Postal

Infrastructure2048MB+ RAM

Mail delivery platform for transactional emails

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emailtransactionalsmtp

Deploy Postal in 3 Steps

Connect Your VPS

Add your server credentials to Server Compass

Select Postal

Choose from our template library

Deploy & Configure

Fill in settings and click Deploy

No Docker knowledge required

Manual Setup Guide

Set Up Postal from Terminal

Get your hands dirty: manual Postal deployment guide for developers.

Connect to Your VPS via SSH

Fire up your terminal application and establish a connection to your remote server.

terminal

# Access your VPS
ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

# With SSH key authentication
ssh -i ~/.ssh/your-private-key root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

First time? Ensure Docker is installed first: curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

Initialize Project Folder

Create a folder to house your Docker Compose configuration.

terminal

# Create and navigate to project directory
mkdir -p ~/apps/postal
cd ~/apps/postal

Create Docker Configuration

Define your services in a docker-compose.yml file:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  postal:
    image: ghcr.io/postalserver/postal:3.3.4
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
      - "25:25"
    environment:
      - POSTAL_FNAME=Postal
      - POSTAL_LNAME=Admin
      - [email protected]
      - MAIN_DB_HOST=mysql
      - MAIN_DB_USERNAME=root
      - MAIN_DB_PASSWORD=<your-db-root-password>
      - MESSAGE_DB_HOST=mysql
      - MESSAGE_DB_USERNAME=root
      - MESSAGE_DB_PASSWORD=<your-db-root-password>
      - RABBITMQ_HOST=rabbitmq
    volumes:
      - postal_config:/config
      - postal_storage:/storage
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - mysql
      - rabbitmq

  mysql:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your-db-root-password>
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=postal
    volumes:
      - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped

  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:3-management
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  postal_config:
  postal_storage:
  mysql_data:

Environment Variables

PORTWeb port(default: 5000)

SMTP_PORTSMTP port(default: 25)

DB_ROOT_PASSWORDRoot password

Execute the Deployment

Start your containers and verify they're running correctly.

terminal

# Launch the stack
docker compose up -d

# Verify container status
docker compose ps

# Follow the logs
docker compose logs --follow

Allow Network Access

Update UFW rules to allow traffic on the application port.

terminal

# Allow the application port through firewall
sudo ufw allow 5000/tcp
sudo ufw reload

# Access your app at:
# http://your-server-ip:5000

Skip the Terminal

Don't want to type commands? We've got you.

Why type commands when you can click? Deploy Postal the easy way with Server Compass.

No terminal required
Point-and-click setup
Auto SSL certificates
Rolling deployments
Health monitoring
Instant rollbacks

Download Server Compass$29 one-time • Lifetime license

After Deployment

After deploying Postal with Server Compass, complete these steps to finish setup

Run postal initialize

Create admin user

Configure DNS records

Need help? Check out our documentation for detailed guides.

Postal FAQ

Common questions about self-hosting Postal

How do I deploy Postal with Server Compass?

Simply download Server Compass, connect to your VPS, and select Postal from the templates list. Fill in the required configuration and click Deploy. The entire process takes under 3 minutes.

What are the system requirements for Postal?

Postal requires a minimum of 2048MB RAM. We recommend a VPS with at least 4096MB RAM for optimal performance. Any modern Linux server with Docker support will work.

Can I migrate my existing Postal data?

Yes! Server Compass provides volume mapping that allows you to import existing data. You can also use standard Postal backup and restore procedures.

How do I update Postal to the latest version?

Server Compass makes updates easy. Simply click the Update button in your deployment dashboard, and the latest Postal image will be pulled and deployed with zero downtime.

Is Postal free to self-host?

Postal is open-source software. You only pay for your VPS hosting (typically $5-20/month) and optionally Server Compass ($29 one-time). No subscription fees or per-seat pricing.