[X4U] Home Server Question

[Dave]

Neil,

I appreciate your interest in SLS, but OS X Server is difficult to work with unless you are very comfortable in Terminal. Apple's documentation is severely lacking, and while the server admin tools look pretty, they only let you make mistakes. To fix the mistakes, you often have to manually edit files (got root?), and then you can't reliably use the admin tools again, because they don't always read the files, rather they read their own plists. DNS is but one example. So many services require correct DNS settings, but the admin tool...

So my point is that you will want to have a machine that you can wipe when you are experimenting and get it messed-up. And it will get messed-up. Why not get a new Mini w/DVD and external storage (Drobo!) for your media centre, and use your old G4 Mini as the test server and run Leopard server? SLS is very similar so the knowledge will be transferable. Just make a clone of your server before you tinker with it!

Dave
(another Mac consultant who has already been down this road)


On 2010-01-30, at 16:31, Neil Laubenthal wrote:

> I was considering getting the mini with SLS . . .in part because as a Mac consultant I thought it would be a good idea to know more about SLS. However . . .the majority of my clients are individuals and not businesses . . .so they aren't using SLS. I had pretty much discounted getting it because of that and will be getting the mini with non server SL . . .I was just wondering whether consolidating the 'file server' and the 'media server' made the most sense. I'm leaving towards consolidating . . .and hanging a 1 TB drive off of it for file shares, media (there won't be all that much stored video as most of our watching will come from Hulu, etc .). I'm still trying to figure out a decent way to capture video a la TiVo . . .Legato's EyeTV would work except most channels are encrypted until they get to my set top box from Cox . . .so unless I spring for a DVR from the cable company I don't see a good way to record one channel (History or National Geo or whatever) while watching 
> another. I really wanted to do this with my equipment and not have the monthly payment to Cox for a DVR . . .but Cox keeps things encrypted to protect their revenue stream.
> 
> The mini/server will also collect Time Machine backups from our two laptops (they are currently going to the old G4 Mini).
> 
> The Drobo (and it's big brother the Pro) are nice . . .but so far I don't need the drive space so I'm leaving that until later.