TechKnack

Hosting a website on your own server gives you ultimate control over all the details of how that site works. Running your domain’s mail on your own server gives you the same amount of control. Unfortunately, setting up postfix (Ubuntu server edition’s default mail server) is not nearly as simple as setting up Apache. Ultimately, I decided to go with Google Apps for Your Domain to handle my email.

In addition to gmail-style email hosting for your domain (and ThunderBird and Outlook hookup instructions to boot), GAppsFYD, as LifeHacker calls it, sports Docs, Chat, and Calendar, all private to specified users of your domain. It also includes Web Pages, giving you space to host static web pages (but you have your own server for that — right?); Sites, a collaborative intranet-style hosting space; and a Start Page, a central page from which all domain users can access the activated services. Best of all, you can activate/deactivate whichever services you choose, allowing only what you need.

Each domain you set up with Google Apps can accomodate up to 100 users under the free version. If the email service is activated, each user gets their own inbox with up to 6GB of storage. You can also setup multiple addresses per user (with one shared inbox amongst them), and a “catchall” email address, where mail sent to a nonexistent user will end up. And, of course, you get all the standard advantages of gmail.