Before You Install

Before you sit down to install your own Lion Server as a mail server, think carefully about what you are about to do. If you only have a few accounts, then a solution like Hosted Exchange or Google Apps might be a better fit for you. This isn’t because managing the Lion Server is difficult; it’s not. But the ecosystem that goes into mail can be frustrating.

If you do decide to continue, there are a few tasks to perform before you get started. These include getting a domain name (e.g., krypted.com), configuring the DNS for that domain name (e.g., mail.krypted.com), configuring the IP address you use through your Internet service provider (ISP), and making sure that the IP address the ISP gives you isn’t blacklisted.