I also will have to give this a try. Now that I have a new Mini, my PowerMac G5 is just taking up space and I could put it to some very good use.
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How-To: Setup an iTunes Server
- Thread starter Shake 'n' Bake
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It should work in almost exactly the same way. Try it out and see what, if any, roadblocks you run into.
A quick update on my server: I've stopped using the G4 in favor of a Dell Dimension 4300s inside of a Dimension 4400 case running Ubuntu 10.10. I followed this guide and it worked almost without modification for 10.10.
Complicated
The guide specified seems quite complicated. I would recommend the following;
1. Setup a RAID 1 (NOT a RAID 0!!) on the Ubuntu server (although I use SUSE, since it supports more RAID chips).
2. Turn on NFS in Linux, setup the permissions on the share folders in Linux.
NOTE: Unless you are a Unix whiz, I would suggest setting the shares owner as Root, as this will make life a lot easier, obviously do not do this if it is also a Web Server!!
3. Configure the NFS share in Mac and mount it to Networks. This configuration is different between 10.5 & 10.6.
4. Use the files directly on the server, this way with the RAID, you have redundancy without the need for backup jobs or Time Machine.
NOTE: There is a tweak to tell Mac NOT to leave metadata on network folders (.DS_Stores).
To prevent the creation of these files, open the Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
Log off or reboot for the changes to take affect.
This is all great for file sharing, but the showstopper is iTunes, I wanted one location for my media, which is why I recently turned off my beloved Linux box and turned my Mac Mini into my Media Center and Server. This way I can serve up files just like a server AND I can share the iTunes library from one location, AND I can stream to my TV, etc.
How do I shove all of those big 3.5" drive in my Mac Mini? I don't. I have two external enclosures, one configured for RAID for all of the pictures, documents, artwork, etc. The other enclosure has a single high performance drive to serve up music and videos, both locally and over the network. Both of the enclosures are connected via FireWire 800.
You may ask why I did not RAID the media? Well first, the drive I am using does not work very well in a RAID environment, second, RAIDs are not known for performance without expensive RAID controllers and software, and third, I own all of my media in hard copy, so if I lose the drive, it will be just time to rebuild my library. If you only have soft copies of your media, or do not have the time to rebuild your library, I would recommend a periodic backup of the media drive.
The guide specified seems quite complicated. I would recommend the following;
1. Setup a RAID 1 (NOT a RAID 0!!) on the Ubuntu server (although I use SUSE, since it supports more RAID chips).
2. Turn on NFS in Linux, setup the permissions on the share folders in Linux.
NOTE: Unless you are a Unix whiz, I would suggest setting the shares owner as Root, as this will make life a lot easier, obviously do not do this if it is also a Web Server!!
3. Configure the NFS share in Mac and mount it to Networks. This configuration is different between 10.5 & 10.6.
4. Use the files directly on the server, this way with the RAID, you have redundancy without the need for backup jobs or Time Machine.
NOTE: There is a tweak to tell Mac NOT to leave metadata on network folders (.DS_Stores).
To prevent the creation of these files, open the Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
Log off or reboot for the changes to take affect.
This is all great for file sharing, but the showstopper is iTunes, I wanted one location for my media, which is why I recently turned off my beloved Linux box and turned my Mac Mini into my Media Center and Server. This way I can serve up files just like a server AND I can share the iTunes library from one location, AND I can stream to my TV, etc.
How do I shove all of those big 3.5" drive in my Mac Mini? I don't. I have two external enclosures, one configured for RAID for all of the pictures, documents, artwork, etc. The other enclosure has a single high performance drive to serve up music and videos, both locally and over the network. Both of the enclosures are connected via FireWire 800.
You may ask why I did not RAID the media? Well first, the drive I am using does not work very well in a RAID environment, second, RAIDs are not known for performance without expensive RAID controllers and software, and third, I own all of my media in hard copy, so if I lose the drive, it will be just time to rebuild my library. If you only have soft copies of your media, or do not have the time to rebuild your library, I would recommend a periodic backup of the media drive.