[X-Servers] Mac mini server?

[Dean Suhr]

And don't forget a good set of external drives, perhaps with RAID0 for speed
and reliability, as well as a good backup strategy.  I think you are correct
Joe considering the drives as the weak link.

Your POP load won't even be noticed by the server.

Dean
 


On 12/8/09 12:21 PM, "Anita Holmgren" <anita at tenon.com> wrote:

> At 1:11 PM -0600 12/4/09, Joe Sporleder wrote:
>> Any thoughts on the new Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server? I was
>> always lead to believe by my local Apple dealer and mailing lists
>> such as this one, that one needed a tower like a MacPro, or an
>> Xserve for file i/o reliability because the mini's notebook sized
>> hard drives couldn't stand up to the vigorous pounding that a
>> server's hard drives would face. However, I'm also aware that there
>> are server co-location providers that specialize in finding homes
>> for mini servers, long before Apple came up with the pre-configured
>> version of a Mac mini server.
> 
> Hi Joe.
> 
> Our company, Tenon, has been making web server software for Mac
> (iTools) for many years.  Our customers have been using Mac minis as
> web servers, ftp servers, dns server on Mac OS  X client software
> since the inception of the Mac mini and specialized Mac mini ISPs use
> iTools for their customers.
> 
> Now Apple has decided to use the built-in power of the Mac mini for
> servers as well.
> 
>> We are a small print publishing company, and I'm seriously
>> considering the Mac mini server when I decide to move to Snow
>> Leopard server in the near future. We average about 8 workstations
>> that store files on the server via AFP, and we average about 2 dozen
>> users that depend on the server for POP3 email access. Before the
>> Mac mini server config, my other consideration was getting a MacPro
>> tower, which now I'm wondering is overkill (our current server is a
>> G5 tower that was retired from workstation duty and outfitted with
>> some bigger hard drives). Shoot, for extra redundancy, I could buy 2
>> Mac minis with Snow Leopard Server and still be well under the cost
>> of one MacPro with Snow Leopard Server.
> 
> It sounds like you don't need the Mac mini for the services that we
> support (web, ftp, dns), but instead for the built in Mac OS X Server
> capabilities.  I think you can feel confident using Mac minis as
> servers for your print shop.  And Snow Leopard Server is amazingly
> fast!
> 
> Best regards,
> Anita
> http://www.tenon.com/products/itools
> http://www.tenon.com/products/post_office
> 
> 
>> 
>> Joe
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>