Six Great Tips for Homemade Dot Mac Servers
Pages: 1, 2
Tip 3: Disk Image Repository
If you've ever had a piece of software fail on a trip, you know the frustration of not being able to accomplish the tasks at hand. One protective measure is to carry multiple backup CDs/DVDs of your programs with you, but what if they fail, are misplaced, or even stolen? As my own extra security measure, I created a location on my server that contains Disk Images of all my important software. I also run a secure FileMaker Pro web database of all my software serial numbers and company support phone numbers.
It isn't a replacement for using a CD or DVD (primarily because of speed), but it serves as a nice safety net.
Tip 4: Collaboration -- WebDAV
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More about WebDAV WebDAV on OS X -- WebDav support in Mac OS X (Public Beta 1) allows for simple remote management of web content. Here's how to start using it now. Emerging Technology Briefs: WebDAV -- A brief look at WebDAV -- Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. Serve Your iCal Calendars Using WebDAV -- Apple is more than happy to host your iCal calendars via its Dot-Mac service. But you can serve your own calendars, and even have them automatically update subscriber versions, by using WebDAV. Erik Ray shows you how. |
With a little bit of Terminal work, you can install and enable the WebDAV components for Apache which will allow you to turn your folders or drives into WebDAV drives. Whether you're an independent contractor, a small or a large company, sometimes you need to collaborate on files with others. What I like about using WebDAV drives on my home server is that most of the imaging and publishing tools I use have support for WebDAV collaborative working. This allows me to specify a location on my server that other people can access to work on the same files. It helps when working with other contractors that I hire to keep things current, foster creativity, and keep me from the added mess of shifting files through Emails.
Another great reason for enabling WebDAV is something I stumbled upon recently. A friend bought a second coffee shop in another town. He wanted to buy another computer and be able to have two people working on the same QuickBooks file in different locations at the same time. According to him, QuickBooks Pro allows you to share network files. Since my friend is familiar with drives, but not handy with IP addresses, by setting up WebDAV on his small Homemade Dot Mac server, they can easily collaborate on the same file in multiple locations, without duplicating the file.
Tip 5: The iPhoto Shuffle
I stumbled onto this when trying to save myself a lot of time doing file conversions. My wife recently scanned 40 slides for a client in Classic mode (there is no OS X driver for our slide scanner), and she needed to supply a batch of high-res scans for archiving and low-res scans so the client could preview them remotely on a web page. She scanned them as PICT files, so we had some difficulty working with them and, of course, they were useless for the Web.
So, I needed to convert all these files and then create a web page for viewing them.
On a lark I imported the PICT files into iPhoto and was able to turn around and export them as JPGs within about two minutes. No macros required. Not only did iPhoto handle all my conversions, it also created an index page with thumbnails and links to the larger images. Two birds, one stone.
Then it dawned on me. Using my home server and iPhoto, I can create archives of images that can be viewed by clients or family in a directory on my web server. You don't need to worry about cryptic URLs created by iPhoto for .Mac, or constantly having to build new index pages. When you export from iPhoto to the web server folder, creating a new directory is as easy as creating a new folder. Why bother creating an index page of all your directories, when they can just view the directories themselves?
Notice the iPhoto directory in my web server folder. Inside you'll find three directories of photos and what that looks like in a browser window. iPhoto creates a nice little index page inside each directory. Note that I also have a movie folder for QuickTime files.
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Related Articles:
Homemade Dot-Mac: Remote Control
Homemade Dot Mac: Home Web Radio
Homemade Dot-Mac with OS X, Part 2
Homemade Dot-Mac with OS X |
Take this one step further and iPhoto also makes it handy to create QuickTime movies for friends and family to view from your server.
Tip 6: The Safari Rendezvous mod
When I first saw that Safari had a bookmark feature for Rendezvous-enabled web sites, I was really excited at the possibility of Rendezvous-based intranet publishing. It also excited me at all the possible uses I could come up with on my own intranet. However, the Apache web server included in OS X does not yet support Apple's new Rendezvous technology. Then I found Eric Seidel's mod_rendezvous.
