Re: [GLLUG] Advice about my Freeance work
> > Another vote for AAISP. As well as static ip, they support reverse dns > which is almost essential if you want to send mail. They give a full /48 > for ipv6. While knowing ipv6 probably won't win you any clients now, > maybe in 5-10 years being able to step in and solve a problem that the > ipv4 only people don't understand might be important. > I use Zen Internet, and they have been good also. IPv4, IPv6, reverse dns etc. -- GLLUG mailing list GLLUG@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug
Re: [GLLUG] Advice about my Freeance work
On Fri, 25 Oct 2019, John Winters via GLLUG wrote: On 25/10/2019 20:25, nickmount91 via GLLUG wrote:> Hi, [snip] I can upgrade my email to the professional version and associate it with a domain. Would that be a good start? Then i can spend some time installing an email server, learning about it and then use it for real. Does this sound a good plan? Are there any alternatives? Hi Nick, If you want to learn stuff then setting up your own domain and email server sounds like a good idea. Domain names are really very cheap. Personally I use Mythic Beasts to register my domains, but there are plenty of similar around. I would avoid using providers which do hyper-cheap stuff (?1 / year or the like) because they tend to put restrictions on what you can do. If you use a proper provider then it's totally your domain and you can control every aspect of it. For the e-mail server, your main requirement is for a fixed IP address. If you use a decent ISP (hint, hint: Andrews and Arnold) you may already have a fixed IP address. If not then your best bet might be to use a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from BitFolk or similar. Don't forget to set up DKIM and SPF on your mail server. Without that, your outgoing e-mails are more liable to be categorized as spam. If you have IPv6 connectivity then make sure you set it up for your IPv6 address(es) as well. I recently found my configuration was lacking even though it had been fine when I set it up. Whilst other mail servers were IPv4 only all was well, but as they moved to IPv6 they started seeing my mail as originating from my IPv6 address and thus not covered by my SPF configuration. Test by sending an e-mail to check-a...@verifier.port25.com A good project and it will teach you a lot, besides giving you a more professional looking e-mail address. I'll second what John says. If you're self hosting email and using it for clients to contact you then you want a backup solution. The last thing your clients should see is emails failing because your adsl/server is down. You also want to consider whether your backup MX will queue or receive mail. You will also discover spammers love going to backup MX first. If/when you solve this for yourself it's then a solution you can offer to your clients too. Another vote for AAISP. As well as static ip, they support reverse dns which is almost essential if you want to send mail. They give a full /48 for ipv6. While knowing ipv6 probably won't win you any clients now, maybe in 5-10 years being able to step in and solve a problem that the ipv4 only people don't understand might be important. Other things for SME that you can experiment with at home at reasonable cost: multiple adsl lines, load balancing, failover/redundancy. Which will then get you involved with policy/source based routing too. Again, learn it for both ipv4 and ipv6. AAISP get all this right too. I have two lines from them and it all works so seamlessly that when one line had a problem I didn't notice straight away because everything "just worked". Which brings me to the final thought re clients - your tooling and monitoring. It's a difficult problem - you don't want to be bothered with 'everything is ok' messages but you need to know that the 'there's a problem' email/text can get to you. Nothing gives you a better reputation than fixing a problem for a client before they realise something is wrong. -- GLLUG mailing list GLLUG@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug
Re: [GLLUG] Advice about my Freeance work
On 25/10/2019 20:25, nickmount91 via GLLUG wrote:> Hi, [snip] > I can upgrade my email to the professional version and associate it with > a domain. Would that be a good start? Then i can spend some time > installing an email server, learning about it and then use it for real. > Does this sound a good plan? Are there any alternatives? Hi Nick, If you want to learn stuff then setting up your own domain and email server sounds like a good idea. Domain names are really very cheap. Personally I use Mythic Beasts to register my domains, but there are plenty of similar around. I would avoid using providers which do hyper-cheap stuff (£1 / year or the like) because they tend to put restrictions on what you can do. If you use a proper provider then it's totally your domain and you can control every aspect of it. For the e-mail server, your main requirement is for a fixed IP address. If you use a decent ISP (hint, hint: Andrews and Arnold) you may already have a fixed IP address. If not then your best bet might be to use a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from BitFolk or similar. Don't forget to set up DKIM and SPF on your mail server. Without that, your outgoing e-mails are more liable to be categorized as spam. If you have IPv6 connectivity then make sure you set it up for your IPv6 address(es) as well. I recently found my configuration was lacking even though it had been fine when I set it up. Whilst other mail servers were IPv4 only all was well, but as they moved to IPv6 they started seeing my mail as originating from my IPv6 address and thus not covered by my SPF configuration. Test by sending an e-mail to check-a...@verifier.port25.com A good project and it will teach you a lot, besides giving you a more professional looking e-mail address. Cheers, John -- Xronos Scheduler - https://xronos.uk/ All your school's schedule information in one place. Timetable, activities, homework, public events - the lot Live demo at https://schedulerdemo.xronos.uk/ -- GLLUG mailing list GLLUG@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug
[GLLUG] Advice about my Freeance work
Hi, I have been learning a lot over the past year or so, most of which I have put to good use, mainly for SMEs. Most of what I have been doing is networking - putting together ethernet based systems, with switches, routers, firewalls, printers, APs etc, using slightly out of date Cisco equipment. I have also passed my CCNA. My next ambition is to do more with Linux as part of my business. I have been given a voucher for a domain and some hosting with OVH, so I will be using that to learn more, but it has been suggested, by one of my clients, that I need a more professional email address. So I am looking for ideas of how best to do this? I also want to learn sellable skills. I can upgrade my email to the professional version and associate it with a domain. Would that be a good start? Then i can spend some time installing an email server, learning about it and then use it for real. Does this sound a good plan? Are there any alternatives? regards Nick Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.-- GLLUG mailing list GLLUG@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug