In this tutorial, we'll explore a couple of ways to provide AirPrint to your iOS device using your Mac as well as how we can make AirPrint work even better! How AirPrint Works AirPrint was introduced in iOS 4.2 and is designed as a simple, no setup required, method of printing from an iOS device. The Coronavirus lockdown has not only made me think about building this Mac mini server, but has taken me back to one of my previous areas of work more than over the past few years – web design, specifically with WordPress. For years I have wanted a proper staging server for WordPress projects. This will open the Mac App Store and show you the correct version of Server for your system (2.2.5 for Mountain Lion; 3.2.2 for Mavericks) for you to buy, or redownload if you bought it previously.
Starting the Apache web server[edit]
Using Mac OS X as a web server is easier than you might think. The reason for this is that Mac OS X is shipped with the powerful and widely used Apache web server software built right in.
To begin, open Applications > System Preferences (look for it in the Dock) and go to the Sharing pane. Under the Services tab, check Personal Web Sharing or select it and click Start. The Apache web server should now be running and will automatically start everytime your computer boots unless you change the settings in the System Preferences.
Because Apache runs as a background service or daemon and not a normal application, it won't appear as an item in the Dock when it's running.
Setting up your web pages[edit]
Open a web browser - like Safari - and type in localhost in the address bar. You should see a page that says something along the lines of 'Seeing this instead of the website you expected?' This message is the default page that the Apache web server will show when it's first installed. It means that Apache is configured and working correctly and that you're ready to put your site up!
Naturally, you don't want people to see the default homepage when they go to your web site, you want them to see your own web page. To do this, open a Finder window and go to /Library/WebServer/Documents/. You should see a group of HTML and image files including one called index.html. These files are used in the default Apache page you just viewed.
You can delete these files (or put them somewhere else if you want) and you'll then be ready to put your own web pages in this folder. When you've put your own HTML and image files into the /Library/WebServer/Documents/ folder, go back to localhost in your browser and refresh the page. You should now see your web pages instead of the default Apache one. Give yourself a pat on the back, you have now established a web server! However, you are not quite done yet..
Giving others access to your web site[edit]
Now you've got your web server set up, you need to give people an address to visit your web site.
This part of the tutorial assumes that your computer is connected directly to the internet and isn't behind a firewall or connected using a network hub or DSL router. If your computer is connected through a router, you may need to consult the manual that came with it to enable port forwarding a facility that allows your Apache web server to send data to the internet via the router. The built in Mac OS X firewall automatically allows Apache to send web pages to the internet but other firewall software may differ.
If your computer is connected directly to the internet, you could just give people the IP address of your computer which you can find out using WhatIsMyIP but there can be problems with doing this..
The problems start because most internet service providers (ISPs) give their home user's computers a new dynamic IP address each time they connect to the internet. The IP address is used to identify each individual computer on the internet. This means that as your computer's unique IP address changes, the corresponding address of your website will change and therefore any links and bookmarks to your site will stop working!
Fortunately there's a solution to this problem called DynDNS, a service that forwards visitors to a web address of your choice (URL) to your dynamic IP address. All you have to do is register with DynDNS, download the Mac OS X client program, set it up and it will automatically update your DynDNS account with your IP address whenever it changes.
If you are lucky enough to have a static IP (which doesn't ever change) then you won't need a DynDNS account, but you might want to buy a domain name so people don't have to type in a number to visit your page. DynDNS also offers you free domain names for static IPs.
Once you're set up with DynDNS, you can get to your website by typing in the domain name you chose to use with them (note sometimes, the DynDNS service takes a while to update when you first set up your account).
Troubleshooting[edit]
Apache isn't running[edit]
If you can't see pages on your web server from your own computer, check that Apache is running. In the Finder, open the menu Go > Utilities and open the Activity Monitor application. In the window that appears, look for an item in the list of running processes called httpd. This is the Apache web server and if its missing from the list, Apache isn't running.
To start Apache, you can either turn on Web sharing in the Sharing pane of the System Preferences or go into the Terminal and type sudo apachectl restart followed by your password when prompted for it.
Can't access your site from your own computer[edit]
If Apache is running and you can't see your website from the Mac it's running on, check that the address bar says either http://127.0.0.1/ or http://localhost/. If it does, check that you have put some files into your Apache web sites folder.
