[CalendarServer-users] How to set up Calendar Server for a small virtual office

[Emil Lundberg]

> The Calendar Server is installed and I could run it once and  
> subscribe iCal to it.
> After closing the Terminal the Server stopped and I was not able to  
> run it again, because Twisted was running.
>
> First, how can I stop Twisted, or even better, how can I run  
> Calendar Server as a daemon on my iMac (always on at home) and  
> startup automatically after a restart?

If DCS has stopped responding, twistd is most likely not running. You  
probably have a stale pid file, remove it from the ./logs directory  
or use "./run -k", and try again.

To get it to run as a daemon, use "./run -d". To kill it properly,  
use "./run -k". For more commands, use "./run -h".

To launch the service at boot time, activate it as a launchd daemon -  
see the recent "How to install as system service?" thread for  
pointers. If there is general interest, I can do a more formal write- 
up of the procedure?


> Secondly, We are working with 5 people without an office. We are  
> using MacBooks and are on the way or working at home and do have an  
> internet connection.
> What should I change in the .plist's and .xml's to have a fine  
> setup, so all 5 can access the Calendar Server with all the new  
> collaborative functions available now in iCal 3, sharing calendars,  
> invitations, etc.

caldavd file: You'll want to change the ServerHostName key and add to  
the BindAddress array, using your real DNS name and IP address,  
respectively.

accounts file: The XML directory service is covered in the Wiki:

http://trac.calendarserver.org/projects/calendarserver/wiki/ 
XMLDirectoryService

See also the searchable archives for more on most of the above:

http://www.mail-archive.com/calendarserver-users@lists.macosforge.org/ 
maillist.html


> Also, what should be settings of the port forwarding in the  
> AirPort, and shat should be set in the System Preferences.

The default destination TCP address for calendar server is 8008  
(http), 8443 (https), so this needs to be open/forwarded in any  
firewalls. If you are using the Airport as a NAT, however, thing get  
more complicated, as you will want to use the same server name in the  
account settings of iCal both outside and inside the NAT. To make it  
reasonably stable, you'd probably want to setup a dynamic DNS record  
pointing to the Airport IP and using this as the server name even  
inside the NAT. This is nothing unique to calendar services, of  
course, and you may well have this setup already...

HTH,

/Emil