Single Xserve Hosting Setup

[Cory]

Hi,

Theoretical question for you…

Is it possible to setup a single Xserve running OS X Server as follows? I ask theoretically if a person could only afford a single Xserve and wanted to run all services on one box for a small web hosting company (family and friends only). Of course, understanding that there will be no services if the server loses power (after the UPS shuts down), connectivity, or because of compnent failure, as all DNS, Web, and Mail is hosted on a single server. Not looking for failover, load balancing, or Ethernet link aggregation.

Use two IP addresses – one for each NIC
Use 2 domain names – mycompany.net and mycompany.com
Name the Xserve xserve.mycompany.net during setup
Use mycompany.net for DNS/Mail
Use mycompany.com for Web/FTP

DNS Setup with Allow: Zone transfers and Recursion both off

mycompany.net.zone
mycompany.net. NS xserve.mycompany.net.
mycompany.net. NS xserve2.mycompany.net.
xserve.mycompany.net A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx1
xserve2.mycompany.net A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2

mycompany.com.zone
mycompany.com. NS xserve.mycompany.net.
mycompany.com. NS xserve2.mycompany.net.
mycompany.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
www A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
mycompany.com. MX xserve.mycompany.net.
forums A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
ftp A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2

And for Family & Friend Web/Mail

familyuser.com.zone
familyuser.com. NS xserve.mycompany.net.
familyuser.com. NS xserve2.mycompany.net.
familyuser.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
www A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
familyuser.com. MX xserve.mycompany.net.

frienduser.com.zone
frienduser.com. NS xserve.mycompany.net.
frienduser.com. NS xserve2.mycompany.net.
frienduser.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
www A xxx.xxx.xxx.xx2
frienduser.com. MX xserve.mycompany.net.

They could just use http://ftp.mycompany.com (with their User Name and Password) with their Home Directories and/or Share Points for FTP services.

Would this work?

Thanks in advance for any comments,

Cory

[chiefgeek]

I didn’t read all the specifics of the setup, but based on our experience it should work fine.

We host multiple websites (some in one domain, some in another) on our G4 Xserve. I only host mail for our own site, so I can’t comment on it.

FWIW, Tiger is advertised to handle virtual hosts for mail.

[krunk]

Hi Cory,
Yes this would work with out any problems with the following considerations, some of whch you already pointed out.
1) Loss of service if power, conectivity, it’s is lost.
2) Depending on server traffic and internet connection you should use POP and not IMAP for mail.
3) FTP – again depending on web and mail traffic and bandwdth FTP users may affect traffic if you dont control upload/download ftp speeds.

If you take the following into consideration you can do what you want to do on a Xserve. Also, make sure you are running at least 2GB of RAM. If it’s a G5 Xserve I would add at least 4GB.

If you have any questions let me know we specialize in Xserve colocation, xserve hosting, and Xserve managed services.

Sincerely,
James A. Martinez III
President
?Web – http://xservhosting.com
Email – [email protected]

[Author]

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