How to Set Up an Email Server with Mailcow - Beginner's Guide

Setting up an email server might seem like a daunting task, especially to beginners. However, with the right guide and a bit of patience, it can turn into a manageable and rewarding project. For this guide, we will be using Mailcow, a popular open-source email server solution. In simple words, Mailcow allows you to manage your own email server while providing all necessary features you would expect from a commercial email service.

Benefits of using Mailcow for setting up an email server

Most importantly, setting up an email server with Mailcow ensures complete control over your email system. No need to worry about third-party services suspending your account, privacy violations, or restrictions on storage.

Another significant advantage of Mailcow is its user-friendly web interface despite being a powerful emailing solution. Even beginners with minimal technical knowledge can navigate smoothly through the system.

Now, let's start the step by step guide of setting up an email server with Mailcow:

Step 1: System Requirements

First of all, you need to ensure that your setup fulfills the system requirements. You can run Mailcow on any system with at least 1 GB RAM, but ideally 2 GB or more for smooth operations. We recommend a system with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, although any other recent Linux distro would also be compatible.

Step 2: Domain Setup

Before getting started with the server setup, you must have a domain ready to be configured as your email domain. If you don't have a domain, you can buy one from various domain registration services. After you have your domain, make sure that it is pointed to the IP address of your Mailcow server.

Step 3: Installing Mailcow

To install Mailcow, you need to clone the Mailcow repository from Github using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized.git

Once that's done, copy the mailcow.conf file and provide the hostname (your domain).

Step 4: Mail Server Configuration

Now comes the most critical part - configuring your email server. You need to update the MX records of your domain to point to your Mailcow server. After this, create SPF, DKIM, and DMARC DNS records for your domain. Finally, go to the Mailcow UI and create users and mailboxes.

Step 5: Testing your Mail Server

To ensure everything is set correctly, you need to test your Mail server. You can do this by sending an email from your new server to another email address. If the recipient receives it without issues, your mail server is set up correctly.

Remember, when setting up an email server, patience is key. You might run into several issues while configuring your server, but don’t be too quick to give up. It's all part of the learning process.

We hope that with this guide, you will be able to set up your own email server using Mailcow. While the steps described are comparatively straightforward, they require a certain level of comfort with using a Linux terminal. If you’re new to it, don’t worry. There’s always a first time for everything.