Email hosting

midgetspy

I currently host my own email server on my own domain (for which I run my own DNS). It's a qmail server with a few patches, with courier-imap and spamassassin, accessed mostly through imap but also pop3, with IMP/Horde for webmail. I need to start migrating this stuff to a hosted server somewhere. I need:

- DNS hosting
- POP3 & IMAP
- large attachment size support, lots of storage (10GB+)
- webmail
- spam filtering
- UPTIME (!)
- something in north america

What I do *not* need is MS Exchange, anything Outlook-specific, anti-virus, SMTP, mobile phone access, MYSQL, cpanel, blah blah blah. Just straight up email, anything else is a bonus.

It would be nice if there were a way for me to transfer over the emails in the current qmail server to the new server. I kinda doubt there are many commercial hosters with this feature, has anybody ever heard of one?

Does anybody have any recommendations for companies to look at? Anybody you've had good experiences with that fits my needs?

Jasconius

I don't have any specifics but I would say be on the lookout for e-mail hosts that are blacklisted by the major e-mail providers like Yahoo and Google.

Many dedicated e-mail hosts are pretty much used for marketing blasts, and it's pretty easy to get black or gray listed.

I'm pretty sure you can actually call up companies like Yahoo and Google to get that sort of information.

xzzy

Google apps does all of this.. assuming you're willing to pay for it, and don't mind gmail.

midgetspy

xzzy wrote: »

Google apps does all of this.. assuming you're willing to pay for it, and don't mind gmail.

Of course I'm expecting to pay for it :0) I took a look at google apps but it looked like I need somebody to host my DNS if I go with them? If that's the case it's not really any help because I'm not going to pay somebody to host my DNS and pay somebody else to host my email, heh.

xzzy

You still gotta pay for the DNS somewhere, so I'm not sure I see a problem with having to pay a registrar versus having to pay an ISP.

It's so cheap to own a domain name these days, worrying about it doesn't even seem like it should be on the radar.

midgetspy

Well I already own the domain and I host my own DNS. Most hosters have DNS with their email hosting but since google doesn't I'd end up buying two accounts - google and a second one for DNS hosting. Seems like a waste of money.

xzzy

Not really.. you take your existing domain name and update the MX records to point to google's servers. This assumes you're still willing to host your own DNS however (which I don't think is necessary, almost every registrar on the planet these days gives DNS hosting when you buy a domain name).

So you're already paying for the DNS part.

midgetspy

Maybe I'm not being clear:

- I already own the domain through a registrar that does *not* provide DNS hosting
- I currently host the DNS myself on the same box that hosts the email server. They both need to go somewhere else.

If I get an email provider that doesn't give me DNS hosting with the account I need to pay somebody else to do it. This is why "DNS hosting" is on my list of things I need in an email hoster.

wunderbar

you could always transfer the domain name to a different registrar, since it has to go somewhere eventually anyway, and paying $8/year for the domain name + DNS hosting at a good registrar is trivial. It's less than most meals cost.

xzzy

Agreed.. domain hosting is so damn cheap these days, if you're using one that doesn't offer domain hosting for you, you should probably dig up one that actually offers competitive services.

Many of them will even pro-rate whatever you've paid on your domain with a different registrar.

exoplasm

Doesn't zoneedit still do free DNS hosting for up to 5 domains?

edit: yep

http://zoneedit.com/