Switching…

It’s a weird feeling having to blog again about a MySQL update, but due to security issues MySQL has been updated. The current release is 5.0.21 and you can get it from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/. I’ve thinking a lot on how to do this and even thought I could just skip it. I don’t want to bombard you with update after update and only blog when something significant happens. But as this is a security driven update concerning the client-server protocol I though it was serious enough to mention here.

I’ve updated the installation procedure again to reflect the version change.

I completely forgot to mention this but last week MySQL has been updated to version 5.0.20a. I was going to upgrade my test server to 5.0.20 when I got an email from the announcement mailing list that version 5.0.20a. There where some critical bugs left in 5.0.20 which needed fixing quickly that why the 20a version has been released so quickly. This proves the point I made earlier when I decided switching from the server logistics packages and base this install on the original or compile my own. You can see which bugs and issues which where solved in the announcement email that was sent out.

I’ve updated the installation procedure to reflect the version change. Updating is simple, just use the install package. It will backup your original MySQL installation and install the new one. Quite painless…

I’m rewriting, as discussed earlier, the ISP in a box documentation. Most effort is currently being put into removing the dependancies from the Server Logistics installation packages. They are very slow in updating their releases and I didn’t like to depend on them in case there is another security issue. The other item I wanted to address was the remarks I got on improving the installation process itself. People suggested if I could provide the configuration files and compilation scripts to prevent some errors and make the whole process a lot easier.

So here is the first public preview of the first pages of the new documentation. it’s not yet ready to be used properly as I only got MySQL and Apache2 covered. PHP is coming before the end of the week. But I wanted to see how you like the new way of documenting. Hope you like it…

Two more remarks:

• I’ve created a page to keep you informed on the funding of the new Intel based Mac mini. Donations and AdSense income are going strong and I think I can order an Intel based Mac mini before the end of the summer. I you want to contribute to this effort as well, use the PayPal button on the right side of the page.
• I don’t like the phrase “ISP in a box” too much but I still can’t think of another one that covers what I’m documenting here. So I wanted to ask you, can you think of a better phrase or slogan ? Or do you think “ISP in a box” is good enough ? Please let me know what you think.

I’m doubt what to do and need your input. I’ve been updating the Server Logistics packages in previous post to get around their slow update process. The PHP and Apache packages where not a real issue, there was a perfect source available without the binaries for running on Mac OS X. But for MySQL there is a perfect good binary package available with an installation program, procedure and support.

I’m willing to go to the effort to keep the MySQL setup as created by Server Logistics and try to compile from the source or shall we switch to the ‘official’ MySQL version which would mean I have to update all the installation and update instructions and documentation. It doesn’t really matter to me it’s work to be done either way.

A change will mean that everybody who wants to keep up has to change everything as well. I’m asking you for some feedback on which choice to make. Leave feedback on your preference…

I’ve started the new year with migrating everything from my old Sun Ultra 5′s who have been running my internet services for the past few years to the Mac mini. The pages you are looking at now are served from a Mac mini as it was my intention for some time. The mini is setup using my own documentation with no deviation whatsoever. (more…)

On my current mailserver I do the administration manually. Adding a new mail user is a complex task of adding several records in the database and creating the virtual mailboxes with the correct ownership and permissions. It almost never works in one go, because I don’t do it very often and have forgotten what to do. Which is one of the handicaps that you get when you never document what you have done before and make it a repeat-able exercise. (more…)

I had to start someday, and today was as good as any other day. I haven’t had time to tinker with it some more after getting everything to work but I needed to properly write down what I’ve done to get it working. For now the only thing I got is a TXT file which got some copied commands and output in it from my Terminal sessions. Good luck with it and I hope you like it.

By the way, I’ve added a Paypal donation button on the site. This is for people feeling generous and wanted to pitch in. I need a second Mac mini to help me continuing improving this stuff. I’m putting in a lot of time to help you and myself to get this working. Think of the money you save by not having to buy anything else than a Mac mini to become your own provider.

Just finished re-installing the MySQL package from Server Logistics to see if the installation was as easy as I first described. I needed to check all the steps taken and take some screenshots as I progressed through the installation for documentation later on. It was all correct just some minor typos in the documentation from Server Logistics. So I added some documentation to the Setting up MAMP page, but I might change that later on to give every installation it’s own page with full installation description.

Finally had an evening to myself to continue the research in setting up a good and secure mailserver for multiple virtual domains. I’ve started by getting SASL up and running doing some proper authentication when someone wants to send mail via our mailserver. Normally one is able to do this without providing a username and password, but in this day and age of evil spammers this is not a good idea.

Authentication for SMTP access is a good thing. But not by itself, we need to encrypt the communication between the client and the server so nobody can sniff out the passwords on the internet. To do this we need to recompile postfix for TLS support. It’s a SSL lookalike for a specific transport. More on this later.

It took me some effort and some Googling to get the authentication on STMP working using the compiled SASL library. As an added bonus I got it to use the authdaemon which we configured already for the IMAP authentication. Which saves a lot of problems now we don’t have to keep multiple user administrations. It’s getting better all the time.

Next step is getting TLS working on Postfix, keep watching…

Finally found the problem with my Postfix configuration, it had something to do with the domain tags in the ‘main.cf’ configuration file. I can now send and receive emails between several test accounts and two domain names I set up on my local Mac mini. I still have to test it in the real world but I will leave that for a later date. I can’t just remove my production server and stick my Mac mini into the network. I only have one internet connection with one ip-address so it’s going to be difficult, that step needs a lot of preparation and must include everything on the current server to be migrated to the Mac mini so I can leave it in place.

Things I still need to do is to get a more secure way of access to the mail server. I’m thinking on using SSL to access the IMAP server and to find a way to get users who are connected via the internet to send email safely without having to include their ip-address in my servers config. This should be possible in some manner which I need to research a bit more.

Another thing is that I’m going to buy an external harddisk which I can connect to my Mac mini and use it to make a test install of all the things I need to get a proper server install. When attaching a firewire disk it will be possible to boot from that and create a new installation without interfering my current installation which I use for my daily work. In this manner I can test my installation and configuration script. I’m currently writing it all down and doing a backtrack on what I did that time before it all started working

The question remaining is, shall I publish the document in advance before testing it and amend it with my findings or should I wait untill it is fully tested. Please let me know what you think or would like to see…

By the way, when I’m done it’s just going to be a document explaining how-to to create your own server. A proper ISP in a box as you might call it. I’m not going to provide install packages, you will need to compile some stuff to get it all working. I’ve made this choice because it’s otherwise going to be to dependend on all the choices you make which packages you will use for all the other components. I like having freedom of choice so I will provide it as well. I’m not going to dictate wich component you need to take, but will give options and what to do to get them working.