[David Lee]

Can anyone point me the information I need to learn how to set up a secure mail / web page server? I am Mac fluent but a real beginner when it comes to web related matters. For instance, Do I need to purchase the Server OS or can I do it with Panther alone? The machine will be a dedicated separate tower, attached to an ASDL modem through a router, with no other duties. I am assuming rather than the CPU that the HD speed and size is more important. Any help would be appreciated, including the software/hardware required.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by David Lee:
Can anyone point me the information I need to learn how to set up a secure mail / web page server? I am Mac fluent but a real beginner when it comes to web related matters. For instance, Do I need to purchase the Server OS or can I do it with Panther alone? The machine will be a dedicated separate tower, attached to an ASDL modem through a router, with no other duties. I am assuming rather than the CPU that the HD speed and size is more important. Any help would be appreciated, including the software/hardware required.

The web server is easy. Just go to the Sharing pref pane and turn on Personal Web Sharing. Put web pages in /Library/WebServer/Documents and you're all set.

As for the mail server, they are a bit more tricky. Panther uses a mail server called Postfix. You can get a GUI to help you configure it here:

http://www.roadstead.com/weblog/Tuto...ixEnabler.html

If that proves too difficult, consider Eudora Internet Mail Server (EIMS). It's very easy to use and works great on OSX. EIMS is not free though.

http://www.eudora.co.nz/

Make sure you get the OSX version.

[larkost]

On the easy-to-use-but-commercial route, I am also going to recommend CommunigatePro from Stalker Software.

But you have not told us what you are looking to actually do, so these recommendations might not hit the mark at all...

[David Lee]

Thanks for the helpful information. As for what I intend to do, well that is more complx. I personally will be advising a frind who needs to set up a secure mail server, with access available for only members of that company. Commercial applications, for both the server and firewall setup application employed, would be OK as long as they do the job and are easy to setup and maintain. None of the people involved have direct experience in this field (web related) but are rather long term Mac users - one user goes back to SE days and I started with an LC475.
The web page will be very simple, so that development should be possible, with a little help from friends, but the area we are weakest in is the mail server. Anyway, thanks again.

[larkost]

I'm going to re-irate my suggestion of CommuniGate Pro. It is very easy to setup, and has just about all the bells and whistles that you could want. I will caution you that email is a tricky beast, and there are an awful lot of bumps and bruises to be had admining a mail server... there are a lot of badly designed/run mailservers out there, and you have to deal with them all.

Putting up simple static html pages should be very doable even with limited experience. And if that is all you are doing, securing a MacOS X box is very easy (basically: don't un-secure it).

[Simon Mundy]

Postfix is rock-solid. The guy who wrote it is a bit terse when it comes to the documentation side of things, but there's a fantastic tutorial/configuration guide at http://www.securitysage.com/antispam/postfix.html once you've got things up and running.

[David Lee]

Thanks agian guys for the help and opinions. Really appreciated.