Can't access your website from the internet[edit]
If Apache is running but you can't see your website from a computer outside your network or by typing in a DynDNS address, there may be a network problem preventing computers outside your network from connecting to your Mac. Check your router to see if port forwarding is enabled and configured correctly.
If you still can't get to your website from outside your home network, If it is enabled, check that your ISP allows you to operate webservers on their network. Some ISPs block TCP/IP port 80 which is used for the HTTP protocol used by web servers and browsers. If this port is blocked, then you will have to use dyndns or no-ip.com to bypass port 80 and use another port such as 8080. This need to configure your apache too.
Home Server Mac
Web pages for multiple users[edit]
If you have more than one user set up on your Mac OS X computer, you may be interested to know that each of these users can have their own web site as well. You might have noticed that every user on Mac OS X has a folder in their home directory called Sites.
HTML and other web page files you put into this folder can be viewed by opening the URL http://localhost/~username/ in a web browser where username is the shorthand version of your Mac OS X user account name (the name of your home folder in the Finder).
Security Considerations[edit]
There are some important issues to consider if your Mac hosts a webserver exposed to the internet. This is especially true if you use scripts (like perl, PHP, JSP, etc.) It's worth taking the time to get informed. Also, if you don't know what you're doing, do not attempt to configure Apache manually.
Free Server For Mac
External links[edit]
Here are some other useful resources:
This is part 3 of the series about the Mac mini server. Do read part 1 about the requirements and the hardware, and part 2 about the repairs and the network setup first.
Contents of this blog post
What To Use Mac Server Fortnite
9. Music
I have more than 28000 mp3 files, ripped from CDs I got rid of long ago. I do not want 150Gb of music on my MacBook all the time (note: I will keep some mp3s on the MacBook, but just a few thousand), and I do not want to pay for enough iCloud storage to store them all there too. But playing this music at home (and on the road as well if possible) – and indeed from multiple devices – is one of the central aims of the server project. So how do you do this?
The answer is initially simple, but there were some glitches to get it just right. It all starts with Apple Music on the Mac mini.
The setup in the Music App and in Media Sharing in System Preferences is:
This makes an orderly media library on the Mac mini. Also as an External DVD Drive is currently connected so as to rip the few other CDs and DVDs I have here, these CDs will then be saved to the Mac mini library and then also accessible to the other devices connected here.
That's all easy enough.
What To Use Mac Server For Dummies
But what about sharing this Library?
To other Macs on the network (but not elsewhere) 'Share media with guests' works – the Library appears in Music (or, on older Macs, iTunes) on the network. But this does not work on iOS devices. Here, and elsewhere on the net when travelling, 'Home Sharing' has to be used, and is explained here – note this must not be confused with Family Sharing. The confusing thing with Home Sharing that Apple does not explain on its explanation page is that you can use a different Apple ID for Home Sharing than for the main Apple ID on your device. So my partner's iPhone has her Apple ID as the main one, but my Apple ID for Home Sharing – because my Apple ID is the one that is set for Home Sharing on the Mac mini. You could of course make a completely separate Apple ID for your server, but then you have headaches with 2FA and app purchases, so I have stuck to using my own Apple ID and my partner using this for Home Sharing.
Last but not least, does all of this work with the old AirPort Express 1st Generation that is connected to the hifi in the living room? Yes. I can play music on my MacBook Pro or iPhone, with the file on the Mac mini, and the output is sent to the AirPort Express.
10. Films and TV Series
Anyone who knows me well knows I am not a big film or television watcher. But there are a few series I have bought over the years, and some DVDs too. All of those DVDs hanging around are going to be ripped and saved to the Mac mini. For this I have installed Handbrake on the Mac mini (guide here), and decrypting them using libdvdcss (explained here) installed with Homebrew (guide about how to install it here).
But just as with the music, how do you share this?
The answer is rather similar – use Home Sharing. This allows shows to be viewed on an iPhone in the TV App, and on the other Macs too.
11. Photos
I might have 150Gb of music, but I have 500Gb of Photos. And here Apple's bind-in to store photos in iCloud is even stricter than for music and for films. So here a file sharing system is the way to do it. Both my MacBook Pro and my partner's MacBook Air will have 2 Photos libraries – a small one for everyday use that will reside on each Mac (and act as the System Library in each case, and in my partner's case will also synchronise with iCloud). Then we will each have a sort of Archive Library for older photos, and those two Libraries will be stored on the server. To choose which Library to open, we then simply hold down ALT when starting the Photos App on each Mac. Moving photos between Libraries will be done with Power Photos, an App I already own that costs $30.
