[X4U] X-serve vs. Mac Pro as server

[Neil Laubenthal]

Unless you need the rack mount capability or any of the other  
features (hot swappable power supplies, etc) that make the X-Server a  
'server' instead of a 'workstation . . .then I think that a Mac Pro  
(or heck, even an iMac) would make a find server for a 6 practitioner  
medical practice.

File sharing, mail if you need it, Filemaker Pro server . . .a Mac  
Pro will handle all of that just fine.

As to remote management . . .you can always buy a copy of OS X Server  
and install on it . . .but unless remote administration is a real  
requirement then there probably isn't anything that actually requires  
the Server vice Client version of OS X.

You could use the XServe as a regular workstation . . .but the extra  
fans it has and the 'must be rack mounted' case make it probably a  
less than satisfactory workstation.

Based on your statements of the needs and requirements . . .the X- 
Serve is nice . . . but way overkill. Performance wise . . .even a  
Mac Mini would probably be more than sufficient. An iMac is  
definitely sufficient . . .but you might want to buy the Mac Pro so  
that you can have multiple drives for backup, redundancy, etc.


On Jan 23, 2007, at 08:43, Jim Robertson wrote:

> My 6-practitioner nephrology medical practice is about to take its  
> first
> steps into the late 20th century. We'll be implementing an electronic
> appointment book, and we'll be configuring it so that the docs and  
> staff
> (those with appropriate privileges) will have web access to it.
>
> We're looking at a product created in FileMaker Pro as well as some  
> others.
> Ideally, I'd like to configure it so that users could get secure  
> (https)
> access, which I understand means using FileMaker Server (actually,  
> FileMaker
> Server Advanced to get web accessibility).
>
> As we purchase hardware to accomplish this, one issue is what we  
> need as a
> server computer. My limited understanding is that major advantages of
> Apple's X-serve hardware include the ability to administer it remotely
> (which I likely would be called upon to do), as well as auto- 
> recovery after
> power failures. The X-serve computers are EXPENSIVE; I'm wondering  
> if the
> major reason they're expensive is because they come bundled with OS  
> X server
> software.
>
> Can an X-serve also function as a routine workstation? In other  
> words, could
> I use one of those as my routine workstation as well? I think we have
> adequate network and hardware (all cabling is cat-5e, and we have  
> gigabit
> switches, 4 static ip addresses from our ISP, and an 802.11n (draft)
> wireless router.
>
> Most of the clients for the appointments program will be on  
> Windows. I'm
> told that the server can be Mac OS with no problems because FMP is  
> truly
> cross-platform. Anyone know of real issues there? It might make  
> sense to use
> a windows box as the server because future network applications may  
> well be
> Windows only; However, we're still a year or two away from  
> implementations
> such as electronic medical records because the solutions that WORK are
> horrendously expensive ($50,000 to $100,000 per physician), and  
> there's as
> yet no viable model regarding who should or can pay for this. So,  
> as long as
> we're starting with a web-accessible FMP database, I think it makes  
> sense to
> use a Mac as the server because I can get up to speed more quickly  
> on the
> platform I understand the best.
>
> At the moment we're in the earliest phases of considering this, so I'm
> basically just looking for general information regarding hardware/ 
> server
> OS/use of the server simultaneously as a workstation/FileMaker
> cross-platform issues, etc.
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> Jim Robertson
> -- 
>
>
>
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