Virtual server host with reasonable mail policies?

[Ted Roche]

I've been adminning a couple of boxes on Linode for years, and while
I'm generally not skilled enough to run my own mail server, some of
the client apps need send-only capability (SMTP out, not POP/IMAP in).
Linode has been great for that, but some of the receiving ISPs
(*cough**cough* Microsoft and Hotmail *cough*) have taken to blocking
entire IP ranges on Linode because of a few bad spammers. MS
escalation and delisting is useless. I've had to hop IP addresses a
couple of times (which Linode support is awesome about!) but it's a
hassle. At this point, I don't want to abandon Linode after 15 years
of sterling service, but I may have to route outgoing email through
yet another (paid) service to get the mail delivered.

As for hardware and support, nearly all downtime in the past 15 years
has been pre-planned and notified maintenance weeks in advance. (Once,
a machine failed imminently and I was migrated and up and running on a
new box very quickly.) Tickets submitted have been answered promptly.

Love 'em for ops and support, but email might not be the right platform.

On Fri, Dec 30, 2022 at 2:33 PM Benjamin Scott <gnhlug at dragonhawk.org> wrote:
>
> Hi everybody!
>
> Can anyone recommend a VPS/VM host that understands people might want to use email?  (VPS=Virtual Private Server, VM=Virtual Machine)
>
> I (and GNHLUG) have been with Digital Ocean for several years now, and they've generally been good, but their attitude towards email has devolved to "Go away" and that doesn't meet my/our needs.
>
> I'm not looking for someone to hold me hand or run a relay for me.  As long as they (1) allow use of mail service ports, (2) don't tell me I don't want to run email, and (3) respond to abuse reports against their other customers, I'm good.
>
> Linode, for example, blocks mail ports by default, but provides a reasonable-sounding procedure to get them unblocked, and claims to care about mail abuse.  But that's one provider of many; I'd like to hear if others have experience.
>
> I/we need to be able to:
> - Receive email directly (run an SMTP listener on TCP port 25)
> - Send email directly (initiate outbound connections to TCP port 25)
> - Run a web server (HTTP/SSL listener on TCP ports 80 and 443)
> - Run an SSH listener on a non-standard port (remote access)
> - Run a DNS server on UDP and TCP port 53 (authoritative name server)
> - Install and run arbitrary Linux software
> - Fairly low volume for all traffic (mail, DNS, web, IP)
> - Fairly low CPU, disk, and RAM usage
> - Hand-holding software like "CPanel" is actively unwanted
>
> All I/we want the provider to do is:
> - Provide some kind of UI for low-level VM maintenance
>    - Installation of operating system (canned images are fine)
>    - Recovery of OS when SSH can't be used
> - Make sure the VM doesn't go down due to power or hardware fault
> - Make sure IP traffic keeps flowing
> - Respond to abuse reports to keep reputation at least somewhat OK
>
> -- Ben
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