Help with setting up personal server

Do you have a static ip address?

And what computer do you plan on hosting it on? I recommend a macmini to keep power levels down.

It's all possible, but may not be an easy task depending on your knowledge and perseverance.

what kind of router are you using now?

Note: Apple Removed DHCP Server GUI in Mountain Lion Server, but the service is still present and can be enabled. Too bad able removed the DHCP Server GUI since it was pretty decent.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5412

I recommend that you stick to DHCP services on your router or get a better router that has better options.

Example: Cisco Linksys e1200v2 with dd-wrt installed or better router that support dd-wrt

To have a mail server running isn't that difficult, just give your server an A-record in the registrar's DNS pointing to the public ip of the server you've set up. Since you've already set up port forwarding this should not give you any more problems. In the mail section of the server app please specify the domain for which the server is supposed to handle mail.

Having correct reverse DNS is also a must for the mail from your server not to be discarded by many receiving mail hosts.

Your provider needs to allow port 25 TCP to be open both ways for mail traffic to pass to and from other mail servers. But maybe your provider offers a mail relay mechanism or you can change the service with your ISP to a business solution alowing you to run your own mail server.

The modem needs to forward all ports to the router, which needs to forward it to your computer. The Firewall should be enabled on the server (via Server Preferences: Security: Firewall).

To make websites working add an @ cname pointing to your A-record and a www cname pointing to your A-record alike in the registrar's DNS.

I'm sure I forgot about things, so feel free to ask if you run into trouble.

p.s. by registrar I mean Network Solutions in your case.

1. Use the Lion server, becouse its have a advanced mail preferences.

2.DHCP may work on router as well and its better than run it on the server.

3. You need setup routers port forwarding http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

1. Lion is no longer for sale.

2. Haykong already made this point clear and yes, I like to spread the risk as well 🙂

3. kdwyatt, the topic starter, already mentioned completing this step.

Let's start at the beginning. kdwyatt, are you familiar with what DNS is? If not, that would be the first thing to read up on before attempting to configure your server. Though Mark23 gave you some basic instructions, I sense you might not really understand what those things are yet. Well configured DNS is essential to hosting services on the internet, and particularly, for Mac OS X Server.