Emails

The Email Server screen (route /emails) is where you stand up a complete, self-hosted mail server on one of your own servers and then run it day to day — domains, mailboxes, DNS, health, backups. Alaf Server installs the whole stack (Postfix, Dovecot, anti-spam, SSL, DKIM/SPF/DMARC) over SSH and then gives you an admin panel so you never have to touch the box by hand.

What the screen shows you

The screen adapts to how many mail servers you already have:

• None yet → the setup wizard (or the adopt flow).
• Exactly one → it opens straight into that server's admin panel.
• More than one → the Mail servers list, so you pick which one to open.

The server you're acting on is remembered in the URL (?serverId=…), so a refresh reopens the same one.

The mail servers list

When you have several mail servers, you land on a list titled Mail servers. Each card shows the server's domain (or name), its host, and a status pill:

Click a card to open it. Add mail server starts a new provision/adopt. The trash icon (Remove from list) detaches a stale or mis-marked entry — this is dashboard-only and re-adoptable; it never uninstalls anything on the server.

Set up a new mail server

The setup form is titled Mail Server Setup. You fill in two things:

• Domain — your root domain, e.g. example.com. Your mail server will live at mail.<domain>.
• Admin Password — the password for the postmaster@<domain> mailbox. Use Generate for a strong random one (with a reveal toggle). You can change it later from the admin panel.

If you haven't already picked a server, a server selector appears above these fields. Press Start Setup to begin.

The sidebar's What gets installed panel spells out the stack: the mail server (Postfix, Dovecot, anti-spam), a Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate, DNS Configuration (DKIM, SPF, DMARC), and the Admin Panel. The Prerequisites box lists what you need first:

• A domain with DNS access.
• Port 25 not blocked by your provider.
• A clean Ubuntu/Debian server (recommended).

Watching the install

Once you start, the screen streams the install live in a Live logs panel — each line tagged with its step number. You can Cancel a running install, or Reset (two-click confirm) to wipe the on-server state and start clean. If a step fails, an error banner offers Retry from step N. The right sidebar tracks All steps and, if ports 80/443 are already taken, surfaces a Port Conflict resolver before continuing.

Twice during the install, the wizard pauses and needs you to act — first for DNS, then for reverse DNS.

DNS hold — publish your records

After the DKIM step, the install stops on a prominent amber banner: Publish DNS records before continuing. Mail delivery breaks without these. The banner lists every record (A/AAAA, MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) as a card — a type chip plus a Name and a Value field, each with its own copy button. Add them at your DNS provider, then click I've set the records - continue — the install resumes from the SSL-certificate step.

Auto-configure DNS opens a provider picker (Cloudflare, Hostinger, AWS Route 53, DigitalOcean, Namecheap, Google Cloud DNS). Direct API push is not shipped yet — each provider currently shows a "coming soon" note, so publish the records manually for now.

PTR hold — set reverse DNS

After you acknowledge DNS, a sky-blue banner appears: Set reverse DNS (PTR) before continuing. This is the step people miss most, so it's called out separately.

The banner shows an IPv4 PTR (required) and, if present, an IPv6 PTR (recommended), each with the IP and the hostname to point it at (mail.<domain>). It also gives you a verify command — dig +short -x <ip> should return mail.<domain>.. When it's set, click I've set the PTRs - continue and the install finishes with SSL.

Adopt an existing mail server

Already installed a mail server with Alaf Server but lost the dashboard record (e.g. you re-imaged the orchestrator)? On the setup form, click Already have a mail server? Adopt it. In the Adopt existing mail server dialog, pick the server and press Scan server — Alaf Server reads the box (detects the mail stack and its on-server state file) without changing anything. If a mail stack is found, Adopt brings it back under management with no reinstall and no data loss.

The admin panel (eight tabs)

Once a server is fully provisioned, /emails becomes its admin panel. A horizontal tab bar (icon beside label, the active tab marked with a primary-colored underline) switches between eight tabs; the active tab is stored in the URL so refresh and back/forward keep your place. For the primary domain, a Reputation warm-up banner sits above the tabs during the first days of sending.

Overview

Your day-one screen. The top card shows the mail server Hostname (mail.<domain>, click to copy) and a webmail action: Open webmail if webmail is deployed, or Deploy webmail if it isn't — the latter takes you into the webmail deploy flow for this server. A Protocol details → link jumps to the Advanced tab.

Below that, Setup guides deep-links to client walkthroughs (iOS & macOS Mail, Android Gmail app, Desktop clients, Send via code). The right column shows Mail stats (Domains, Mailboxes, Aliases, Storage, Messages) and Quick actions (Add a mailbox, Add a domain, Review DNS records).

Domains

A table of every domain this server hosts, with columns Domain, Mailboxes, Aliases, Default quota, and Status (Active / Disabled, with a Primary tag on the install domain). Add domain creates a new one — DKIM is generated automatically, and a per-domain DNS banner then prompts you to publish its MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC records before mail flows. Row actions let you Edit (description, default quota, active) or Delete (with a cascade checkbox when a domain still has mailboxes or aliases). Newly-added domains show a reputation warm-up banner.

Mailboxes

Always scoped to one domain via the picker at the top (defaults to the primary domain; the choice mirrors to ?domain= in the URL). The table lists Mailbox, Quota, and Status, with a Postmaster tag on the bootstrap account. Add mailbox collects the local part, full name, a password (with Generate), and a quota. Deleting offers soft delete (deactivates and queues cleanup) or hard delete (removes DB rows and the Maildir immediately); the postmaster account is protected from hard delete.

DNS

A per-domain reference plus a live check. Pick a domain, and Records for publishing shows exactly what to add at your DNS provider. Published records check runs a live public-DNS lookup on demand — press Verify (or Rescan) and each record comes back Pass, Warning, or Fail, with expected vs. actual values when something's off.

Health

The single "is everything working?" screen. A banner at the top aggregates a verdict, then two sections:

• Daemons — live systemd status of each mail process (Postfix, Dovecot, anti-spam, etc.), refreshed on a 10-second poll. Each row has a Logs button and a menu to Start, Stop, or Restart that unit.
• DNS scan — a live public-DNS check of every expected record, with a Rescan button.

Test

Test sending sends a real test email through the server to confirm delivery, DKIM, and SPF. Press Send test email, choose a recipient (and the sending domain), and check the destination inbox — and its spam folder.

Backup

Backups run through Alaf Server's general backup system, so the mail server is just another backup source. Choose what to back up: accounts, domains & aliases (always included), Mailbox message data (the maildirs — can be large), and DKIM keys & secrets.

Pick a Destination (managed on the Backups page) and an Automatic backups schedule (Manual only / Daily / Weekly), then Save settings or Back up now. Recent backups lists each run; successful runs offer Restore (in place) and Migrate (onto another server).

Advanced

The power-user surface, top to bottom:

• Protocol settings — the host/port/encryption pairs for Incoming · IMAP (SSL/TLS) and Outgoing · SMTP (STARTTLS), for wiring a client by hand.
• Mail-stack tools — Restart stack cycles every mail daemon at once (a quick fix after a deploy hiccup); it doesn't touch mailboxes, queues, or state.
• Danger zone — Re-run setup wizard (Open wizard), Reset on-server state (Reset state — clears Alaf Server's tracking but leaves the running stack intact), and Remove mail server (Remove — drops it from the list only, re-adoptable later).
• Install metadata — Server ID, Primary domain, and the Started / Finished timestamps.

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