Best hardware for a stand alone Email server?

[Vern_in_IL]

I'm looking at this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101364

If there is better hardware, give me some ideals, thanks.

 

[mk378]

That seems really expensive for what it is (no RAM, no drive). There are some smaller lower power tiny PCs out there if you're buying new, or just get a used Core2, i3, or similar desktop. Unless you have a very lot of users email serving is not demanding at all.

 

[simple_gifts]

nothing 'server' about that machine except the form.

Atom?
Non ECC
1 PS?

just use an old PC.

Elaborate on the deployment scenario

 

[OVERKILL]

I would not consider that system appropriate, no. More details about the application please.

 

[AandPDan]

Just email? How many users? What OS?

 

[raytseng]

a lot depends on how you intend to use and maintain ut. if your expectation is a device you powerupp and dont need to touch or worry about and keeps happily running for 90days thats what you are paying extra server pricing for. if its something that you are ok checkup on and restarting maybe once a week thats consumer level stuff.

Have you really ruled out hosted services?

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Application: Home Personal server, and Best Friends, say 20 people or less. I would like low power consumption. OS would be Utuntu Server, most universally accepted and configurable.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

You can use almost any hardware for that job, it's low demand. Install lots of storage, consider RAID for data security and external drives (two) for backup.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

That Atom D525 was barely adequate for a netbook when it was released... seven years ago in 2010.

Old stock. Find something else. ANYTHING else.

 

[dareo]

I bet you could get a 486 machine to handle it if you really wanted to. Literally anything you can install your os on and connect to the network.

 

[wwillson]

I'd just use an old PC. Linux will run well on almost anything, especially if you don't run a GUI. OR, put Centos or your favorite KVM host and run you favorite Linux based email server as a VM. Frankly, I wouldn't consider running the email server on bare hardware, only in a VM - checkpointing is an awesome tool! Hosted does sound better as running an email server isn't as much fun as it used to be with the boatloads SPAM and Malware these days.

Back up often - there are two types of administrators, those who have lost data and those who are going to lose data

 

[Andrew1972]

Raspberri PI would be fine for that low volume of email.

 

[simple_gifts]

Having supported relaying mail where I work, not anything I would ever want to do in a home setup.

About 7 years ago, we routinely were blocking about 97% of all mail sent from the internet. The likelihood of doing it better than any hosted service is close to zero; if a learning exercise.... full steam ahead.

If you are interested in a low power modern computer that supports linux, check out

http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fitlet/fitlet-x/

or any of the variants.

There are several models; 5 year warranty, passively cooled, very low power consumption.

 

[eljefino]

How is your ISP going to let your outgoing mail through?

 

[BubbaFL]

Spool up a virtual machine on Azure or AWS.

Small instances are so cheap and easy, there's no reason to spend money on hardware or electricity to run your own.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Originally Posted By: BubbaFL
Spool up a virtual machine on Azure or AWS.

Small instances are so cheap and easy, there's no reason to spend money on hardware or electricity to run your own.


Dream host looks attractive. I might fiddle with the Raspberry PI perhaps setup an internal relay server, handling outbound SMTP to my ISP from the internal machine and see if it is for me.

 

[alex_at]

I'm realy surprised no one mentioned the HP Microserver Gen8 yet. Sells like hot cakes here in Europe.

Pretty sure Dell / Lenovo have similar offers.

Another option is to buy used, a lot of lease-end machines are available to buy.

Professional hardware, bargain price.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Originally Posted By: BubbaFL
Spool up a virtual machine on Azure or AWS.

Small instances are so cheap and easy, there's no reason to spend money on hardware or electricity to run your own.


Dream host looks attractive. I might fiddle with the Raspberry PI perhaps setup an internal relay server, handling outbound SMTP to my ISP from the internal machine and see if it is for me.


I would be sure to check your ISP's TOS carefully as running a server is generally prohibited by many of them unless you are using a commercial/enterprise service with the attached uptick in price point.

 

[BeerCan]

You can use almost any hardware for that many users. Hope you have a plan for spam. Also be aware that if your server is on a dynamic ip outgoing mail will be marked as spam by many receiving servers. My email server flat out deletes email that comes from a dynamic address or a non existent rdns.

 

[Brad_C]

I maintain a cheap VPS as an outbound SMTP server to avoid the issues with spam filtering. Even though my home connection has a static ip it was an issue. So I pay $90/yr for a VPS where I can control the reverse lookup and don't have issues. Everything else runs from home. The VPS is also good for secondary VPS and a VPN tunnel when I'm away and need an Aussie IP address.