Mac Mini as "central" server?

[waynewayne]

Hi guys,

I've had Macbook's for about 10yrs, so am familiar with how they work. Now I am trying to set up a server for my house however I am looking to a Mac Mini in place of a Raspberry Pi derived server.

What we currently have in the household:

• 1x MB Pro mid 2010
• 1x Windows 7 laptop
• 1x iPad mini
• 2x iPhone 4/4S
• 1x Apple TV

I have no experience with networking devices though. What I want to do is:

• Store all/most of my media centrally, with the ability to stream it down to the phone/macbook/apple tv on demand
• Remote access (possibly, is this achievable?)
• Automate backups of the apple devices (possibly, is this achievable?)
• Airplay the computer itself via Apple TV onto the living room TV, with wireless keyboard/mouse working.
• Do this with low running costs - can I set the Mini up to turn on/off over night or run in power efficient modes?

....and anything else cool.

What has brought this on is I was looking to speed up my Macbook, but the cost of installing a large SSD would get me someway to a Mac Mini. I was also considering an airport extreme to backup the devices, but again the cost is high if it can be done with the Mini.

So:

• Can the above be done?
• Is it easy to set up?
• Anything else I should be aware of/consider?
• Do I need a certain age of Mini? They seem to hold their value second hand so may be best getting a base unit brand new.

Thanks
Wayne

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying information not relevant to the thread.

 

[ColdCase]

I do all of that with my mini no sweat. The mini is ideal for what you want to do. There are a dozen ways to set that up. There is much discussion in the server and AppleTV/Media server forum subsections.

I dunno what dyt1983 means by one device only for time machine (unless its one drive). I have three laptops, and two iMacs backing up to the mini destination. I also have my windose 7 netbook backing up to one of the shared drives.

You will want to attach hard drive(s) for shared storage and media, I use a thunderbolt enclosure for convenience and reliability, but USB drives will do. You may want just a base mini and put money into external drives.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying information not relevant to the thread.