Well, spent some time getting Kerio running on my MacBook. It is amazing how small a mail application is. Just 50MB.
* Loading Kerio is pretty easy and then you have to figure the firewall issue.
* I used Dyndns.com to let me direct a DNS name to my laptop behind a comcast router. This works as I can see the web interface
* I also figured out how to tell godaddy.com to point to the dns on bluehost.com and then change the MX record so that hopefully, this will point right, but there is no way to test it.
* Apple Time Capsule let’s you open up ports like the SMTP and others, but there is no easy way I can find to tell it if works. I need some sort of reverse ping, but right now opening the SSL SMTP seems to sort of work, but authentication fails, so there is something strange there. I think something is working, but not clear what.
* Kerio also supports CalDAV so that you can sync iCal and AddressBook into the sky. There is also a connector for Outlook that does the same. Finally you can fool Entourage as well as they have written a WebDAV provider too, so theoretically, Kerio let’s you sync calendars with Entourage, Outlook and iCal. Wow, amazing if it all works.
* This would all be way better hosted, so I sent a note to the few folks who do Kerio hosting. Fingers crossed.
h2. Hosted Exchange
I had previously tried Intermedia, but it never worked quite right, so now trying Applix. Big bummer is that their administrative interface at bizatlarge.net doesn’t support the Mac! You have to use IE to administer. What a bummer!
h2. Asterisk
And you can get “Asterisk”:http://www.asterisk.org/ for the Mac and it is just 20MB. These are tiny programs. There is very little documentation for Asterisk for the Mac.
* The best setup instructions are from “Apple TV Hacks”:http://www.appletvhacks.net/2007/04/02/install-asterisk-on-apple-tv/ that shows you how to build it.
* You can also get “AsteriskNOW”:http://www.asterisknow.org” which includes a Linux build to make an appliance
* you can buy an appliance from the folks who support Asterisk that is called Asterisk Appliance that uses the commercial version and the commercial version of AsteriskGUI
* There are even some folks who have figured out how to get Asterisk to run under DD-WRT on a $100 Linksys WRT54GL. That is amazing. Great for a home PBX system.
In looking this over, John is probably right, getting a hosted solution seems like a good choice. It is complicated but actually fun to learn. You can even buy the box online. For $2K, you get one of these appliances and 4 outbound lines in a subscription, so not terribly awful.
So if I have time, I’ll download SVN and compile Asterisk GUI and see if I can’t get something working. I just need a VOIP provider on the backend like Vonage to see if it works.
