHost function in it as well, but I started with receiving mail as my focus, and I wasn't gonna let up until I figured it out.

I tried everything. I installed different versions of it (9 to be exact) since with Linux, sometimes the older the build, the more compatible it'll be (particularly when your hardware is an antique like my server). Some of them wouldn't even start, but several did with the same frustrating results. I was able to get it running and access the portals, but no mail. Dammit, what was the deal? I stuck my whole server outside my firewall, naked in a DMZ, exposed to all the big bad viruses of the world thinking it was a firewall issue, but nope, nothing. I thought it was my DNS settings at my registrar, but nope, they were good too. I could ping my mail server, and I'd just get messages saying it couldn't find a service running on that address/port. I spent every luch hour from work and an hour or so each night after work (and sometimes the weekends) trying to get this sucker running and still nothing. I was getting so frustrated. I started googling for phrases like "i hate postfix" "email sucks" "mta's that are easy" anything. Then I started seeing posts on various geek boards about similar problems with all the clients I'd tried. I started to realize it wasn't just me. Then I read a post (and I wish I could remember who/where but I don't) saying that their ISP blocked INCOMING port 25 as well as OUTGOING. I started looking into it and, sure enough, so does my ISP, bellsouth.

This makes no sense to me at all. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, your email is essentially sent from machine to machine across the internet on a "port" called 25. It's the default port for SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). A port is essentially, an extension of your IP address that tells the internet traffic exactly how to connect to your computer's NIC card. Now, bellsouth blocking outbound port 25, I get. I hear ya. I understand you don't want every idiot with a computer sending out ads for Viagra, I understand that, I can live with it, especially since you let us VALID, PAYING users relay through your SMTP server. But what I don't get, is why the heck they'd block incoming port 25. Why do they care if I'm RECEIVING mail at my IP address? What business is it of theirs? Why isn't it allowed that I can LISTEN on port 25 and receive emails directed at my domain? I just simply don't understand the logic.

Well, if I looked into it, I'm sure (for a fee) they'd "unlock" port 25 for me, but screw that. So I started looking for email "hosting" companies. I started looking for DNS redirect services that could take a request for port 25 at my domain and redirect it to another port (say 26) and I'd just change my server settings. But, to be honest, after literally months of screwing around trying to get it to work, I was over it. So I found a company called RegisterFly . I'm now trying to get my email set up through them so that if someone sends an email to me at mikeiscool I'll actually get it. We're still going around and around trying to understand each other. As it stands now, I supposedly have an email box set up with them, but they're being really unclear on how exactly I'm supposed to set up my MX record on my DNS. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that they register/host domains and their related DNS info as well and they'd like me to switch to them, but I've already payed for a year at my current registrar 123registrations .

Hopefully, I'll have this sucker wrapped up soon and will have a (somewhat) fully functional website complete with email sending/receiving capabilities. I don't know if any of you out there have ever toyed with the idea of hosting your own website/email, but I'll tell you it's not for the faint of heart, and requires some serious patience and persistence. Good luck if you're diving in. I guess that's all on the wild world of emails for now.