How to Install Mailcow on Ubuntu 22.04

Mailcow Dockerised is the most complete self-hosted email solution available — it packages Postfix, Dovecot, SOGo webmail, Rspamd anti-spam, ClamAV and an admin UI into a single Docker Compose stack.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 with minimum 3GB RAM
• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• A domain with DNS control
• Ports 25, 80, 443, 465, 587, 993, 995 open

Step 1 — Install Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo systemctl enable docker --now

Step 2 — Clone Mailcow

cd /opt
sudo git clone https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized
cd mailcow-dockerized

Step 3 — Generate Configuration

sudo ./generate_config.sh

Enter your mail hostname when prompted e.g. `mail.yourdomain.com`

Step 4 — Start Mailcow

sudo docker compose pull
sudo docker compose up -d

First startup takes 5-10 minutes to pull all images.

Step 5 — Access Admin UI

https://mail.yourdomain.com

Default credentials: admin / moohoo — change immediately!

Step 6 — Configure DNS Records

# Required DNS records
mail.yourdomain.com    A      YOUR_SERVER_IP
yourdomain.com         MX 10  mail.yourdomain.com
yourdomain.com         TXT    "v=spf1 mx ~all"
_dmarc.yourdomain.com  TXT    "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:[email protected]"

# DKIM — get key from Mailcow admin UI
# Configuration → Domains → your domain → DKIM

Step 7 — Add Domain and Mailbox

Mailcow Admin → Configuration → Mail Setup → Domains → Add domain

Then → Mailboxes → Add mailbox

Step 8 — Enable Auto-Update

sudo crontab -e

0 4 * * * cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized && sudo docker compose pull && sudo docker compose up -d 2>&1

Conclusion

Mailcow is the best self-hosted email solution in 2022. Our team provides Mailcow installation and management services.