Host your own push email for your iPhone.

Posted by markm Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:57:00 GMT

The going rate for an Active-Sync enabled Microsoft Exchange account seems to be about $15/month. Some plans are a little more, others are a little less. If you need a couple of accounts it adds up really quick. And these days every dollar counts.

For about $34/month you can set up your own email server ($12/month for the software license, $22/month for the hosting). And for that price you get 10 email accounts that support:

  • ActiveSync (Push email for devices like an iPhone or iPod Touch).
  • Secure SMTP and IMAP. (BYO SSL Cert - I have a wildcard I use from RapidSSL, you can generate a self signed cert if you don’t.)
  • Calendaring
  • Open Source AntiSPAM and AntiVirus
  • more details…

First you need to buy a license for Axigen Mobile Office. It is a yearly license and comes with ActiveSync - 99 Euros.

Then grab yourself a CloudServer from Mosso. I opted for a 512MB but you might be able to get away with a 256MB.

Once you have your CloudServer up and running and have download the latest Axigen installer you need to know a couple of things to help you on your way:

  • You can’t use the installer. Dump out the package and install it by hand. You will need to add the 32-bit support modules for Ubuntu (if that is your distro of choice).
  • You NEED a license code for push to work. Everything else works in trial mode.
  • The license code will not show up till Monday if you order it on the weekend, so plan ahead.
  • Mosso is still working on the interface for their DNS system. It should see improvements soon but for the time being you might want to transfer your domain to Hover and use theirs.

I have been using this for about a month now and I couldn’t be happier. The push email works exceptionally well and IMAP idle on the desktop is just as quick.

If you need step-by-step instructions - I do intend to post them soon - this might not be the thing for you.

But, if you need 3-10 ActiveSync accounts, you should think about this.

It is a great way to save some money and get a great solution in the process.

Mosso Cloud Servers

Posted by markm Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:41:00 GMT

Good news everyone…

Last year Rackspace acquired pretty much every single cloud computing company that I like in one swoop. Included in that list was Slicehost - cloud based virtual private servers.

Today Mosso (another of the acquisitions) turn up their Cloud Server service.

It took me about 5 minutes to get a Cloud Server up and running. Most of that time was spent typing details into their form and then adding the passwords to my vault.

The pricing is the best part. You only pay for what you use. It is really cost effective.

Once I have a chance to push the service a bit and once I get my hands on their developer APIs I will be able to give a better assessment - but I like what I see!