It's an Apache 1.3.x module that makes all running Apache 1.3.x web servers register themselves with Rendezvous. Once this is done, the Safari Rendezvous bookmarks or any other Rendezvous enabled apps should be able to view them.
Now I'm not sure of every possible use for this, but I will say that small business users and even large companies can utilize this for effective intranet publishing. I'm personally very excited to try a few ideas of my own, and I'm excited to hear of any home uses people can come up with. I'm excited to have some fun experimenting with QT Broadcaster, webcams, and Rendezvous.
Final Thoughts
Now that I've whetted your appetite, I'm curious to hear what you do with some of these tips. Be sure to post any ideas you might have for this so I can try them out myself.
Alan Graham is the creator of the Best of Blogs book series and is a frequent writer on the O'Reilly Network.
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Showing messages 1 through 18 of 18.
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SSH Tunnel
2003-07-26 02:49:42 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
Interesting article Alan. I understand that its target at a more entry level sort of user but perhaps you should consider discussing SSH tunneling and/or SCP. GUI apps like SSH Tunnel Manager and Fugu make it trival to tunnel services like Appleshare in a very secure environment.
Thanks.
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iTunes Fatal Error Message
2003-02-11 05:37:32 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
Why don't you just synch up the iTunes music library file with your remote computers? If you auto-synch a few times a day, your music library will always be quite up-to-date, and you don't have to worry about locked files. -
iTunes Fatal Error Message
2003-02-11 08:21:10 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
You can do that...if you have something that will automate the sync.
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SMTP AUTH
2003-02-09 23:25:35 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
Anyone up for an explaination of SMTP authorization? The configuration seems extremely annoying, particularly getting SASL to compile.
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ISPs and personal servers
2003-02-07 09:19:02 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
Once again...I do mention some of these issues in previous Homemade dot Mac articles. I would like to point out that the day is coming where more people will be migrating from Cable to DSL because of this issue.
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ISPs and personal servers
2003-02-07 07:43:51 TheBum [Reply | View]
These tips are great for local networks. However, there should have been a disclaimer in the article that many ISPs prohibit personal Internet servers for residential subscribers, especially cable ISPs. Violating these terms may result in termination of service.
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iTunes Fatal Error Message
2003-02-06 21:28:56 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
I think I discovered where I get the error message using the iTunes tip in this article. When you have the server's drive mounted on a remote machine/client...if you try and close iTunes on the server it can't write to the Library file because it is still "open." So while this tip works great, you have to be aware that this can come up, although it is a small issue.
Just be sure to kick everyone off if you need to close the app. Once the clients are gone, everything goes back to normal. I've been using this trick for two months now with no real problems and it sure has made management less of a hassel.
Alan
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security
2003-02-06 13:35:36 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
I didn't see any security-related issues in this article. If you make your home computer "open to the public", you have to make sure "the public" won't be able to access your files.
First of all, you have to use strong passwords. Don't use the name of your pet or your dauther's birthday. Short passwords (3-4 characters) can also easely be compromised. You can add extra security to your password by using special characters in it (e.g. "&$*%)
Secondly, when you use AFP for transferring files over the internet, you have to be aware that the traffic is not encrypted. Any user with access to one of the public lines between you and your computer can read the files you are copying or using. Don't remotely access sensitive information, or use a file transfert protocol that encrypts everything. You could also use stunnel or ssh to encrypt the AFP session. Passswords, though, ARE encrypted with AFP. So you don't have to worry other people will gain access to your password.
Third, don't use protocols that don't encrypt your password. FTP is a good example. If you access your computer remotely just once with FTP, people between can know your password and all security is broken.
