Backup Email Solutions

I recently ran into a problem with my server setup where I would have incredibly long and random moments of downtime. The downtime wasn't the server's fault, but moreso due issues at the colocation site (i.e. my friend's house ). During this time period, of course, I was unable to send, receive, or retrieve any emails. Because I'm so dependent on email, and because the downtime was becoming excessive, I had to find some way to get around this. After doing some searching, I came up with these possibilities:

1. backup MX service that tries to deliver your mail to your main mail server periodically; once your server is back up, the mail will be delivered to your usual inbox. If you only expect minor downtimes this solution is a good safeguard to ensure that you'll never lose any emails, but for those of you with shaky configurations (or if you have a long-term project to complete that requires downtime), this may be inideal because your emails will not be accessible until your mail server is back up and running.
2. backup MX service that forwards all of your email to another address; you will be able to read these emails immediately (even while your mail server is down), but the messages will not appear in your mail server's inbox once it comes back up. This is nice for those who need immediate access to their emails, and cannot afford to wait until the server is back up (knowing that in many cases bringing the server back up is a time-consuming task). You unfortunately cannot access your existing email with this method, but then again, you can't do so with any method so long as the server's down. You also have to be aware that your mail server is down so you'll know to check your other email address. Hopefully an error message from your mail client is enough.
3. outsourced email; an external provider completely handles all aspects of your domain's email; your MX records will point to the provider's servers, as will your email client. All spam control, filtering, mail rules, etc., will be handled at the host's end. Your mail server is essentially unnecessary with this solution. You certainly have much less control over your emails and cannot perform low-level tasks such as messing with your mboxes/Maildir, but you do have the relief of not worrying about your mail server's status.

You can see that each of these methods have their pros and cons, and I cannot tell you which method works best for your situation. I can, though, explain my situation and explain what works best for me.

My situation: I have excessive, spontaneous, and oftentimes lengthy downtimes due to various reasons (ISP issues, people tampering with my server >:-[ , etc.). Because I'm in school and often expect important emails, I have to make sure that I can access incoming emails at any time.

My solution: I first started off using a backup MX service that forwarded all of my emails to my Gmail account. This was useful since I already had a copy of all of my emails forwarded there (I had procmail send a copy to two other email accounts for archiving/backup purposes, while keeping a copy on my mail server). This method worked and worked well. Because I had my previous emails already in my Gmail account, all new emails arrived smoothly and I couldn't tell (from a Gmail perspective) that my mail server ever went down without looking at the message headers to see what mail server accepted and forwarded the email. I recommend this solution for those who archive their emails like I did by forwarding copies to other accounts, and for those who are comfortable with that backup email address. Gmail is able to respond with another From: address, so your replies will look like they're coming from you@yourdomain.com.

I eventually ditched this method just because I am in love with IMAP and missed the convenience of it. I never looked back at POP after using IMAP, which makes me want to yell at Google for only supporting POP. Anyways, my solution turned out to be one that allows for me to use IMAP, and still have access to all my emails when my server is down. I never thought I'd do it, but I did; I outsourced!  I ended up pointing my MX records over to AOL's servers (yes, I never thought I'd go with them either) and from then on checked my emails through Thundbird.  AOL offers IMAP(S), POP(S), and SMTP, so they really do have the basics for me.  They don't have many basic features such as mail rules or mail forwarding (which I'm praying for), but luckily I never was reliant on these.  There are many other providers that offer domain email hosting for free, but usually only the paid accounts are given POP/IMAP access, which is why I outsourced in the first place.

If you know anything about me, you know that I don't like paying for anything.  I've therefore compiled a list of free backup MX services and domain email hosts.

Secondary MX - tries to deliver to main mail server

• rollernet.us
• editdns.net

Secondary MX - forwards to another email address

• zoneedit.net
• ulmb.com
• most webhosting accounts

• AOL
• Google Apps
• Bluetie
• Gawab