This article is going to explain how to create a Linux VPS (Virtual Private Server) on Kamatera, so you can run your own email server and website.
ScalaHosting vs Kamatera
In a previous tutorial, I explained how to create a Linux VPS server on Scalahosting, which is my recommended hosting provider for running email servers, because it has the best IP reputation. However, Scalahosting plans start at $26/month (2 CPUs, 8GB RAM). It’s a bit expensive for some folks since they don’t need that much RAM to get started.
If your business depends on email, I still recommend ScalaHosting, because it will you better email deliverability. If you are short of money, then you can choose Kamatera VPS hosting, which starts at $4/month (1 CPU, 1GB RAM) and you will get one month for free.
I have email servers on both hosting providers and I will share my experience in Kamatera with you.
Why Run Your own Email Server
There’re hosted email solutions like Google Workspace and Microsoft Exchange Online, but they become very expensive when you have many users. If you run a self-hosted email server on a VPS, you can add unlimited users, unlimited domains, and send unlimited email messages for a very low price.
And you can install a self-hosted email marketing platform like Mautic on your email server, so you can cancel your Mailchimp/AWeber subscription and save hundreds of dollars every month.
Find a VPS for Email
It’s not an easy task to find a VPS provider suitable for email hosting. Many hosting companies like DigitalOcean blocks port 25. DigitalOcean would not unblock port 25, so you will need to set up SMTP relay to bypass blocking, which can cost you additional money. Another problem is that big well-known hosting providers like DigitalOcean are abused by spammers. Often the server IP address is on several blacklists.
Kamatera is a very good option to run a mail server because
- They don’t block port 25.
- The IP address isn’t on any email blacklist. (At least this is true in my case. I chose the Dallas data center.) You definitely don’t want to be listed on the dreaded Microsoft Outlook IP blacklist or the spamrats blacklist. Some blacklists block an entire IP range and you have no way to delist your IP address from this kind of blacklist.
- You can edit PTR record to improve email deliverability.
- They allow you to send newsletters to your email subscribers with no hourly limits or daily limits, whatsoever. Note that you are not allowed to send spam, also known as unsolicited bulk email. If the recipient doesn’t explicitly give you permission to send emails, and you send emails to them, that’s unsolicited email.
- You can order multiple IP addresses for a single server. This is very useful for folks who need to send a large volume of emails. You can spread email traffic on multiple IP addresses to achieve better email deliverability.
As you can see from the screenshot below, The IP address (63.250.61.81) of my mail server (smtp01.linuxbabe.com) isn’t on any blacklist.
How To Create a Linux VPS Server on Kamatera
Go to Kamatera website and click the Get Started for Free button to create an account.
You will need to verify your email address.
Next, you need to add a billing profile.
Enter your address and phone number.
Then add your mobile phone number for 2 step verification.
After verifying your phone number, go to the next step and enter your credit card information. A promo code (1MONTH300) is automatically added to give you one month of free usage (up to 100 USD).
Now your billing profile is added, go to My cloud -> Create New Server to add a new server. Select your server location, OS image (Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, etc) and server type.
For an email server, I recommend the following specs, which costs $9/month. 3 GB RAM is required if you want to run a full-featured email server. If you need a simple email server, then 2GB RAM is fine.
- server type: A availability
- CPU: 1 core
- RAM: 3GB
- SSD: 20GB
Next, set a root password for the VPS and give it a hostname.
Finally, click the create server button. Note that you will not be billed right away. You can use the server for one month free. It can take several minutes for your servers to be created. You can check the progress in the task queue.
After your server is created, you will receive an email notification. And you can log into your server via SSH. If you are using Linux on your desktop computer, you can open a terminal window and run the following command to log into your server. Replace 12.34.56.78 with your server’s IP address. Then enter the root password.
ssh [email protected]12.34.56.78
Congrats! Now you can start your Linux server project. If you are using Windows, please read the following article on how to use SSH client.
Creating a sudo User
I strongly recommend creating a sudo user for managing your server rather than using the default root user. Not only it increases your server’s security, but also allows you to log in as the new user if you can’t log in as the root user.
Debian/Ubuntu
If you installed Debian or Ubuntu on your server, run the following command to create a user.
adduser username
Then add the user to the sudo group.
adduser username sudo
Now you can exit from the root user.
exit
And login as the new user.
ssh username@12.34.56.78
CentOS/AlmaLinux
If you installed CentOS/AlmaLinux on your server, run the following command to create a user. Replace username with your preferred username.
adduser username
Set a password for this user.
passwd username
Add this user to the wheel group in order to use sudo.
gpasswd -a username wheel
Make sure you have the sudo utility installed.
dnf install sudo
Now you can exit from the root user.
exit
And login as the new user.
ssh username@12.34.56.78
How to Set Up a Mail Server
You can easily set up a mail server with iRedMail.
- How to Easily Set Up Your own Mail Server on Ubuntu 20.04 with iRedMail
- How to Easily Set Up Your own Mail Server on Debian 10 with iRedMail
- How to Easily Set Up Your own Mail Server on CentOS 8 with iRedMail
Tips for Staying Out of the Spam Folder
I highly recommend following email sending best practices, so your emails can land into the inbox and stay out of the spam folder.
Web-based VNC Console
Kamatera provides a web-based VNC console in the account control panel. This VNC connection is not affected by SSH. If you accidentally lock yourself out of the SSH service, you can always use the VNC console to fix the errors in the SSH service. Note that after you create a fresh VPS on Kamatera, you may need to wait a few hours to use the VNC console.
Go to My cloud -> Servers -> Actions -> Console to launch the VNC console.
Wrapping Up
I hope this article helped you create a Linux VPS on Kamatera. As always, if you found this post useful, then subscribe to our free newsletter to get more tips and tricks. Take care 🙂
