lee_mcr
Member
OP
- Joined:
- Sep 2024
- Posts:
- 242
- From:
- Manchester, UK
Right then, been hunting for a proper cheap bundle — domain plus email that actually talks to each other. Tested three so far.
- First was Hetzner. Their "integrated" email means you log in through the same dashboard as your domain. That's it. No sync, no shared contacts, nowt. Took me four hours to find the MX records buried in a submenu three layers deep.
- Second was Vultr. Advertised "seamless integration." Turns out seamless means same login page, different backends. Passwords don't even match between the two systems.
- Third was RackNerd. Closest so far — forwarding works, at least. But no calendar sync, and their webmail looks like 2003 had a bad day.
Anyone found something that actually works under a tenner, or is this the eternal pipe dream? Cheers lads.
Honey badger don't care... about downtime
SamAlvi
Member
Self-Host Everything
- Joined:
- Jun 2024
- Posts:
- 188
- From:
- Portland, US
Anyone found something that actually works
I run mailcow on a OVHcloud VPS with docker compose, traefik as reverse proxy for the web frontend, and honestly the integration is whatever you want it to be. Docker compose makes the whole stack reproducible. Reverse proxy handles TLS termination. You want calendar sync? Add Nextcloud to the same docker compose project. Contacts? Same database backend. The bundle providers are selling you convenience that breaks in four hours. Self-hosting breaks too but at least you can fix it without waiting for support.
my cloud. my rules. my 3AM alerts.
RAJ
Member
- Joined:
- Jul 2024
- Posts:
- 294
- From:
- Mumbai, IN
Hetzner really took four hours? I found mine in twenty minutes
your margin is my opportunity
SamAlvi
Member
Self-Host Everything
- Joined:
- Jun 2024
- Posts:
- 188
- From:
- Portland, US
Which traefik version, 2.x or 3.x
3.x. 2.x had some annoying middleware ordering issues with WebSocket upgrades for the SOGo webmail container. 3.x fixed that but the migration guide is incomplete. I spent a weekend on it.
The real answer to lee_mcr's question though: if you want actual integration without self-hosting grief, Fastmail plus their bundled domain registration is the only commercial option I've seen where the DNS is truly managed from the same panel as the mail. Not cheap. Not cheap at all. But the MX records appear automatically when you add the domain, which is what "integrated" should mean.
my cloud. my rules. my 3AM alerts.
