wazmac || Intranet Servers

Intranet Servers

<<< School Intranets

Overview

At the centre of all school Intranets is a server that hosts web and mail services. (Although many schools will only be interested in the web portion of these services.)

This page provides information about Web Server and Mail Server software for Macintosh, Windows and Linux computers in a school environment.

The Internet Protocol (IP), that provides these services, is "platform independent". The platform of the computer you are using to receive information (the "client") does not need to be the same platform as the computer sending the information (the "server"). So long as they are both using the same protocol - TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

Intranet server The platform requirements shown below refer to the server. Once this software is enabled on the server, then any computer on the network can access the information stored on the server (web pages, e-mail, etc), regardless of the platform of the client.

Macs can serve Windows machines, and vice-versa - or any combination of platforms can co-exist on your network! (For example, the majority of web servers on the internet are Unix computers). So long as the "client" is configured to access the IP address of the server (eg: 10.0.0.222).

It is assumed that a compatible network, such as Ethernet, exists between the various machines.

Already have a Mac OSX Server?

Mac OS X Server includes a Web Server and a Mail Server (along with File Sharing, Print Sharing, and a wide range of other services, accessible through Server Admin). None of the Web or Mail servers listed below are required if you are using a Mac OSX Server, unless you want to setup an independent server for Web or Mail services.

Proxy Servers

The caching facilities of a Proxy server, used strategically in conjunction with a school Intranet setup as an Internet "gateway", may significantly improve the speed of access to web sites which are visited regularly by students from within a school Intranet. See Wazza's Proxy Server Page for more info about setting up a Proxy server.

Web Servers for a School Intranet

A web server is the key element in your school Intranet. Mac OS X Server includes an integrated web server solution (Apache), and a dedicated publishing space for each student and teacher, making it an ideal option for a school Intranet server. But there are some alternatives.....

Quick and Easy (and free!)

If you are not able to setup an Intranet on your school's server (maybe it's 'locked down' by tech support staff, etc) then you can create your own Intranet using any computer....

Quick and Easy Intranet 1

If you already have:

• a school network
• a web browser
• a 'spare' computer (Mac or Win)

- you are just one step away from
creating your own school intranet.

Quick and Easy Intranet 2

If Option 1 doesn't suit because...

• Don't have a 'spare' computer?
• Unable to setup a server?
• Your network is locked down?

Try an online service (such as Wordpress)
for your school's Intranet.

Macintosh Web Servers

Windows Web Servers

Mac OS X Server: Mac OS X Server includes the popular Apache web server. The server integrates each user's Sites folder to be their default Intranet site.
Mac OS X Web Sharing (pdf - 1.4 Mb): If you don't have a dedicated server, a standard Mac OS X computer (an iMac, eMac, Mac Mini, etc) includes the renowned Apache web server, and can be used as an efficient school web server. Includes info about getting your content started using a template created using iWeb.
MAMP: Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP. Installs an advanced web server with a database environment on any Mac. Free and Pro versions available. (Watch a YouTube video about installing MAMP and WordPress.)
WordPress: Download and install with MAMP above to create a free multi-user publishing environment in your school.

Windows 2008 Server: Internet Information Services (IIS) is part of Windows Server 2008 R2, and provides a security-enhanced, easy-to-manage web platform.

Abyss Web Server: Very small, fast and neat! You can use this small server to turn any Windows computer into a web server that will adequately meet the needs of a school intranet. Just add a web editor to create content!
Pi3 Web Server: Easy to setup and configure. Available for Win and Unix platforms.
WAMP: Windows, Apache, Mysql and PHP. Installs a web server with the standard database stuff.
Windows XP IIS server: Win XP includes a built-in web server (ISA) which is not installed by default. You can install the ISA web server by going to the Control panel > Add Programs > Add Windows Components, and installing IIS.
Xerver: A tiny fast web server allowing you to run CGI scripts.
Xitami Web Server: Small and fast.

Linux Servers

SME Server: Built on CentOS using the publicly available open source Red Hat.
More info here >>>

Intranet Web Server Configuration

Intranet Web Server Utilities

Mac OS X Server: OSX Server Intranet (pdf - 357k)
Create an Intranet user, set up a site, then configure your server and clients for this site to be the school's default Intranet site.

See also: Wazza's frameworks and tutorials page, to get your Intranet started.
Mac OS X Web Sharing (pdf - 1.4 Mb): If you don't have a dedicated server, a standard Mac OS X computer (an iMac, eMac, Mac Mini, etc) includes the renowned Apache web server, and can be used as an efficient school web server. Includes info about getting your content started using a template created using iWeb.

