DiyMacServer.com

In 2007 after switch.richard5.net became successful I started this dedicated site for my documentation set and tips & tricks on how to install a fully functioning mail and webserver on your Mac. By this time I had 3 Mac mini’s, one in a datacenter at Macminicolo.net and two at home with different versions of Mac OSX for development and support. When the move from PPC to intel happened I bought another Mac mini and sold the oldest.

The information the site represented what I have done myself on my own mini’s. The documentation is the result of a lot of Googling and late night experiments. I was no expert on any off the stuff you find here but I’ve noticed I learned a lot about managing and configuring a mailserver.

We do learn some of the stuff by doing it all ourself and by helping out others in solving the problems they encounter with installing the software. We try to write down why some choices where made and why and try to explain possible alternatives. We don’t want you to expect that we have all the answers, but we try to find a workable solution for people who run into problems.

By the way we all do this next to our regular day job, it is a hobby. If you like what you found and it was really useful to you we would appreciate it if you would donate a small amount to cover the expenses for hosting the site.

In 2013 I stopped using a mini in a datacenter to host everything as VPS hosting was getting so cheap and ubiquitous that for the same cost as hosting the Mac mini I could rent 10+ VPS servers. This however meant that I had to move away from Mac OSX as an operation system and went for Ubuntu. Next to that I got a new job that came with bigger responsibilities and workload and didn’t want to keep spending every evening getting the latest version to work or solving problems.

Currently using the excellent work of Joshua Tauberer in Mail-in-a-box. It’s the simplest and best solution for setting up and maintaining your own mailserver including alle the DNS and security items like DKIM and more.