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For the last 12 years I’ve had my own server running at home. In the last few weeks I’ve just upgraded the PC it runs on, installed new OS and found it a new home in the garage. However when I tweeted what I had done I was surprised that others felt it was difficult to do. So here is my short guide to what I run at home.

When I started out I was using a server it was because I was disheartened with my ISP and there lack of ownership to email support. It was also a time when we switched ISP more often and that meant my home email address was always changing. So part of the deal with getting my own server was to look after my own emails. Now many people use webmail like gmail or yahoo etc. But for me these had restrictions on attachment sizes and then there are worries about security.

There are lots of options of OS to us, first was easy as it had to be Linux for me. Microsoft servers i have used in the workplace always had patches and needed lots of work. However most people feel a Linux server even harder to look after. Not so as there are some really good builds out there - my choice is SME [www.contribs.org]. This is built on the CentOS framework which has its origins back in RedHat. It has no front end, only command line however all the management can be done via a web interface. Many people are used to controlling a server over the internet via a web interface, so this is no different, other than its in the room next door.

My new machine is a old computer I've had for years; its a 3Ghz P4 with 1G of RAM however SME can run on a lot less, its just what was left over. the machine has a 200G HDD but SME installs from a 750Mb DVD image (just too big for a CD) and inflates to around 1G. This leave LOTS of space if you also have other plans for your server! The install is very easy, just follw it along, give the server a name, IP address and the address of your router. SME can be used to perform as a firewall however I use it in server only mode behind my own firewall/router. It will also want to have a domain name so it can act as a email server.

I have a few domain names and this server looks after all of them. The primary one however is used for the machines domain name. You can get domain names from lots of places however I got main from freeparking.co.uk this is partly because its very easy for me to configure DNS and domain name settings, but will come back to that.

So once installed your server just sits there with the basic admin account. next is to get traffic to it. I have a ISP with a fixed IP address so I can hop over to Freeparking.co.uk and set my web and mail address as my fixed address. If however you have a ISP without a fixed IP address you can use a service like dynamic DNS address. Most routers support this and when they get given a IP address by your ISP it will go off and configure ‘the internet’ so it can find you. Not such a issue for me so with the DNS setup I only have to set up port forwarding on my router.

Again routers make this easy now and you can configure your SMTP to point at the IP address of your local server. Having done this I went of to a gmail account and sent a test email to admin@{mydomainname} and it worked, well not bounced!

The nice thing about SME is that you have webmail interface to you emails also, just like gmail, just not so good looking! Logging in here lets you check and test the email system. It typically takes about an hour to install SME and about 20 mins to setup and test the email. In our house we have a number of people each with their own email address. By adding users to the server again though the web interface you can then allow everyone to have their own account. You can use anything you like to get your email, we use outlook on one machine and if that works, anything will! You can have as many email addresses as you like, these can be forwarded to other accounts on the server or even to external email accounts.

I commented that I have more than one domain name, in fact I have three that i look after, it was five at one point. Again SME will look after all of them on one install. Adding the domain names to the server it will them allow each username for each domain name. For example I can be paul@domainone.com, paul@domaintwo.co.uk etc etc and they all get delivered to me!

Security is always an issue people are worried about. However the open source SME server means that there are loads of linux gurus out there updating and testing packages though the SME contribs community. Also by only opening the ports you want on your router to the server, you limit what the outside world can get at.

In all the SME server have been very stable, easy to configure and update. As a email service I spend almost no time looking after it - in fact when it used to live in the porch I forgot it was even our server. However it can be used for much more.

The SME server can be used as a web server also. it will also support each domain name as a separate website. able to run the latest php its always supported my hobby pages without an issue. I also use the server as a local NAS, ok my 200Mb homehub network may not be super fast but you can stream video and easy move large files around and even place them on the website for remote access. SME also support a VPN connection allowing you to be at home when away. Theres also FTP and much more.

And as a last point I’d like to say that I’m not a expert server builder or IT person. SME works partly because of the great support and HOWTOs on the Contribs wiki and forum. The community as I said are always developing the server and this means that I get to benefit from a new server, safe and high performance, every new years.

Thanks

Paul (aka @monpjc)

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