Running a mail server via MacPorts on macOS Monterey

[Ralph Seichter]

* Gerben Wierda via macports-users:

> Apart from Steven Smith, are there other users here that run a mail
> server setup via MacPorts? And is already someone else running on
> Monterey?

While MacPorts provides the necessary ports for running a mail server on
macOS, I'd suggest an alternative approach if you are dead set on using
a Mac as the server machine. As mentioned here before, Apple is not
making it easy to use regular macOS for server use, and this seems to be
a deliberate decision on their end.

Have you considered running the mail server components in virtual
machines (e.g. VirtualBox) or, even better, as a Docker/Containerd
service stack? This method isolates Postfix, Dovecot et al from the
underlying macOS, and the service Docker images can use Ubuntu, Debian,
or whichever Linux you fancy.

I have introduced a Docker-based service infrastructure for a major mail
service provider in Germany, catering for hundreds of thousands of users
and millions of emails per day. While the production hardware is of
course beefy, I develop and run the very same Docker images on my
MacBook Pro.

-Ralph