Web Sharing in OS X Mountain Lion: Re-instate a Web Sharing System Preference pane in Apple's OS X 10.8.

Windows XP: Setting up an IIS Web Server (pdf - 400k)
Turn a Windows XP computer into a fully functioning Internet Information Services web server for your school intranet.
Sentral: FTP with iWeb '09 (pdf - 450k)
All Sentral servers include an Intranet (and Internet) server with Apache software. Publish your school Intranet and Internet sites to your Sentral server using the FTP facility in iWeb '09.

xSUIM
(OSX Server User Import Manager): Primarily for NSW public schools, though could be used with other systems. (Needs Filemaker).
SWIG
(Student Web Index Generator): A spreadsheet that exports a web index page, providing links to student web pages on an OS X web server.
Stu's EduWeb (Win): A Windows application that creates an Intranet framework for student publishing.

Mail Servers for a School Intranet

While most school systems provide a system-wide mail solution for students and teachers, a locally hosted mail server may be a useful option for some school environments.

Macintosh Mail Servers

Windows Mail Servers

Mac OSX Server Mail: Mac OS X Server already has SquirrelMail installed. In a nutshell (pun intended!) to turn it on:
- Open Server Admin;
- Select Web in the left hand pane;
- Select Settings in the button bar;
- Select Sites in the button bar;
- Select your web site;
- Click on the pencil to edit that site.
- Select Options and enable WebMail;
- Restart your server.
Kerio Mail Server: For small to medium businesses, schools, government and non-profits that need Exchange features, Kerio MailServer offers an easy to install, easy to administer, and cost effective Microsoft Exchange alternative.

MailServe for Leopard: MailServe sets up a totally buzzword-compliant mail server on Mac OS X, the Mac Way. It sets up SMTP, UW/IMAP & POP3, and Fetchmail services, including support for SSL and SMTP authentication.
PostFix Enabler (10.3, 10.4): Set up a totally-functional buzzword-compliant mail server in less than a minute. It sets up SMTP, POP3 and IMAP services, with or without SSL support. (Shareware).
Some other Mac Mail Stuff:: Eudora Internet Mail Server (OS9); Brilliantly simple e-mail server. Staff and students on your Intranet can send e-mail to each other, just as if they were on the Internet. Very low overheads - less than 1Mb RAM required. (Freeware) Might be a useful application for an old computer?

Eudora Internet Mail Server 3.3 (OSX)
Commercial version of the above.

Winmail: An enterprise class mail server software system offering a robust feature set. (Shareware).
InetSERV: Mail server for Windows. Very easy to setup. Double-click it and it is running! (Freeware.)
JustPOP3: Not a mail server, JustPOP3 is an e-mail checker/reader, runs Win9x, and can be used in conjunction with a mail server.

When new mail arrives it can play audio, beep or remain silent. If minimised, the icon in the taskbar will flash when mail arrives.
Kerio Mail Server: For small to medium businesses, schools, government and non-profits that need Exchange features, Kerio MailServer offers an easy to install, easy to administer, and cost effective Microsoft Exchange alternative.

Linux Servers

Much of the Internet and associated infrastructure grew up in the Unix world. The majority of commercial ISPs use Unix applications such as Apache and Squid to power their operations.

True Unix is very much still a tech tool, with a "command line" interface. However, some of the "user-friendly" distributions of Linux provide the non-techos amongst us with an opportunity to experiment with some of this great software.

Why would you want to use Linux? Linux software runs very snappily on older computers. Web servers, proxy servers, ftp servers, etc provide very reliable, and surprisingly quick performance on "last generation" (PII/PIII) PCs, which might otherwise be not of much use.

And the software is generally open-source.

If you want to have a play with Linux servers on your Intranet, here are some good places to start:

Ubuntu Server: Built on Debian and tailored for school needs.
LAMP How-to: Linux, Apache MySQL and PHP - How to setup on a Linux server.
Apache: The "industry standard" web server. Included with most Linux installations. (Also now part of Mac OS X).
Squid: Lightning fast and super reliable proxy server.
DansGuardian: A content filter which can be used with Squid.
DansGuardian WebMin module (Use WebMin to admin DansGuardian).

SME Server: Built on CentOS using the publicly available open source Red Hat.
More info here >>>
Proftpd: An FTP server, which you will need if you want to use ftp to upload your web site files to your Apache server.
WebMin: WebMin provides a web interface to the administration of the above software, plus lots of other Linux packages. Essential if you want to avoid most of the command line stuff!