Apple Updates Mac Mini and Adds Server Option

[pmjoe]

Did anyone notice the tech specs page for the mini says "2.26GHz, 2.53GHz, or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor"?

I can't find the 2.66 GHz option anywhere though!

It's right there under "Processor" on the "2.53GHz : 320GB" model.

2.66 GHz isn't available on the other models though. So you have to get it with 4GB RAM and min 320 GB drive, and it is not available with the server model.

 

[MacFanUK]

I think the Mini server is a great idea, but I do think they should've kept the optical drive. I think if I went down the server route (currently toying with the idea), I would go for the 2.53GHz Mini and use external drives.

 

[Lershac]

When the only tool at hand is a hammer, all problems look like nails. Kidding!!!!

You should go back to the certifications, if you let them expire and then need to find a new job, it is a bitch to get hired caused everyone else has them.

Maybe you should consider getting them back, you have a good head on your shoulder so getting them should not be an issue.

certifications are qualifiers only when the one hiring does not know his subject material. And then they are of dubious value. I have known plenty of well certified kids I would not let near my network with administrator credentials. I have also known plenty of well certified individuals who were worth their weight in gold. I don't rely on them. I have also known plenty of non-certified administrators who were also worth their weight in gold. Take certifications with a grain of salt. If I were at the point in my career where certifications could help, I would only take them if my company paid for them. They never got me in a door or a leg up in an interview. Its all about who you know and what your experience is. If you are just getting into the game, certifications are fine, but do not rely on them to move your career along, expand your people skills and network.

 

[pmjoe]

I just wanted a new Mac mini ... now I have to decide if I want to mess with the server option. Could be fun though. Decisions, decisions ...

Of course then you'd have to think about getting an external $99 SuperDrive if you wanted to do a fresh OS install. And then there's the $499 to upgrade when the next version of OS X Server comes out.

Apple just needs to stick this motherboard in a slightly larger case so I can use two 3.5" drives (of my choice) with a built in SuperDrive. Isn't the point of RAID mirroring that it's easier to recover from a failure? Who wants to tear apart a mini to replace a drive?

 

[z4n3]

K, folks, think about it. This new mini server is a steal. Look, it comes with the unlimited version of MacOS X Server which would be $999 by itself! So... you're getting Snow Leopard Server and a "FREE" computer. What's to complain about?

Is it an Xserve? No. It's not meant to be. It's a great small business/home server. Two 2.5" 500GB drives are just fine. BTW - most major server products are migrating to 2.5" drives. And, in case you haven't figured this out... all Macs support software RAID 1/0. So, set up your two disks for a fast 1TB volume, or a mirrored 500GB set for redundancy. And/or connect an external 500GB-1TB hard drive via FW800 for Time Machine backup, and you're set 5 ways 'til Sunday. This is a great server for small specialized purposes.

Could Apple do more with this box? Sure. Hopefully they will in a future release. eSATA would be a good feature to add to a server appliance. But for now, this is still a killer package. Count me in - I'm starting to save up pennies at this moment.

Agree with you, but they have dropped the price of OSX Server to 499 unlimited license some time ago

 

[labrats5]

Are you kidding me?!!

Everyone who says the mac mini server is overpriced has literally no idea what they are talking about. It is insanely cheap. Look at this:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=rec_server_networksol

This is Dell's starter server for small business. It comes with a Microsoft server license. The mac mini either matches or beats it in virtually every spec. It's core 2 duo trounces the pentium, it has faster RAM, and twice as much disk space. It does all this while being WAAAAY more power efficient and compact, and costing hundred less.

Wow.

Yes, this product isn't perfect. There are currently 4 main problems with it:

1) drive speeds. It needs to have 7200rpm drives as the default. It really matters in servers

2) Ease of entry. This has always been a problem with mac minis, but it matters a lot more when dealing with people who actually upgrade their product periodically.

3) support for 4gb RAM DIMMS. They are expensive as hell right now, but in 2 years people will want to upgrade to them.

4) Network expansion. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just an expresscard slot should suffice for people who need that extra ethernet or esata port.

There are a few people for whom these issues might be deal-breakers, but for everyone else, this is a flawed but incredibly well priced entry server. This is probably the ideal server right now for mixed PC and Mac businesses with 25 or fewer employees.

 

[z4n3]

can someone answer this question for me...