12. Music, Films, Photos – the Plex alternative
I have also experimented with Plex and Plex Media Server to do all of the above tasks – how to do it is explained here. Especially for films and TV shows it might prove to be a better bet than the Apple options. Time will tell which works best, but give Plex its due – it's simple to get the server up and running, and it works well with Apple's libraries as well.
13. Staging Server
The Coronavirus lockdown has not only made me think about building this Mac mini server, but has taken me back to one of my previous areas of work more than over the past few years – web design, specifically with WordPress. For years I have wanted a proper staging server for WordPress projects. There is an obvious solution for this – MAMP Pro. It costs €69, but offers a complete staging environment, especially for WordPress sites. This – together with Dynamic DNS (see point 8. in part 2 of the guide) – will allow me to send clients a login to test versions of their WordPress sites before launch, and I will be able to use the considerable processing power of the Mac mini to do the sort of server tasks that are slow otherwise – mass resizing of thumbnails for example. This staging server is going to need to have a SSL Certificate installed, and will need some configuration of port forwarding on the FRITZ!Box and Archer C7, neither of which are completely accomplished yet. Also for a lot of my training and teaching work I have large files that I need to share with clients – I will also use the Apache Web Server in MAMP Pro for this, with some sort of simple PHP front end – also to be finalised. This will allow me to close down an ownCloud installation I have on my other regular web server for this purpose at the moment.
In this tutorial, we'll explore a couple of ways to provide AirPrint to your iOS device using your Mac as well as how we can make AirPrint work even better! How AirPrint Works AirPrint was introduced in iOS 4.2 and is designed as a simple, no setup required, method of printing from an iOS device. The Coronavirus lockdown has not only made me think about building this Mac mini server, but has taken me back to one of my previous areas of work more than over the past few years – web design, specifically with WordPress. For years I have wanted a proper staging server for WordPress projects. This will open the Mac App Store and show you the correct version of Server for your system (2.2.5 for Mountain Lion; 3.2.2 for Mavericks) for you to buy, or redownload if you bought it previously.
Starting the Apache web server[edit]
Using Mac OS X as a web server is easier than you might think. The reason for this is that Mac OS X is shipped with the powerful and widely used Apache web server software built right in.
To begin, open Applications > System Preferences (look for it in the Dock) and go to the Sharing pane. Under the Services tab, check Personal Web Sharing or select it and click Start. The Apache web server should now be running and will automatically start everytime your computer boots unless you change the settings in the System Preferences.
Because Apache runs as a background service or daemon and not a normal application, it won't appear as an item in the Dock when it's running.
Setting up your web pages[edit]
Open a web browser - like Safari - and type in localhost in the address bar. You should see a page that says something along the lines of 'Seeing this instead of the website you expected?' This message is the default page that the Apache web server will show when it's first installed. It means that Apache is configured and working correctly and that you're ready to put your site up!
Naturally, you don't want people to see the default homepage when they go to your web site, you want them to see your own web page. To do this, open a Finder window and go to /Library/WebServer/Documents/. You should see a group of HTML and image files including one called index.html. These files are used in the default Apache page you just viewed.
You can delete these files (or put them somewhere else if you want) and you'll then be ready to put your own web pages in this folder. When you've put your own HTML and image files into the /Library/WebServer/Documents/ folder, go back to localhost in your browser and refresh the page. You should now see your web pages instead of the default Apache one. Give yourself a pat on the back, you have now established a web server! However, you are not quite done yet..
Giving others access to your web site[edit]
Now you've got your web server set up, you need to give people an address to visit your web site.
This part of the tutorial assumes that your computer is connected directly to the internet and isn't behind a firewall or connected using a network hub or DSL router. If your computer is connected through a router, you may need to consult the manual that came with it to enable port forwarding a facility that allows your Apache web server to send data to the internet via the router. The built in Mac OS X firewall automatically allows Apache to send web pages to the internet but other firewall software may differ.
If your computer is connected directly to the internet, you could just give people the IP address of your computer which you can find out using WhatIsMyIP but there can be problems with doing this..
