Microsoft Azure Websites - Custom domain mail

问题:

Microsoft Live Custom Domains are now shutting down. I have been using this service for e-mail hosting for all my Microsoft Azure Websites, but now it is gone and no viable replacement is in sight. Do you have some idea what alternative approach exist for hosting multiple mailboxes for multiple websites hosted on Azure?

回答1:

I feel your pain. Had to have some tough talks with many of my customers when the free Google Apps option was discontinued.

I found two routes:

1. Find a hosted Exchange type solution. This has the advantages of any hosted solution. It is managed for you. You can get started with around 50 USD / user / year and services are provided by the likes of Microsoft, Google and Rackspace, like stated in the other answers.
2. (Which is the route I chose) Host your own Exchange server on AWS EC2 or Azure. Thanks to Microsoft License Mobility, you can install an Exchange license on a cloud server and provide email addresses for your customers` domains yourself. This will allow you to share the cost of the Exchange license between all your customers and if you reach the critical mass, this can save a lot compared to the pay-per-user-per-month models for most hosted solutions.

I am stil looking for a free alternative, but have yet to find one that can match the features that were available in the free version of Google Apps.

EDIT: I was thinking about this again last night and came up with another idea. I am not a Linux guy, so I would not be happy to do this for production mail server. For someone who is "bilingual" (i.e. ok with both MS and Linux solutions) or of a more adventurous nature than me, could take route 2 with a linux server and an open source mail server solution. I am sure this will lower the cost even more significantly, since you will not need to pay for the mail server licence and also per-hour instance costs for Linux servers are lower. This might even create a whole new revenue stream.

回答2:

Your cheapest option is to have one (single) google apps account which will cost you around $5 per month. Make it something very general like [e-mail]. Then in the google apps dashboard make it a catch all address. This will make the single inbox catch all email for accounts such as Sales@, support@ bob@ or whatever at your domain.

Then you can set Gmail filters to sort (label) each incomming message based on who it was sent to. For example you can have messages sent to frank@ automatically labeled as frank.

Next you want to create regular old gmail accounts for all of your individual users. I am going to follow the example of creating a box for [e-mail] for this instance.

1. Create Google Apps primary account (catch all) as [e-mail]
2. Create Gmail account for [e-mail] (regular gmail account)
3. Create filter rule on Google Apps account for all messages sent to [e-mail] to be forwarded to [e-mail]. You can further mark them as read or delete them upon forward.
4. In the [e-mail] create a sending alias as [e-mail]. Google will give you a 4 digit code, and now when logging in as [e-mail] i can both send as [e-mail] and recieve all email since its forwarded to this account.

Also make sure to set default reply:to addresses in case you send from the [e-mail] address.

Using the technique above you can get all the benefits of having a pro google apps account (dkim, spf, 25gb inbox) and with a little bit of configuration you can setup multiple gmail accounts which run off the single account. We use the technique above and it works flawlessly. The only thing that doesn't work is mailbox delegation, which is not that great.

If you wanted to save the $5 you could get away with using something like GoDaddy free email forwarding, but then you would be limited to godaddys 250 message limit per day.

The approach above just works.

回答3:

I just finished installing a mail server in Azure in a Linux virtual machine. So far seems ok.

The total cost of operation is about 10€ a month since neither Ubuntu (the OS) nor iredMail (the mail server) nor Postgres (the database) have any licensing fees.

Regarding the block on Azure IPs I do believe that most users saying that did not correctly configured their servers. And by that I mean that they didn't configured the PTR reverse DNS on Azure, which allows other mail servers to check if that IP is allowed to send and receive mail from that domain.

Also make sure you add the SPF DNS entry for your mail server. You can't blame a mail server to blacklist you if you don't minimize the risks of SPAM.

Hope this helped you.

Useful links:
IredMail Server - http://www.iredmail.org/
Reverse DNS in Azure - http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/07/21/announcing-reverse-dns-for-azure-cloud-services/

回答4:

Zoho provides a Google Apps like deal for 25 users for free: https://www.zoho.com/mail/zohomail-pricing.html

回答5:

First of all you need to identify how much and what all services do you need?

1. If it is just an IMAP/POP3 Email Box, then best option is a Virtual Server or Virtual Machine with cpanel, once installed with daily backup runs good for years, you get unlimited email accounts and unlimited space !!! You can increase your VM dynamically up when you need it. Drawback is, it takes little maintenance once in a while. But most likely cpanel auto update is very stable and I have VPS running for 5 years and every year we are just increasing our disk space.

2. If you want calendar along with live docs editing etc, then you have to go with Google Apps which is cheaper then MS Exchange. But if you need strict Exchange kind of services, then you will have to go with hosted Exchange.

3. I will not recommend spending money for Rackspace or any such Cloud Email which is priced per user, which is total waste of money as they do not offer anything apart from linux server with cpanel. Those services are only for non IT people. Since you have already asked question on Stack Overflow, you can easily setup and manage cpanel based linux OS.

回答6:

you could run a Ubuntu VM in Azure and set up Postfix

回答7:

You can install a Free Mail Server on a Virtual Machine on Azure like:

https://www.hmailserver.com/download

回答8:

I have found the same problem myself.

The only alternative in the past would have been to use Google's equivalent service, but they have also stopped it.

Realistically, there isn't a free answer to using custom domains with emails that I am aware of. Both Microsoft and Google offer paid for services, but cost per user/mailbox, per-year - compared to their free services this is a big jump in price.

Google charge £33 per user/mailbox, per year. Microsoft are slightly dearer at £39 per user/mailbox, per year, but include access to online versions of Office for each user too.

For my situation, the Microsoft route may be the better option, based on my customer preferences but I am sure that the Google service is equally adequate.

Hope this helps. (But let me know if you find a better alternative!!!)

回答9:

How many real people do you have reading e-mail? As many as you got mailboxes? If not, then I really suggest you go for Exchange Online from Microsoft which goes for $4 per user (not mailbox) per month.

The trick is, that once you've set up your domains, you create a Shared Mailbox through PowerShell and while doing so, you give the real people (you pay for) the rights to read and send as. The cool thing is, that the user does not need to do anything. The mailbox simply appears in their Outlook.