First let me tell you all what I'm looking for. I'm a developer that recently started working with the iphone / ipod touch SDK to develop an application. I have a little money for startup and looking for a nice little dev box / server where I can load the SDK and develop with XCode. I'm assembling a small team and would like it if I can do some small server functions with it such as email and collborative things and such.

I saw the new mac mini with SL Server on it and im excited but need to know...

1.) can I load regular mac software on SL Server edition? Like can I load XCode and Interface builder and my Adobe stuff to it and run it like it was a regular mac mini?

2.) is there a way to RDP (remote desktop) the mini server from a Windows PC. Like a remote desktop app. I know I read about VNC, and if thats my option, is VNC slow compared to remote desktop?

Thanks for any info I can get on these questions...

The only program you cannot get to work on SL Server is Front-row

 

[mytdave]

Dozens of drives ? Dozens more chances of catastrophic failure . You do understand that in a RAID 0 setup, losing 1 drive means losing the entire array right ? The more drives, the less robust.

RAID 1+0. All the performance over dedicated controllers (you are using redundant controllers for each side of the mirrors right ?), much more resilient.

And mirrors is a high availability solution, not a backup solution. You should never think of RAID as a replacement for proper backups.

Yup, lose one drive and you're toast. But that's the price of speed. That's what backups are for.

Xserve RAID (x2): Chassis 1: 14 drives, 2 controllers @ 2Gb, RAID 0 entire set @ 4Gb/s. Chassis 2: Mirror of Chassis 1. Classic RAID 0+1 (not RAID 1+0). Fast. In this case we can lose a bunch of drives in either chassis, but not both or we're toast. That's why we back up the whole darn thing.

 

[pmjoe]

The only program you cannot get to work on SL Server is Front-row

Well, there goes the idea of making it the Mac I hook up to the TV.

 

[mytdave]

I think the Mini server is a great idea, but I do think they should've kept the optical drive. I think if I went down the server route (currently toying with the idea), I would go for the 2.53GHz Mini and use external drives.

I went that route. The external drives option is more expensive. Of course this new server didn't exist when I bought.

If you need an optical drive, you can use MacOS's optical drive sharing feature, or you can buy the external SuperDrive (CD/DVD drive). The mini server w/external CD/DVD is cheaper than buying a regular mini, OSX server, and 2 external hard drives. Just food for thought.

 

[z4n3]

Everyone who says the mac mini server is overpriced has literally no idea what they are talking about. It is insanely cheap. Look at this:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=rec_server_networksol

This is Dell's starter server for small business. It comes with a Microsoft server license. The mac mini either matches or beats it in virtually every spec. It's core 2 duo trounces the pentium, it has faster RAM, and twice as much disk space. It does all this while being WAAAAY more power efficient and compact, and costing hundred less.

Wow.

Yes, this product isn't perfect. There are currently 4 main problems with it:

1) drive speeds. It needs to have 7200rpm drives as the default. It really matters in servers

2) Ease of entry. This has always been a problem with mac minis, but it matters a lot more when dealing with people who actually upgrade their product periodically.

3) support for 4gb RAM DIMMS. They are expensive as hell right now, but in 2 years people will want to upgrade to them.

4) Network expansion. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just an expresscard slot should suffice for people who need that extra ethernet or esata port.

There are a few people for whom these issues might be deal-breakers, but for everyone else, this is a flawed but incredibly well priced entry server. This is probably the ideal server right now for mixed PC and Mac businesses with 25 or fewer employees.

AGREE COMPLETELY! at last someone with logic most people here have never entered a server room before! Apple are going after the small business market with this one!

Things to take into account with this

Lower power consumption in the actual equipment and doing away with having air conditioning 24/7 (leave your air conditioning on 24/7 for a month and you will know the extra costs servers have)

Western Digital have faster 2.5 disks if speed & space is a issue

FW800 for all your RAID needs (enough said)

SL Server UNLIMITED (499 value)

No DVD (since when does a server need this?)

This is a HUGE move on Apples part, and personally think it is perfect, people will always pick faults, but the fact remains that this is GREAT value and could help many small businesses obtain and maintain a server at a MUCH lower cost.

Any IT department that buys these with a serious business use, would buy faster drives and pop the MacMinis drives into other equipments in the department. and 5400rpm for MOST users is more than enough, faster is better granted

example : The only Apple program that gives errors at this speed is FCS. so people should take into account this is for SMALL businesses working with Keynotes, Excel, Word etc. not 3D studios and FX houses

I know companies spending a small fortune maintaing old HP ProLiant ML350 G3 with 200+ users

GOOD JOB APPLE!!!!!

