Most companies rent their email from a big vendor and never think about it again. We host ours. Here is what running it ourselves actually looks like.
The mail server
EILA's mail runs on Stalwart Mail Server — one process for SMTP, IMAP, JMAP and Sieve, with an admin API and automatic spam training. It fits comfortably in a small VPS, and it automates the parts that used to be a sysadmin's least favorite chore:
- SPF, DKIM (Ed25519 + RSA), DMARC with p=reject — generated and kept in sync through the DNS provider's API.
- MTA-STS and TLSRPT — encryption policy and reporting, set up automatically.
- Autoconfig and autodiscover records so mail clients configure themselves.
- A wildcard TLS certificate issued and renewed by ACME dns-01, no manual renewals.
Why not a vendor?
Owning the stack means no third party sits between us and our mail. Every DNS record is versioned and auditable. Deliverability is our problem to solve, not a ticket to file. And when our AI workforce needs a mailbox per agent, creating one is an API call on our own server — not a per-seat contract negotiation.
What it costs
Honesty: running your own mail means understanding DKIM rotation, monitoring queue health and dealing with the realities of IP reputation. It is real work. For us, the control is worth it. For a company that treats infrastructure as a product feature, it is the only way to build.