Trying To Make A Decsioin On The Mac Mini Server

[cis4life]

Ok,

I'm looking for a mac where I can leave on 24/7 and remote desktop into from out in the field and run my mac programs and edit and run XCode. I also want it do some server functions such as hosting my varies email accounts and other server function as well as hold all my XCode and work files.

I'm assembling a small team of developers and we are developing an iphone app. I saw the mac mini server and need to know few things.

1.) Can I load regular software in SL Server. (Such as Adobe CS4 and XCode)

2.) From a Windows PC, what is the best way to "Remote Desktop" into the server so I can run the apps on it. I did some research and It looks like there isn't a "Remote Desktop" app for mac, but I could use VNC. How workable is this? (Remote desktop from windows runs well when I remote into another machine, is VNC just as fast and usable?)

3.) I have a dedicated IP and I have my line running into my router. Do I need another dedicated IP or could I simply hook it into my switch and will it work properly?

I know some of this might sound newbish, but I want to get some info on this from someone who has done this or is doing this currently.

Thanks in advance

[bradleys83]

1. You can run any Mac software on OS X Server - So, XCode and the like will run fine (but ... CS4 performance over VNC will most likely suck)

2. Screen Sharing is basically VNC - I did try it out at one point from a Wintel to a Mac server, don't use Win myself, so, haven't tried it since. If you've got a mac handy with screen sharing enabled, try using RealVNC or something to VNC into the machine and see if it works - it will be the same as OS X Server

3. You're not going to need more IP's - you will however need to get into your router and configure NAT/Port Forwarding for the services you're interested in (Mail/Web/VNC/iCal etc) Your routers user guide will probably have the skinny on that.

There is also a somewhat expensive option for kind of Mac Terminal Servers - AquaConnect - It's an RDP server for mac so Remote Desktop Connection on Windows should be able to connect to it (www.aquaconnect.net) RDP performance over the net is going to far outstrip VNC.

Hope some of this helped