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adam9c1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 2, 2012
1,868
309
Chicagoland
http://www.precursor.ca/rais/

Anyone running RAID over TB connecting two physical machines?

I have a old Mac Mini and migrating to a 2014 Mini and another 2014 Mini as a backup.

I was thinking to have the second unit as standby and use TM to restore to the other model, however I'm thinking of going this way instead.
 

unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
http://www.precursor.ca/rais/

Anyone running RAID over TB connecting two physical machines?

I have a old Mac Mini and migrating to a 2014 Mini and another 2014 Mini as a backup.

I was thinking to have the second unit as standby and use TM to restore to the other model, however I'm thinking of going this way instead.

No. And I personally wouldn't. Seems to me its a complete waste of resources. I rather run two Mac Mini with OS X Server and use one as primary and the other as a secondary for services.

That way if one goes down, the other can provide services until the first is repaired/replaced. And if the LB was to get fried on the first Mac, who's to say it may not damage the other one?

Having two Macs, both running, primary/secondary is a better use of resources and will provide more uptime as well.
 

adam9c1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 2, 2012
1,868
309
Chicagoland
How can I run more than one server running Profile Manager and machines be connected to the second server as well.
 

unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
My setup is two Mac Mini's on the same OS and Server app version

MM1 = Mac Mini Server 1 (Primary)
MM2 = Mac Mini server 2 (Secondary)

DNS = MM1 shares a zone with MM2. MM2 provides DNS if MM1 is down.

DHCP = MM1 handles 80 percent. MM2 handles 20. It's a common 80/20 split. Some do 50/50. I personally like 80/20. That means if any new clients connect while MM1 is down, I have 20% reservations available out of the pool of IP Addresses.

Caching = MM1 and MM2 both are primary caching servers. If MM2 has a file, MM1 will grab it, or vice versa.

Open Directory = MM1 is the OD Master. MM2 is the OD Replica.

Everything else is a primary service. If such fails, then I restore from backup. Getting a Mac Mini is pretty easy these days. Most Apple, Best Buy, Micro Center, etc sell them and have them in stock.

If there is a hardware failure, essential services like DNS, DHCP, and OD are still available. You can either 1) wait for hardware repair
2) buy an extra Mac Mini configured the same. When one craps out, make this the permanent replacement and restore from backup. Then when the repaired one returns, test it in a lab, and power it off after and use it as a spare when either of the other two craps out
3) if you don't have a configured one, then just buy an off the shelf one, and use it temporarily while the other gets replaced. Then power off and store when needed.
 

adam9c1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 2, 2012
1,868
309
Chicagoland
I have two BTO minis with foolproof specs:
16GB RAM
256GB SSD

DNS, DHCP is running via Windows.

The Mac Server is used for following:
Profile Manager
Print Sharing
OD
Cache
Update Service (in the future)
very limited file sharing for my purposes only
 
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