P.S. Great move to get GREENPEACE of your backs

 

[deconstruct60]

If you place a server in the DMZ with a single Ethernet interface, then all traffic including administration of the server and connections from the server to the database which is normally in the internal network, they all have to talk via the same ethernet port. This means the same firewall gets involved each time. This reduces security.

Not necessarily.
i. that router and DMZ can be to/from an internal network, not the external one. At some point going to have to cross from your first layer of firewalls to the second.

ii. The admin traffic can be run through ssh. Which defacto gets you a distinct network.


I not sure how you enhance security by having the server straddle two firewalled networks. If you root compromise that one server you busted through on both networks. If you want to audit/monitor what packets are crossing security boundaries it would be easier if that only happened at firewalls. .... not firewalls and potentially another set of servers.

I can see a separate admin network for redundant failure reachability. Your point of not putting mulitple functions/capabilities (dual firewall duties) runs counter to having servers straddle networks.

Using the second port to talk to/from the internal network preferable over a second (and separate) Firewall, it allows you to manage your servers using the second interface and allow the server to speak with the databases in the internal network without worring about hackers crafting packets with spoofed IP addresses and also simplifies the firewall rules of both firewalls.

Two ports to talk to two mostly trusted internal networks ( admin network , data sensitive internal ) I get. As pointed above seperating the firewalls and placing the second "inside" the mini server... don't get the point. Similarily for some rundundant/secure lights out admin network. If is a home or small office... get up and walk down to the mini. Sneakernet is your separate secondary network. (or USB dongle as folks have pointed out... there is no hefty "speed" problems on the typical admin network. )


[ I realize some folks are trying to it with the minimum amount of hardware. Take the mini and make it do everything.
i. time capsule,
ii. newtwork serving : firewall, DHCP, routing
iii. file/mail/calendar/streaming/etc.
iv. kitchen sink of whatever else.

But the two replies illustrated separating out ii.

If you later need to scale your architecture having the firewall(s) internal to a server that is
playing another role will be a problem. ]

Just to give you an example ..... PCI-DSS regulation for credit cards recommends that all PCI-DSS servers be moved to a separate network with its own firewall in between the PCI-DSS servers and the rest of the internal network.

And going in and dropping the server onto both networks with two interfaces is in compilance. Really???? If go to the point of putting something behind a firewall... you don't go back and hook it to the network on the OTHER side of the firewall!!! That is not buying you more security [ unless have split the server virtually so the ethernet ports are separated by secure virtual mechanisms. ]

There are many other standards for security and for privacy besides the above. Most large corporations that want no headaches use hosts with two Ethernet interfaces.

Most large corporations have uptime and redundancy requirements. May also be running multiple VMs to separate networks. Each VM could get its own ethernet.

But not primarily talking about large corps with Mini Server. Apple didn't announce was discontinuing the XServe box with these new Servers. However, has a couple of folks have pointed out, a XServe can be gross overkill for many small businesses and the vast majority of homes.

 

[calderone]

Agree with you, but they have dropped the price of OSX Server to 499 unlimited license some time ago

Even so, they are giving you OS X Server basically for free with the Mini Server.

 

[MattZani]

Im considering a Mac Mini server to be my Media Server, plugged into my TV for when i need to do stuff on the actual Mini, running PS3 Media Server to get everything to the PS3, and using the Home Network feature of iTunes to keep a copy of all my Music on my MBP (Put new Music on MBP, Auto Copied to Mini, automatically appears on PS3)

Whole setup would cost about £1,000, including a 1Tb External drive to SuperDuper too.

Shame i dont have any spare money

 

[peterman]

new macmini?

Hi All,

I've actually just read through almost every single post from the past 9 pages, and it was quite interesting at times. My questions are as follows.

I am the sole IT admin for a small company. Currently everything is setup as peer to peer using an older 1TB Time Capsule as the DHCP class 3 server and backup via time machine. I have other componets on the network such as 8port gigabit switch and a 8TB WD RAID5 NAS drive for the PC's etc. I'm currently wanting to upgrade us to a real Mac server and I've been looking at the MacPro with max storage and the RAID card to start doing internal backups and archive to an external for safekeeping too. My initial primary reason for wanting to upgrade to a "real" server is for inhouse email serving.

