Welcome to the site. Our most popular posts are a series of video tutorials on How To Use Your Mac As A Server. We also answer your Mac questions. Just Ask FMB Feel free subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

In the first episode we looked at how to do the initial set up of your Mac as a server. Be sure to watch that video first.

In this episode, we’ll look at how to turn on personal web sharing so you can host a website from your machine. Also, we’ll look at the steps to have that website seen on the world wide web.

In this episode, I mentioned a few URL’s that may be of interest to the readers. Here are the Shownotes.

Macminicolo.net- The most popular and easiest way to host your Mac. Macminicolo.net offer very inexpensive colocation of your Mac. The service provides a very fast connection, a static ip address, and great customer service. (Patting myself on the back.)

Apache Server Info - Apple includes an install of Apache Web Server on all Mac OS X clients. This link will teach you more about the power that is Apache.
DynDNS.com - Helping those with a Dynamic (changing) IP address still be seen from the web, this service will give you a free hostname to use instead of your ip.
DynDNS Updater Client - helps you keep your most recent ip address on DynDNS.com
PortForward.com- The best way to host a website is with a machine that is hooked directly to the internet. But, if you are using a router on your local network there is still a way. You will need to use “port forwarding”. This site explains clearly how to do it with all kinds of routers. You’ll just want to forward port 80 to your machine.
WebMon an inexpensive but VERY powerful application to really get your Web Server working well. While the process in the video is free, this application is another way that may be worth the $15. We’ll likely look at this application in a future tutorial.

The video can be seen here

I have received quite a few requests for an RSS feed that is specifically for the Mac Server Series of videos. ( I won’t take offense on the rest of our posts.)

For those of you who would like to subscribe specifically to the Mac Server Series, you can use the following RSS feed.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/FMBServerSeries

The next video will be out on Monday.

(If you don’t know about RSS feeds, please read our description of NetNewsWire Lite. It explains RSS feeds and how they can really benefit you.)

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-a201f203c59d02b96307af3de669776d}

A few days ago I mentioned that I would be starting a video series on how to set up your Mac to act as a server. These will all be done using the Mac OS X client (not Mac OS X Server) so it won’t cost any more than an inexpensive Mac mini to be up and going.

Here is the first video in that series. It is titled “Initial Setup Of Your Mac Server.” A few of the points will be obvious to some, but it is important that we start out simple so that we are all on the same page for the future settings. Plus, missing any of these changes may cause some problems with your server later on. This is based on the experience I have setting up hundreds of minis at Macminicolo.net.

You can watch the video tutorial here.(I didn’t anticipate such high demand. Please be patient as they load.)

(Don’t forget to grab the FreeMacBlog RSS feed so you will be aware of the future videos. Upcoming videos will show you how to set up your Mac as a web server, a FTP server, and a mail server.)

A while back I showed all of you the Great Wall Of Apple Boxes that was growing in my upstairs loft. I got a lot of emails and comments asking what it was I did that would require so many Mac minis.

I work for a company called Macminicolo.net. As the name would imply, it is a colocation service for Mac minis (and XServes). People send in their Mac minis, and we colocate them so they can run websites, databases, podcasts, etc. The service is comparably inexpensive (compare it to the prices that are advertised in the Google ads at the top of this post) and offers very high speeds and security for the mini. To give you a few examples, we have one customer that runs 500 GB worth of podcasts off of his mini each month. Another customer has a site that gets 800k hits a month and his Intel mini never hiccups. We use minis for our own sites and emails. I’d say that half of the customers run Mac OS X Server, and the other half can do all of their work using regular Mac OS X. Both installs are incredibly powerful and stable.

We have a cage in a data center here is Las Vegas that is full of minis. Here are a couple photos of one of the racks in the cage. (For the privacy of our customers, I blurred out their names and ip addresses.)

Overall, the cage can be quite an impressive site. Often, the data center employees will give tours of the data center to possible customers. Our cage is always one of the crowning stops. I get the same comments every time.

“Are those mini computers?”
“Do those work well as servers?”
“Apple sure is coming along nicely as a company.”

Usually, I’ll be in the cage working while they are talking amongst themselves. Often, I’ll crack a joke like, “Here you see a real Mac IT man working in his natural environment.” That usually gets a laugh. Geek jokes.

Well, I bring all this up to announce that, in cooperation with macminicolo.net, FreeMacBlog will be starting a new video series on how to use your Mac as a server. I’ve learned a lot of the little tricks while working with the company and I think that there are others that may like to know as well. The first video will be posted on Monday and it will deal with the “Initial Setup” of the Mac running Mac OS X. We’re also hoping to give you a couple chances to win a year of free Mac mini hosting from Macminicolo.

I’m hoping that the videos will help accomplish a couple things. For those of you wishing to run a server in your house or business, these videos should help you get it started fast and free. For those of you considering a change in your hosting, or in need hosting for the first time, you might consider a Mac mini. The new Intel machines are incredibly capable right out of the box.

So stay tuned. Grab the FreeMacBlog RSS Feed or be sure to bookmark us for later. I think you’ll enjoy the tips.