[ingalaxy]

I am about to set up a mac based web server. I will also need ftp server and mail server. Since I am new to this I have a question - which software should I use? I just bought Os X (standard, not server). I heard also about Webstar and WS4D. I read an article in July's Macworld and I will be attending MWNY next month. What is the easiest solution to this? Mac is not a problem, if I need I will use G4. My setup will be DSL router (Flowpoint 2200) 1.5mb with router plugged into Extreme Networks Summit 48 10/100 switch with 2 Gb ports. I will have 2 Windows2000 servers on those ports. Mac web server and other 24 macs plus 1 pc and some other prepress rips, printers will be on those 48 ports. I will need ftp server, mail server (for about 20 e-mail accounts) and web access for about 10-15 Macs.Should I use static or dynamic IP (with NAT in the router). I am concern about security also. Should I add SonicWall Telecommuter Firewall between router and Summit switch? Thanks for any info.

[torifile]

This is actually the wrong forum for this question but I'm not a mod and really don't care . Anyway, I'm running a web/mail server on OS X and I'm not using anything other than opensource stuff. Save some money and find any of the great articles on how to get this stuff set up yourself. Try www.stepwise.com for a start. Just for your information, I'm running apache (already included and configured for basic webpages), php, mysql, postfix and imap. I didn't know how to set any of it up myself prior to reading articles everywhere about it. Another good place to look is the article on webmonkey by Wincent (of pre-release review fame). It does a great job of telling you how to set up apache with php and mysql and get it running fairly securely. Also www.macosxhints.com has been invaluable in the past though it's pretty slow of late. Hope that helps.

[ingalaxy]

This is gold. Thank you for that info.

[plaidpjs]

torifile is completely correct, this isn't really the forum for this... but, hey...

Using OS X you have a built-in web server (Apache), arguably the best and most used on the planet. You can enhance its functionality tremendously, and as pointed out there is a lot of good information and how-tos on stepwise.com, and you can check out dev shed. There is also a DNS server built-in to Mac OS X (BIND). Mail service is your principal problem, but it is also readily solved - Communigate Pro from Stalker. You can download, install, and run it for free, in fact they encourage you to do so. The only thing they do is add a line to all processed e-mails that says "*This message has been sent using a trial version of Communigate Pro".

I'm also hesitant about the ftp capabilities of OS X client... I know it will handle ftp incoming requests but I don't think it is a "full" server, as in domain name addressable.

Also, as to the security issues, well, that all comes down to your comfort level. I will say this, NAT is not a security measure, but it will alleviate some potentially large holes from direct connections.

As to static versus Dynamic IP addresses, that's an even more confounding question. It'll largely depend on your service provider, however, in terms of DSL service, if they only assign you one (standard practice) then you must use NAT, and a set of private IPs underneath. If they give you more than one, then you really should think first of adding a true Firewall to the mix and route traffic through it (i.e. all incoming http requests get pushed through to a specific address, while all outoging traffic is labeled with its public IP address). I suppose, in retrospect, however, that a true Firewall is probably a good consideration under either set-up.

Ciao!