Cheap hosting for Mail-in-a-Box
Since one of the obvious goals of using Mail-in-a-Box is reducing expenses, it would make sense to host it on a very cheap hosting.
I initially wanted to use a 2.5$/mo VPS at Vultr. However, they refused opening SMTP ports, so I switched to a $5/mo DigitalOcean. Anyway, you’ll definitely want a dedicated VPS for your mail service.
Because that tiny VPS only has 512 MB RAM, you should setup a 2GB swap file before installing Mail-in-a-Box.
Dedicated domain name (cheap, too)
It’s advisable by Mail-in-a-Box to have a separate domain.
By comparing domain renewal and registration prices for various .TLDs at namecheap.com, I discovered one of the cheapest one is .com.de:
.work $6.88
.space $7.88
.one $8.88
.me.uk $5.69
.ws $8.88
.space $7.88
.bid $5.58 (5+ years)
.link $8.88
.com.de $4.88 (! cheapest)
Take into account that while registration price can be discounted, the regular renewal price may be high. So don’t forget to expand the “Renew” price section and search in there.
Please note with .com.de you won’t be able to setup DNSSEC, which improves email security, because this particular TLD (domain extension) does not support DNSSEC at the registry level (citing namecheap).
Step by step
Register domain name.
Create your new VPS, set its hostname to the domain name you just bought.
Check VPS’s IP against blacklists in MXToolbox. If blacklisted, destroy VPS and create a new one, and repeat until you find an IP that’s not blacklisted.
Mail-in-a-box can manage nameservers for you, but if you want to setup this way, first check whether your TLD requires two different IP addresses for nameservers, and whether you’re ready to purchase one more IP address. For instance, DO doesn’t allow more than 1 IP per droplet, so with a .com.de you won’t be able to get Mail-in-a-box to manage your DNS for you.
So, if you went this way, in your domain control panel, set two nameservers for the domain you just bought:
ns1.your-mail-dedicated-domain.com
ns2.your-mail-dedicated-domain.com
— Make both link to your VPS IP address(es). (instructions for namecheap.com)
Finally, setup Mail-in-a-box and follow instructions as by the link. The automatic installation process may take 10+ minutes, especially on small VPS.
Multiple domains
Mail in a box may service emails for multiple domains.
So I’m slowly migrating all my small projects from using 3rd party mail hosting (sometimes not free) to my own Mail-in-a-box (free in terms of direct expenses, but not free in terms of my time spent on configuration and maintenance). Ask me in a private message if you want me to setup a dedicated mail-in-a-box for you in your VPS.