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I decided to follow this guide, but they only make a passing mention of using a custom domain name:

Insert the following details when asked (replacing server1.example.com with your domain name if you have one):

If I own the domain name frank.com, it won't be enough to simply put in frank.com into these fields, right? I'm planning to set this up in a VM on my laptop to use as a portable mail server (obviously only when the laptop is on), mainly as a learning experience, but I imagine I'll need to configure something with my domain registrar at the very least. Otherwise how will the emails show up? Not myaddress@frank.com, but as some IP address perhaps?

I assume the answer isn't simple, but a pointer or two in the right direction would still be really helpful.

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migrated from serverfault.com Feb 21 '13 at 0:10


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up vote 1 down vote accepted

If you want to receive email for frank.com then your MX record for frank.com will need to point at your virtual machine. If your VM and host computer are on your home broadband router your MX record should point to your external ip address forward port 25 to the VM's IP.

Your home broadband will probably have dynamic IP address meaning it will change from time to time so look at using DDNS.

To send email from your VM you just need to configure your mail server correctly and the email will send, whether any other mail server will accept mail from it is another question as a lot of mail servers will not accept mail of hosts it knows to dynamic home type connections.

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If my router has a static IP address will my mail still be refused by most domains? –  Frank Feb 27 '13 at 20:04
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