Do you want to setup Exchange Server in your house and run your own email server? Let me guess you do not have a static IP address and do not want to get one. Well below are my steps on how to set this up.
What you will need:
- A Windows domain and an Exchange Server setup.
- Dynamic DNS service such as no-ip.com or dyndns.com.
- A purchased domain name from somewhere like voxdomains or any other service. Just make sure you have full management of the DNS.
Go ahead and setup your Domain controller with AD and your Exchange server. I assume you have some working knowledge of domains and networking so I am not going to cover how to do this in this article.
Once you have your Exchange up and ready to go. Go download the no-ip client or update client from the dynamic DNS service you signed up for. This client runs in your system tray and will update your no-ip address with the public IP whenever it changes. Now install the update client on your Exchange box.
Configure your router/firewall to forward incoming traffic on port 25 (my port is different as my ISP blocks incoming port 25. I will explain further below.) to your Exchange server. Configure your router/firewall to allow outgoing traffic on port 25. (my port is different as my ISP blocks outgoing port 25. I will explain further below.)
Go to your domain host and add the address your dynamic DNS service gave you. For example your domain MX record points to test.no-ip.com. Now you should be able to receive and send mail.
Ok. above I mentioned my setup is a little bit different. This is because my ISP (Comcast) blocks outgoing and incoming SMTP traffic on port 25. This is a tactic by them to combat SPAM. They do however allow SMTP traffic in and out on port 587. Below I explain how to get around this.