The problems start because most internet service providers (ISPs) give their home user's computers a new dynamic IP address each time they connect to the internet. The IP address is used to identify each individual computer on the internet. This means that as your computer's unique IP address changes, the corresponding address of your website will change and therefore any links and bookmarks to your site will stop working!
Fortunately there's a solution to this problem called DynDNS, a service that forwards visitors to a web address of your choice (URL) to your dynamic IP address. All you have to do is register with DynDNS, download the Mac OS X client program, set it up and it will automatically update your DynDNS account with your IP address whenever it changes.
If you are lucky enough to have a static IP (which doesn't ever change) then you won't need a DynDNS account, but you might want to buy a domain name so people don't have to type in a number to visit your page. DynDNS also offers you free domain names for static IPs.
Once you're set up with DynDNS, you can get to your website by typing in the domain name you chose to use with them (note sometimes, the DynDNS service takes a while to update when you first set up your account).
Troubleshooting[edit]
Apache isn't running[edit]
If you can't see pages on your web server from your own computer, check that Apache is running. In the Finder, open the menu Go > Utilities and open the Activity Monitor application. In the window that appears, look for an item in the list of running processes called httpd. This is the Apache web server and if its missing from the list, Apache isn't running.
To start Apache, you can either turn on Web sharing in the Sharing pane of the System Preferences or go into the Terminal and type sudo apachectl restart followed by your password when prompted for it.
Can't access your site from your own computer[edit]
If Apache is running and you can't see your website from the Mac it's running on, check that the address bar says either http://127.0.0.1/ or http://localhost/. If it does, check that you have put some files into your Apache web sites folder.
Can't access your website from the internet[edit]
If Apache is running but you can't see your website from a computer outside your network or by typing in a DynDNS address, there may be a network problem preventing computers outside your network from connecting to your Mac. Check your router to see if port forwarding is enabled and configured correctly.
If you still can't get to your website from outside your home network, If it is enabled, check that your ISP allows you to operate webservers on their network. Some ISPs block TCP/IP port 80 which is used for the HTTP protocol used by web servers and browsers. If this port is blocked, then you will have to use dyndns or no-ip.com to bypass port 80 and use another port such as 8080. This need to configure your apache too.
Home Server Mac
Web pages for multiple users[edit]
If you have more than one user set up on your Mac OS X computer, you may be interested to know that each of these users can have their own web site as well. You might have noticed that every user on Mac OS X has a folder in their home directory called Sites.
HTML and other web page files you put into this folder can be viewed by opening the URL http://localhost/~username/ in a web browser where username is the shorthand version of your Mac OS X user account name (the name of your home folder in the Finder).
Security Considerations[edit]
There are some important issues to consider if your Mac hosts a webserver exposed to the internet. This is especially true if you use scripts (like perl, PHP, JSP, etc.) It's worth taking the time to get informed. Also, if you don't know what you're doing, do not attempt to configure Apache manually.
Free Server For Mac
External links[edit]
Here are some other useful resources:
This is part 3 of the series about the Mac mini server. Do read part 1 about the requirements and the hardware, and part 2 about the repairs and the network setup first.
Contents of this blog post
What To Use Mac Server Fortnite
9. Music
I have more than 28000 mp3 files, ripped from CDs I got rid of long ago. I do not want 150Gb of music on my MacBook all the time (note: I will keep some mp3s on the MacBook, but just a few thousand), and I do not want to pay for enough iCloud storage to store them all there too. But playing this music at home (and on the road as well if possible) – and indeed from multiple devices – is one of the central aims of the server project. So how do you do this?
The answer is initially simple, but there were some glitches to get it just right. It all starts with Apple Music on the Mac mini.
The setup in the Music App and in Media Sharing in System Preferences is:
This makes an orderly media library on the Mac mini. Also as an External DVD Drive is currently connected so as to rip the few other CDs and DVDs I have here, these CDs will then be saved to the Mac mini library and then also accessible to the other devices connected here.
That's all easy enough.
What To Use Mac Server For Dummies
But what about sharing this Library?
