We’ve got everything compiled and configured to its time to try to start everything up and to test if it is working properly. .plist scripts will also have everything start-up automatically after a reboot. Apache and MySQL have been configured already to start after a reboot now it’s time to take care of the mailserver components.

Courier Auth daemon
Create a file called ‘com.diymacserver.courierauth.plist‘ in the directory ‘/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/‘. The content of the file should look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.diymacserver.courierauth</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/local/sbin/authdaemond</string>
    <string>start</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

To load and activate the .plist file and to make sure that it is started after a reboot you’ll need to load the plist file by using the command:

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.diymacserver.courierauth.plist

You can see if it loaded correctly by using the command:

sudo launchctl list

This will show you all the active plist files.

You can see if everything went correctly by trying to start it using:

sudo launchctl start com.diymacserver.courierauth

Courier IMAP daemon
The IMAP daemon is configured the same as the authentication daemon, the difference is in the details.

Create a file called ‘com.diymacserver.courierimap.plist‘ in the directory ‘/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/‘. The content of the file should look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.diymacserver.courierimap</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/local/libexec/imapd.rc</string>
    <string>start</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

To load and activate the .plist file and to make sure that it is started after a reboot you’ll need to load the plist file by using the command:

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.diymacserver.courierimap.plist

You can see if it loaded correctly by using the command:

sudo launchctl list

This will show you all the active plist files.

You can see if everything went correctly by trying to start it using:

sudo launchctl start com.diymacserver.courierimap

Postfix
Create a file called ‘com.diymacserver.postfix.plist‘ in the directory ‘/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/‘. The content of the file should look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.diymacserver.postfix</string>
  <key>Program</key>
  <string>/usr/libexec/postfix/master</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>master</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>OnDemand</key>
  <false/>
</dict>
</plist>

To load and activate the .plist file and to make sure that it is started after a reboot you’ll need to load the plist file by using the command:

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.diymacserver.postfix.plist

You can see if it loaded correctly by using the command:

sudo launchctl list

This will show you all the active plist files.

You can see if everything went correctly by trying to start it using:

sudo launchctl start com.diymacserver.postfix

If you look at the logfile ‘/var/log/mail.log‘ you could see if all programs started succesfully.

Next step: Installing Postfix admin