[X-Servers] Dual G5 Tower as a 10.4 Server?

[Peter C.S. Adams]

Thus spake Patrick Ellis <ellis at champlaincollege.qc.ca>:
> First off, will a new PowerMac G5 tower running the new Tiger
> Server software.

Yes indeed! Or I should qualify that a bit and say I don't see why not,
since all previous versions of OS X Server ran on any Mac that would run the
client. I don't have Tiger Server yet, but my first copy of OS X Server
(10.1, I believe) ran on a stock G4 tower, and I have a copy of Panther
server running on a dual G4 tower.

> Now, I work for a small college in the Montreal (Quebec) area and
> I finally have a wee bit of money to replace an old PowerMac G4
> (Gigabit Ethernet) machine that has been serving one of my labs.
> Originally I looked at the XServe but have found it to be rather
> expensive for what you get and wonder what the advantages are
> to the XServe are over a G5 tower running the same server software.

I was just in your lovely town a couple of weeks ago. Too bad we didn't meet
-- I could have talked to you about your server and then written the trip
off on my taxes! :->

The basic advantages of the Xserve are compact size/rack mount capabilities
and remote sensing. You can do remote management with the G5 tower, but with
the Xserve, you can remotely monitor the temperature, state of the fans,
power supply, etc.

> Space and physical security is not an issue for us.  Based on our
> (seemingly) smaller that typical needs and the specs above I would
> think that the Tower/separately bought Server software is a more
> logical approach but would appreciate any input.

I agree with you -- if the budget is tight, I would rather get the extra CPU
and RAM than spend the money on the Xserve's 1U enclosure. The G5 is also
easier to expand, so you can add more RAM or Fiber Channel cards later.

      peter