Ideal spec

[stuarta99]

Have a customer that has been having some difficulties since moving away from their Xserve. Initially went to a Windows Server 2008 R2 server, but had issues with permissions and their deep folder structures. Have tested with a Synology NAS but still get the same issue with deep folder structure. Now thinking we put in something running OSX Server and keep everything Apple so hopefully everything will be in perfect harmony.

I've noticed that the Mac Mini's only come with at most, 2 x 1Tb 5400rpm drives. This won't be sufficient for their storage. Are the recommendation to go for 2Tb internally as the maximum or look at adding in external storage?

Many thanks

 

[sevoneone]

Have a customer that has been having some difficulties since moving away from their Xserve. Initially went to a Windows Server 2008 R2 server, but had issues with permissions and their deep folder structures. Have tested with a Synology NAS but still get the same issue with deep folder structure. Now thinking we put in something running OSX Server and keep everything Apple so hopefully everything will be in perfect harmony.

I've noticed that the Mac Mini's only come with at most, 2 x 1Tb 5400rpm drives. This won't be sufficient for their storage. Are the recommendation to go for 2Tb internally as the maximum or look at adding in external storage?

Many thanks

Minis have thunderbolt so you have some very good options for fast external storage. I don't have personal experience with them, but the Promise RAIDs are supposed to be really nice. Sonnet Tech and others have some rack mount enclosures for the mini also.

It is also an option to buy a mini with the dual drive configuration and swap the internal drives out for something larger.

 

[mvmanolov]

Also laCie makes some nice TB raid units including this awesome rack mount one:

https://www.lacie.com/ca/products/product.htm?id=10622

 

[stuarta99]

Just wondering if anyone could update this following the new mac mini.

The system at the moment will need to cope with 12 users heavily using Adobe Creative Suite.

At the moment looking at a new mac mini with a Lacie 8big 12Tb storage. Just need to decide on which CPU, RAM and HDD to go for in the mac mini. Obviously need to try and future proof them.

Many thanks

 

[mvmanolov]

Just wondering if anyone could update this following the new mac mini.

The system at the moment will need to cope with 12 users heavily using Adobe Creative Suite.

At the moment looking at a new mac mini with a Lacie 8big 12Tb storage. Just need to decide on which CPU, RAM and HDD to go for in the mac mini. Obviously need to try and future proof them.

Many thanks

buy the late 2012 model quad i7 2.6 (if the mini will be sued as a server only and, iow no heavy video/photo editing) the HD4000 in the late 2012 will be more than enough.

 

[stuarta99]

Yep not sure if that would be an option. They are keen to go for the 3.0Ghz CPU, 16Gb ram to future proof although I'm sure overkill for now and then just deciding on drive

 

[mvmanolov]

Yep not sure if that would be an option. They are keen to go for the 3.0Ghz CPU, 16Gb ram to future proof although I'm sure overkill for now and then just deciding on drive

well, that's the thing though, the 3ghz cpu is actually slower than the 2,6 quad... check the benchmarks... on the frontage of MR.

 

[stuarta99]

hmmm interesting. Although not sure if they would benefit from the quadcore anyway as it would just be filesharing and would lose the Thunderbolt2, although I'm sure Thunderbolt1 is quick enough

 

[mvmanolov]

hmmm interesting. Although not sure if they would benefit from the quadcore anyway as it would just be filesharing and would lose the Thunderbolt2, although I'm sure Thunderbolt1 is quick enough

OsX is written to utilize all cores..

TB1 vs TB2 a valid point to a certain degree: TB1 will do 10Gb/s and TB2 will do 20, which is faster... but in order to utilize it you need a very fast RAID box. otherwise the fastest SSDs will only do about 5Gb/s so a 2 SSD enclosure in Raid 0 will saturate TB1 now if you are not using SSDs but HDD a good 4-5bay Raid box with 3-4TB drives may come close but not enough to warrant TB2....

The only other consideration is that the new mini has 2 TB2 ports vs the 1 TB1 port of the 2012...

Oh, and by the way TB1 vs TB2 on a server that is used as a file host make no difference since your bottleneck is not the port by the ethernet link that is used to share files.... so GbE will go at a max of about 1Gb/s .... so unless you are running a 10GbE network in link aggregation TB1 will be more than fast enough to saturate whatever link you use to share files....

 

[stuarta99]

Yep true, only gig switch. Although also on apple care and from apple shop if they will be able to get older one. Think I need to focus on new, just correct and best spec. Reckon the 1tb SATA will be sufficient again just as server but guess for a bit of speed the 256 flash could be better. Can't see any need for the 512 flash or fusion drive

 

[stuarta99]

Just found this old model available

2.6GHz Intel-i7, 2x256GB Solid-State Drives, 16GB SDRAM

Guessing better than new machines from what we saying