I have a couple Docker containers that use email as an alert system or just for info like completed jobs. The server I would like to host them on has, for whatever reason, blocked email ports and you have to pay extra to have them turned on.
It seems to me tho, that I should be able to port all email through Tailscale to a local or even remote email client. For instance, in the case of setting the parameters in the Docker compose, it would look something like this:
SITE_NAME: mycoolwebsite
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL: email address
EMAIL_HOST: smtp
EMAIL_HOST_USER: email address
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD: email password
EMAIL_PORT: 100.x.x.x:587
Then, configure the local email client to listen on 100.x.x.x:587.
Would this be doable, or is there a better way?
You need a mail server somewhere, a mail client cannot listen for incoming messages. A possible workaround: you could activate your own mail server accessible only inside tailscale and use it to send and receive your local alerts.
Would something like Mailu work. It runs in a docker container.
ETA: The client would be on my desktop in the form of Thunderbird. It lives on part of my tailnet. In theory, it would be ‘connected’, no?
Mailu is a mail server so it is suitable for the task.