Those are just tree of the major security-related issues. I don't want to make you guys paranoïd, but you have to be realistic these days. The governement is watching your traffic, too. -
security
2003-02-06 21:34:15 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
I didn't discuss security because I covered it in another article. If you run a server you have to take precautions...I make it a habit to not make anything accessible on my server that is sensitive. That goes behind the firewall.
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security
2003-02-06 13:35:28 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
I didn't see any security-related issues in this article. If you make your home computer "open to the public", you have to make sure "the public" won't be able to access your files.
First of all, you have to use strong passwords. Don't use the name of your pet or your dauther's birthday. Short passwords (3-4 characters) can also easely be compromised. You can add extra security to your password by using special characters in it (e.g. "&$*%)
Secondly, when you use AFP for transferring files over the internet, you have to be aware that the traffic is not encrypted. Any user with access to one of the public lines between you and your computer can read the files you are copying or using. Don't remotely access sensitive information, or use a file transfert protocol that encrypts everything. You could also use stunnel or ssh to encrypt the AFP session. Passswords, though, ARE encrypted with AFP. So you don't have to worry other people will gain access to your password.
Third, don't use protocols that don't encrypt your password. FTP is a good example. If you access your computer remotely just once with FTP, people between can know your password and all security is broken.
Those are just tree of the major security-related issues. I don't want to make you guys paranoïd, but you have to be realistic these days. The governement is watching your traffic, too.
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smtp server
2003-02-06 13:15:09 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
If you are on the road with your portable and you need to send an email, you often have to switch smtp servers. To avoid these trouble, you can install smtp on your Dot Mac Server. You can always trust on your own server to relay your email.
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.mac-like iDisk functions. / and iSync
2003-02-06 10:49:07 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
http://www.drijf.net/dototto/
Its abit technical but nevertheless you can use Apples backup for backups etc.
for home-grown iSync:
http://www.confusticate.com/tech/isync/
both are "by hackers for hackers" in the sense that they arent really very userfriendly documentation.
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Re: Internet IP address
2003-02-05 09:39:25 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
If you read my first article called Homemade Dot Mac...I cover the whole dynapic IP issue...as I too have a dynamic IP.
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Internal Server Error
2003-02-05 08:54:34 salamon [Reply | View]
I keep getting Internal Server Errors when I try to run any cgi's on my new G4 dual 800. With an almost identical setup on my older machine it works fine.
When trying to run one of the test cgi's I get this in the httpd error log:
[Wed Feb 5 07:14:34 2003] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Premature end of script headers: /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/printenv
I'm fairly sure the permissions are right, I changed the owner of those files to www which has execute permission on them. Beside I'd probably get a different error if that were the case.
Running the script from the command line doesn't give any errors.
Any suggestions where I could look next?
andrew@nisus.com
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internet IP address
2003-02-05 08:18:35 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
It sounds like your eMac is connected to the internet with a static IP address, which would allow the kind of web publishing described in this article. Those of us with dynamic IP addresses (I use PPPoE DSL) need to use some kind of host tracking service like those offered by dyndns.org or dhs.org. This can be accomplished by using a client application on the server that talks with their servers, then your domain name would be something like "myemac.dyndns.org", which would resolve through their servers to your computer with a dynamic IP address. Asante also makes broadband routers that support this (the FR1004 series) -- handy for sharing your broadband connection with your home network, and providing dynamic host resolution as well.
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give apache directory lists the aqua look
2003-02-05 03:24:34 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
You asked for extentsions, this hint allows you to customize the apache directory listings.
check out: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021107063219391
make sure you read all the comments to see this guy's contribution
http://bronosky.com/pub/Indexing_Example/ -
give apache directory lists the aqua look
2003-02-06 21:36:07 Alan Graham |
[Reply | View]
I tried it and it worked great...thanks. This was a cool tip.
- not enough space (osx)
- this file is read only (xp, file is 777)
- this is not a qb file (xp w/ qb backup)
thx,
W