My question is that if I get the MacMini server and it alone houses my emails for the company, what is the best way to keep these backed up and safe?? I know I can easily backup various files to an external etc., but I'm talking about more the day to day drive failure that could happen. If it's a Tuesday afternoon and the HD suddenly fails and our entire company can no longer email, what is the best solution for having this quickly fixed? Do I mirror the 2 500's in the Mini? Can I Time Machine the 10.6 SL server to an external and if it fails restore to backup on the 2nd 500?

Any help is greatly appreciated, and I enjoy reading everyone's posts

Pete

 

[MattZani]

Hi All,

I've actually just read through almost every single post from the past 9 pages, and it was quite interesting at times. My questions are as follows.

I am the sole IT admin for a small company. Currently everything is setup as peer to peer using an older 1TB Time Capsule as the DHCP class 3 server and backup via time machine. I have other componets on the network such as 8port gigabit switch and a 8TB WD RAID5 NAS drive for the PC's etc. I'm currently wanting to upgrade us to a real Mac server and I've been looking at the MacPro with max storage and the RAID card to start doing internal backups and archive to an external for safekeeping too. My initial primary reason for wanting to upgrade to a "real" server is for inhouse email serving.

My question is that if I get the MacMini server and it alone houses my emails for the company, what is the best way to keep these backed up and safe?? I know I can easily backup various files to an external etc., but I'm talking about more the day to day drive failure that could happen. If it's a Tuesday afternoon and the HD suddenly fails and our entire company can no longer email, what is the best solution for having this quickly fixed? Do I mirror the 2 500's in the Mini? Can I Time Machine the 10.6 SL server to an external and if it fails restore to backup on the 2nd 500?

Any help is greatly appreciated, and I enjoy reading everyone's posts

Pete

You can download SuperDuper, plug in an external HDD, and set it to make a clone of the 2 Drives (Which i assume are formatted into 1 Big Drive) nightly, that way if a drive fails, you can boot off the SuperDuper clone (An assumption) and resume as normal, then you can schedule some down time, and replace the failed HDD, copy the clone back, and your back to normal usage.

 

[deconstruct60]

Yes, this product isn't perfect. There are currently 4 main problems with it:

1) drive speeds. It needs to have 7200rpm drives as the default. It really matters in servers

given folks suspect some of the Time Capsule problems are heat based ... how well is this mini going to cope with two faster drives going full blast?
The mini was designed for a hard drive and a not oftenly used DVD drive. Replace that with two drives going full blast is it really going to dissipate the heat correctly?

It really matters in servers which have concurrent users. In a home and very small office set up how many folks are going to be concurrent? If going to throw 20 hard core users at it.... yeah.

2) Ease of entry. This has always been a problem with mac minis, but it matters a lot more when dealing with people who actually upgrade their product periodically.

It is a pain.... but this is a defect that has existed with this product. Apple didn't do a major redesign here. They just are shipping the same thing as the non server version but with a very minor substitution and case tweak. That's it. The minimal amount of 'new' engineering went into this. Remove the SATA optical drive and replace with SATA hard drive . Remove the slot from the exterior of the case.

It would be nice if the mainstream mini was easier to open update too. This isn't new or special for a server.

3) support for 4gb RAM DIMMS. They are expensive as hell right now, but in 2 years people will want to upgrade to them.

Likely there just not supported because currently blow out the price spectrum. Also have power/thermal caps to think about.

4) Network expansion. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just an expresscard slot should suffice for people who need that extra ethernet or esata port.

express card is dead. Besides by time could jam one in (not sure why though) either USB 3.0 or Light Peak will be around. If it is just low speed and modest ethernet, can just use USB 2.0.

How many deployed home and small office networks have gigabit switches at their core. Starting from scratch today maybe but the ones deployed a couple of years ago are all likely 10 Mbps Ethernet.

 

[twoodcc]

now the server option does seem a like a good deal. a very good deal

 

[Yoursh]

Have to say, for me, the mini server is very tempting. Currently looking at upgrading from my old G4 Xserve(10.5 server) that I use as a home file backup/eyetv dvr/media host. Was hoping to see a price drop on the mini's since I've been looking at them as a replacement+adding a larger external storage solution. I was originally planning on picking up a base mini then adding 10.6 server, but cost wise the mini server is a better deal.

