> Host at home, relay via an IP address owned by a hosting provider.
As I said, "You could still use the remote host as a mere relay, but it's still not ideal". And by the way, as much as I'd like to host my email at home, I still gave in somewhat and use a remote virtual machine (at https://gandi.net).
> my flat is too small for a rack anyway. Also the noise, electricity bills and waste heat play a part.
You need less than 5W, a small shoe box worth of space, and no fan at all to host your email at home. R-Pi, Sheeva plug… A web site with moderate traffic might be more problematic. But we're nowhere near a rack. For remote hosting, you don't need more than a fraction of a CPU core.
Reliability, though, that can be a real problem. And a big reason why I still use my virtual hosting provider. I'd love a redundant setup, where if something goes down, the backup takes over, and notifies you about needing to replace a piece of hardware. (Of course, it should be plug & play so my grandma could do it… one can dream.)
As I said, "You could still use the remote host as a mere relay, but it's still not ideal". And by the way, as much as I'd like to host my email at home, I still gave in somewhat and use a remote virtual machine (at https://gandi.net).
> my flat is too small for a rack anyway. Also the noise, electricity bills and waste heat play a part.
You need less than 5W, a small shoe box worth of space, and no fan at all to host your email at home. R-Pi, Sheeva plug… A web site with moderate traffic might be more problematic. But we're nowhere near a rack. For remote hosting, you don't need more than a fraction of a CPU core.
Reliability, though, that can be a real problem. And a big reason why I still use my virtual hosting provider. I'd love a redundant setup, where if something goes down, the backup takes over, and notifies you about needing to replace a piece of hardware. (Of course, it should be plug & play so my grandma could do it… one can dream.)