To other Macs on the network (but not elsewhere) 'Share media with guests' works – the Library appears in Music (or, on older Macs, iTunes) on the network. But this does not work on iOS devices. Here, and elsewhere on the net when travelling, 'Home Sharing' has to be used, and is explained here – note this must not be confused with Family Sharing. The confusing thing with Home Sharing that Apple does not explain on its explanation page is that you can use a different Apple ID for Home Sharing than for the main Apple ID on your device. So my partner's iPhone has her Apple ID as the main one, but my Apple ID for Home Sharing – because my Apple ID is the one that is set for Home Sharing on the Mac mini. You could of course make a completely separate Apple ID for your server, but then you have headaches with 2FA and app purchases, so I have stuck to using my own Apple ID and my partner using this for Home Sharing.
Last but not least, does all of this work with the old AirPort Express 1st Generation that is connected to the hifi in the living room? Yes. I can play music on my MacBook Pro or iPhone, with the file on the Mac mini, and the output is sent to the AirPort Express.
10. Films and TV Series
Anyone who knows me well knows I am not a big film or television watcher. But there are a few series I have bought over the years, and some DVDs too. All of those DVDs hanging around are going to be ripped and saved to the Mac mini. For this I have installed Handbrake on the Mac mini (guide here), and decrypting them using libdvdcss (explained here) installed with Homebrew (guide about how to install it here).
But just as with the music, how do you share this?
The answer is rather similar – use Home Sharing. This allows shows to be viewed on an iPhone in the TV App, and on the other Macs too.
11. Photos
I might have 150Gb of music, but I have 500Gb of Photos. And here Apple's bind-in to store photos in iCloud is even stricter than for music and for films. So here a file sharing system is the way to do it. Both my MacBook Pro and my partner's MacBook Air will have 2 Photos libraries – a small one for everyday use that will reside on each Mac (and act as the System Library in each case, and in my partner's case will also synchronise with iCloud). Then we will each have a sort of Archive Library for older photos, and those two Libraries will be stored on the server. To choose which Library to open, we then simply hold down ALT when starting the Photos App on each Mac. Moving photos between Libraries will be done with Power Photos, an App I already own that costs $30.
12. Music, Films, Photos – the Plex alternative
I have also experimented with Plex and Plex Media Server to do all of the above tasks – how to do it is explained here. Especially for films and TV shows it might prove to be a better bet than the Apple options. Time will tell which works best, but give Plex its due – it's simple to get the server up and running, and it works well with Apple's libraries as well.
13. Staging Server
The Coronavirus lockdown has not only made me think about building this Mac mini server, but has taken me back to one of my previous areas of work more than over the past few years – web design, specifically with WordPress. For years I have wanted a proper staging server for WordPress projects. There is an obvious solution for this – MAMP Pro. It costs €69, but offers a complete staging environment, especially for WordPress sites. This – together with Dynamic DNS (see point 8. in part 2 of the guide) – will allow me to send clients a login to test versions of their WordPress sites before launch, and I will be able to use the considerable processing power of the Mac mini to do the sort of server tasks that are slow otherwise – mass resizing of thumbnails for example. This staging server is going to need to have a SSL Certificate installed, and will need some configuration of port forwarding on the FRITZ!Box and Archer C7, neither of which are completely accomplished yet. Also for a lot of my training and teaching work I have large files that I need to share with clients – I will also use the Apache Web Server in MAMP Pro for this, with some sort of simple PHP front end – also to be finalised. This will allow me to close down an ownCloud installation I have on my other regular web server for this purpose at the moment.
14. Backups
All of the files for stages 9.-13. are backed up on an encrypted 2Tb WD Elements External HDD that is connected with USB 3 to the Mac mini – this is as simple to setup as Time Machine normally is. Eventually the MacBook Air will also be backed up, via WiFi, to the 750Gb External HDD also connected to the Mac mini, but that has not yet been finalised at the time of writing – a guide how to do that can be found here.
Web Server For Mac
15. Conclusions
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It's hard to draw any solid conclusions from this project yet – the whole thing has just been completed, and it will only show its worth (or not) over the coming few weeks. The total cost of the project, software included, is something close to 500 Euro if you needed to purchase all of this from scratch. Some things – like screen share and remote access – proved simpler than I had expected. Dynamic DNS is a pain to get right, but looks really promising. Some of the media sharing has plenty of potential, but time will tell if it works out. I will update the blog post in a few weeks in light of experience with all of this!
Related posts:
Tags
AppleApple ComputersApple Home SharingHome ServerMac MiniMac mini serverMAMPMAMP ProPlexTime Machine