Possible use of Mac GUI?

Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. kdk at daleco.biz
Fri Jul 23 09:23:49 PDT 2004


Andrew Croft wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Is there any way to control the mailserver running freeBSD using a Mac 
> GUI application?
>
> I am not a UNIX whiz and hate having to do any manual text entry right 
> on the server.
>
> There has got to be a better way.


Not sure what you're describing, or looking for.  Very few people,
I imagine, do "manual text entry right on the server" these days, unless
they have no call to do anything else. (ie, they run a BIG mail server, and
have no call for anything but a text console; in which case they should
be making big $$$$$ for hazardous duty [what, no gaming?]).  Many, however,
do terminal emulation from some desktop or another to any number
of servers....

So, is the issue that you physically have to go to the server console,
or simply that you want some pointy-clicky thing to do the thinking
for you (no offense inferred...)?  Maybe this will at least help us to
clarify the issue.

If the problem is simply that you have to leave a comfy chair, get
an SSH client.  In Windows, you'd download PuTTY or PenGUINet
or some similar app.  I imagine that something like that is available
for the Mac as well; furthermore, since OS X has a good deal of
the FBSD "userland" available, you might simply try to use ssh
from the CLI on whatever terminal/term emulator you prefer on
your Mac; it should be there, but YMMV.  You login from your station
and do the work via CLI on a remote TTY.

I personally don't know of any whiz-bang "GUI" app for *any* platform
that controls mailservers --- there are so many possible MTAs out there
anyway.  Of course, some may have 'em, but they're unknown to me.
You might look at webmin, which is a web-based interface to many
server functions, including some mail functions.   You can also do X11
forwarding to Winboxen via CygWin IIRC, maybe something like
that for the Mac?  But, you'd have to set up X on the server, and there
goes your load margin if it handles much traffic...well, it might depend
on your choice of wm, etc. but who really wants a GUI on a headless box?

I suppose that the holy grail you seek may be out there, but I'm 
guessing that
your quest may be long, tiring, and fraught with peril, much as 
Galahad's ...
although for your sake I could hope for better things, I guess ;-)

HTH,

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.


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