by Hey there, anyone still reading this blog? 😄 It’s been a wild summer—projects, hobbies, and life kept me away from writing. I’ve hit a pause on 3D printing due to some hardware hiccups (more on that soon), but today, I’m diving into something I set up last September and have been itching to share: the Proxmox Email Gateway. With the one-year anniversary of my iRedMail setup approaching, it’s time to get serious about email security. Let’s talk about how Proxmox Email Gateway takes my defenses to the next level.
Why Proxmox Email Gateway?
I love iRedMail—it’s got solid built-in security, though its greylisting can be a bit too aggressive. But as the cybersecurity mantra goes, defense in depth! I want to make it a nightmare for spammers and hackers to get through. Sure, my email isn’t hiding state secrets, but I’m all about building an electric razor-wire fence backed by flamethrower turrets to protect my data. That’s where the Proxmox Email Gateway comes in, cranking virus scanning and spam filtering up to 11.
This bad boy sits between the internet and my iRedMail server, inspecting every email before it gets through. It gives me full control over blacklists, whitelists, and domain-level blocking. Plus, it provides insights into how many bad actors are poking at my server and lets me ban entire IP blocks if needed. It handles TLS encryption, generates DKIM keys for email validation, and even learns on the fly, spotting spam keywords and checking embedded links against blacklists.
Setting Up Proxmox Email Gateway
Getting the Proxmox Email Gateway running was straightforward. It can be installed on bare-metal or as a VM, dealers choice. However, some tweaks are required. Here’s the gist:
- Port 25 Handover: The gateway takes over port 25, the standard SMTP port where mail servers communicate. It relays traffic to a custom port that iRedMail listens on (keeping things sneaky and secure). iRedMail still handles IMAP and client connections, but Proxmox manages the incoming and outgoing email flow.
- DKIM and Encryption: For extra security, I set up the gateway to generate its own DKIM keys for email validation and syncing certs from sarnelli3d.com to the gateway. This ensures emails are legit and encrypted.
- Granular Controls: You can get super detailed with settings—connection limits, rate controls, SPF strictness, and even HELO checks to verify incoming data is actually an email. Like having an Ex-Navy Seal watch the shed in your backyard, overkill but no one is going to be messing with your shit.
After a few days of tweaking, emails were flowing smoothly through the gateway, getting scanned and flagged as spam if there was shenanigans.
Fine-Tuning the Spam Filter
Once the gateway was live, I let it run for a couple of weeks to gather data. This helped me spot malicious IPs—bots probing my defenses—and ban them outright. The real-time learning feature is wild: it automatically blocks sketchy emails but sometimes gets overzealous, flagging legit stuff like newsletters or RSS feeds. I dialed back the settings just enough to avoid choking my subscriptions while still keeping the spammers at bay. The internet’s full of noise and nonsense, so finding that balance is key.
Footage of my gateway working
Why It’s Worth It
With the Proxmox Email Gateway in place, I can rest easy knowing my email is shielded from Nigerian prince scams and phishing attempts begging for Google Play gift cards. The setup’s not just a firewall—it’s a smart, adaptive gatekeeper that learns and improves over time. If you’re running your own mail server, this is a game-changer for email security.
Until next time, stay safe out there! 🙂