I’m a bit stuck with getting the Web GUI to work, well not exactly, it works but to know which user is using the web interface he/she needs to login. The preferred way in this setup is to use the Apache authentication methods. I tried to use mod_auth_imap which I got working on one mini but can’t get it to work on another. I really liked to use this one as it promises all the users of my server to be able to use the same user/password combination for all the services. I’ve tried mod_auth_mysql to use the postfix admin database username/password but it looks like the md5 hash encoding of the password that’s used is not the normal md5 hash one would expect. It’s not compatible with the PHP5 md5 function or anything. Courier-auth is able to handle it, I’m wondering why. If anyone has any suggestions how to tackle this issue I would be happy to hear about it.

As a bonus, I found some nice blog posts where people switched from POP3 to an IMAP mail server. Read PC World, Geir’s blog at Codehaus and Rourke McNamara’s weblog. I always liked IMAP as it stores all your email in a central location accessible from anywhere using any mail client or Roundcube.

I knew when I started this that the title wasn’t 100% correct, but when I started this documentation process Ward Mundy gained a lot of attention with his NerdVittles.com blog where he launched his ISP in a box series which basically did the same as I’m doing but in a more simplistic manner. Without giving it too much thought I copied the title for my own use.

I’ve decided to change the naming of the documentation series. Even though this might cause some confusion and it will change some of the URL’s in the future I’m willing to give it a try. But I’ve been struggling for some time to come up with a better title that covers all the topics discussed and properly addresses the audience. The series is targeted at Mac users, even though I’ve found out that people using a different OS have found some of the documents very useful it is still only targeted at Mac users.

So a title like “webhosting in a box” just doesn’t do it for me. It’s missing the mailserver component and does not define the target audience. I kind of like “DIY hosting” as it is a Do It Yourself exercise but it misses the Mac audience. Calling it “DIY hosting on a Mac” just doesn’t have that same ring to it.

Or should I just drop the effort to find a name/title that covers what I’m doing and use a name that doesn’t mean a thing and is possibly hard to pronounce but has a great logo to go with it

The V2 version of the documentation is finished and ready for use. It has instructions for Intel and PowerPC based Mac’s and is tested on both platforms.

• Building the mail server components
• Configuring the mail server components
• Starting the mailserver programs after a reboot

There already servers on the internet live running this version as documented in V2. They are the result of people requesting my assistance in setting up their new server, done together or just by me, depending on the needs and experience of the owner. I’m considering offering the service to setup your server for a small fee to cover time spend and expenses. The people I helped until now where very pleased with the service I provided. The only drawback is that it is a service I can only provide in my spare time as I’ve got a normal day job and a family that wants to spend some time with me as well. But if you are not in a hurry, it can be done within a few days.

Next on the agenda is a How-To document to help people that don’t know how to manage the upgrade from V1 to V2. Where the difficult part is the upgrade of the MySQL database. Because the internal formats have changed this isn’t just a plain copy and paste exercise but a true backup restore action. Even my own server is still running V1 as upgrading is a tedious and precise task what shouldn’t be taken lightly is you don’t want to be off-line for long. One thing I noticed is that you can upgrade other components very easily, it’s just MySQL that’s making it difficult.

I’ve been pondering on what marketing slogan to use, how can I promote this site properly and not wasting the 50 euro down the drain. I’m the technical type, the one who is motivated mostly by reason and not by emotion. When I need to make a buying decision I’m comparing features and price. I’m in no way the creative type who can invent catchy slogans. So within 5 minutes I got a massive writers block and kept staring to the screen for almost an hour trying to come up with a text for the ad. The best thing I could come up with was:

Hosting on a Mac
Build your own web and mail
hosting platform on a Mac
switch.richard5.net

But that is just stating what this website does and it is not really selling it. But having entered this text Google pestered me with another question: “please enter the search terms you would like to use”. Another dilemma, where do I want the ads to appear ? I don’t really have a clue what to use. Should I use the search terms people use who end up on my site when they find me via Google Search or do I take completely different terms ? I really don’t know…

That’s where I need your help. Can you help me in creating the catchy ad you would click on to get to this site and find the information you need. The rules for the ad text are simple, you’ve got a title of max 25 characters followed by two line of max 35 characters and a url. Plus help me in finding the best search term people would like to see associated with this site. I will (with your help) then select the best ad you provided and run it with the search terms you come up with.

I will report back the change the marketing campaign has made in terms of visitor numbers and pageview counts. To support any claims I will make I have made my statistics that I have at Performancing.com public. That is if Google does not complain about it, I know I’m not allowed to give out detailed reports on my AdSense income which I won’t but I can tell about them in general terms (It’s not much I can tell you that). I haven’t found anything in the AdWords documents that might prevent me from giving you this info, but I stand corrected if I missed something in that massive FAQ.

I want to start with the marketing campaign when I finished the v2 documentation which I think will take me another two weeks to complete. I hope you like the idea and help me spend 50 euro of AdWords budget wisely.

So a complete MAMP installation which you can compile on your own. Hope you like it. Next up is adjusting the mail server configuration and installation to make it work with this new layout.

I’ve also upgraded my Blog to WordPress 2.0.1 last night, I was still using 1.5 and felt that I needed to upgrade. You might have noticed postings disappearing and appearing double in the RSS feed. Something went wrong during the upgrade but I made a backup !!! Which enabled me to try again successfully…
The Roundcube webmail project has made 2 patches available that solve two ugly bugs. One prevented from saving the language selection in the user preferences and the other completely omitted mail headers when having no smtp server configured.

It started yesterday morning, Tim Gaden blogged about my efforts on his site which sort of started an avalanche of other blogs to follow like NonStopMac.com and not long thereafter even The Unoffical Apple Weblog blogged about me.

Today I find my site on the popular page of del.icio.us and I showed up on some of the categories on Digg.com .

I don’t know for how long this is going to be but I’m enjoying it and my server is not failing me. Another benefit is that now other people are reading my documentation and are leaving feedback. By mail or via the comment box beneath the page. This is proving very usefull as I don’t have all the answers and make mistakes as well. You are helping me in creating a better document.

For the rest I can give you some info on the things to come, after I’m finished with documenting the simple web and mail server setup in no particular order yet:

• SSL and TLS support for the mail server (encrypted communication between client and server)
• HTTPS support for the webserver
• SPAM filtering at the mailserver
• Web based mail
• Firewall (if you have a mac mini with Airport card, because you need 2 network cards)
• Make your server fault tolerant
• Managing the server (backup and restore, adding users and sites)
• Load balancing (preventing a /. effect)
• and more…

Let me know what you think is missing or would like to see, do you like the format of the documentation, is it readable (english isn’t my first language) and most important is it usable.

To set or reset the System Administrators (or root for short) password yuo need the original Mac OSX install disc. Insert it into your drive and restart the computer. During the boot sequence (just before the boing sound) press the ‘C’ key on your keyboard and keep it pressed untill the spinning icon has dissappeared from the screen.

It will look like you are about to re-install your system but don’t panic. There is an item in the menu bar called Utilities, which contains an item ‘Reset Password’ in the drop down list. Select this menu item and a new window will appear.

It will show all available bootable discs connected at this time to your computer. Select the disc you are going to use for your server. Then in a drop down box beneath that you see all the configured accounts on that disc. Select the ‘System Administrator (root) from the list and type in the new password. You’ll have to enter it twice for confirmation and to make sure you typed it correct. Press the ‘Save’ button and your done. Quit the reset password utility by closing the window or select Quit from the menu.

Then close the installation screen and select the restart option. The computer will reboot and the root user will have a known password.