Only drawback I see is if the copy of 10.6 server is locked to the mini via a custom install disc. It would suck if you wanted to repurpose the server OS on another mac and run a client version of OSX on the mini in the future. If you bought a regular version of 10.6 server you could do that.

 

[psingh01]

I like this idea. I was actually researching a Mini + OSX Server package last week. Just to compare with things like the HP Media servers. It would be killer if it had hot swappable drives. Maybe 3 slots, even if it's only for the laptop size drives. All in a mini package. That would sell!

 

[deconstruct60]

My question is that if I get the MacMini server and it alone houses my emails for the company, what is the best way to keep these backed up and safe??

Presuming have a room/location can secure it. You could use an external 4 bay box similar to what Apple has on the mini server page in and in their store. Mirror the drives and when time to do backup. Shutdown mail server. Pull one/two of the mirrored drives. Stick in their rotation replacements. Have the system reestablish mirror. open mail server for business again.
(not sure if there will be enough bandwidth to have the system start taking mail and remirror at the same time. Plus you are running in a diminished redundancy mode.) Take your pulled backups and put them somewhere safe (preferably offsite or more disaster safe then your server. ).

Not sure if going to have secure data backup issues (e.g., customers/employees emailing senstive info). Kind of covering after the fact (since they were sent in the clear but sometimes ).

If it's a Tuesday afternoon and the HD suddenly fails and our entire company can no longer email, what is the best solution for having this quickly fixed? Do I mirror the 2 500's in the Mini? Can I Time Machine the 10.6 SL server to an external and if it fails restore to backup on the 2nd 500?

External, hot plug drives solve the disk replacement while keeping high uptime problem. Could run without a mirror and resilver the mirrored drive on the fly if the external box and software supports that.

Can use the dual internal drives to mirror the Operating system, configuration, and software. (not the bulk of the email. ) Probably can limp along for a couple days with just one OS/Software drive till can take mini down for a protracted surgery drive replacement. In short, I'd seperate the backup of the mail "data" from the server itself. Quite likely the mail data is of significant size difference that there "software" data.


Securing your email server from spam and external missbehaviour is likely a much bigger problem.

I suppose someone will point out that SuperDuper (or more classic backup programs) will do incremental backups.

Periodically, though a full backup is useful of sending something for offsite archiving/safekeeping. So if you rotate in a fresh backup disk for SuperDuper it is going to do a full copy anyway. However, can minimize email down time by doing an incremental ( it is likely to finish faster... and if you are waiting to go home while back finishes that is a bonus. )

Similar of mirror and then "pull the mirror" could be done for the exterior SuperDuper clone. Do SuperDuper clone and then when complete pull the a mirrored drive for offiste storage. So you could have mirrored primary and mirrored clone drives.

if your users leverage IMAP and leave most of their mail on the server this can be a large amount of data to backup/jugggle. if they download all their email to their machine then the internal drives may work out.

Time Machine is somewhat awkward for email archiving because not sure when TM will decide to dump stuff that is too old to claw back from space from the drive/volume. Typically there are hard requirements on how long you have to hold/archive mail.

 

[WiseMax]

It's a product with no target market.

Oh yes, there is.

The same people that buy Windows Home Server.

 

[calderone]

Oh yes, there is.

The same people that buy Windows Home Server.

Ha. Yeah right.

Granted I don't agree that it has no target market, but that surely isn't the target market.

 

[Eidorian]

Oh yes, there is.

The same people that buy Windows Home Server.

You've taken a look at the Windows Home Server products right?

 

[WiseMax]

I think this is a good home server.

However, some issues exist and other need to be properly addressed.

First one is: There is no e-SATA port. A pity, there goes your fast on-line backup.

Second one is: With only a Firewire-800 port (ignore the slower USB ports, except for weak, occasional data traffic) you are limited. However, you may use any external hard-disk enclosure. There is even a 4-disk Promise RAID-5 array offered that works via Firewire-800. This is good, but remember that the 800 mbs port is a bottleneck!

I would not endorse the use of this server for business purposes - but it has a great place at home.

You only need to replace the original hard disks with 7,200 RPM ones and get yourself a good backup (if nothing else, at least the 2 TB Time capsule apparatus).

I was using a Linux-based solution for Home Server - just switched to Windows Home Server, which is kickass (streaming & everything).

If I had heard of this prior to my option, I might have given this Mini-server a try.

To me, it just needs faster disks (very easy to get) and a proper backup solution (needs careful thought, due to lack of e-SATA port)

.