Mac Mini Server for web developer

[smilinmonki666]

Hi,

I am currently looking at getting the Mac mini Server in the new year.

I am thinking of getting this as I currently use my iMac for my dev server, & my current web hosting provider to show my clients. However, I was looking at OS X Server & I can use this as my Calender, email & web server along with a chat server to use between me & my developers/ designers.

Obviously, £800-900 is a lot of money for a one-man freelance business. But I’m thinking long term as it would provide me all I need. Especially as I would like to start building iOs apps and Mac apps along with my web development clients.

Please could give me a helping hand on what to decide on. I don’t mind spending the money if it works out well, but am I going to get something I don’t really need.

I’m thinking of using this server for all of the following:

svn server
email server *
web server *
Calendar server *
Chat server
Address book server


* - Could be used with my current web host provider?

Cheers in advance. Any comments would be welcomed.

 

[angelwatt]

* - Could be used with my current web host provider?

This is your main problem. Many internet providers do not allow you to run web server unless you have an appropriate package deal with them for it, which I would suggest if you want to host. Using a personal connection for hosting will result in very slow connections for visitors because typical personal web deals has very slow upload speeds. Any Mac mini will suffice hardware-wise. Bandwidth is your biggest need.

 

[Darwin]

Hi,
I’m thinking of using this server for all of the following:

svn server
email server *
web server *
Calendar server *
Chat server
Address book server

* - Could be used with my current web host provider?

As angelwatt mentioned your upload speed is going to factor into the performance of accessing the server from the Internet. Running a web server should be okay so long as your not directing a lot of traffic towards it (If your connection has a data cap be aware of whether they are counting both up/down data etc).

Email I've found will be messy if the ISP block port 25 and you are not running on a static ip. As for the rest they should be ok, again so long as your not pushing tons of traffic.

 

[smilinmonki666]

These are my general thoughts. I’m thinking just using my iMac as my dev server & then upload the latest version to my live site. I’m thinking using a dedicated host as any problem then they can sort them out. All I then have to worry about is to produce the sites?

I think I was getting over excited, if I were a company of 4+ developers then the server would work fine, but for one I’m thinking it is too much?

 

[Darwin]

Perhaps it is a bit much, not only is there the price of the server but other costs such as setup time and troubleshooting which from experience may not be enough to justify.

I myself run a Mac mini server, I host from a home connection with a sufficient upload speed, my provider also has the option to purchase a Static IP which I have done.

The server is used by myself and family members for most of the services you listed. A great setup but one that took a lot of patience to get right. From a web development point of view you must also be aware that OS X Server doesn't come with a lot of the tools you know from web hosts. To get those your going to need to install them yourself, not impossible to do but it is a bit of a pain.

Overall if you intend to purchase such a server to run yourself you need to be aware of the little details which aren't required when paying someone else to do the hosting for you.

 

[smilinmonki666]

Cheers Darwin, you have confirmed my thoughts.

I'm hosting online with ecohosting.co.uk. Very helpfull, and like you said, to much of a pain to set up. I've already wasted a month messing around with Ubuntu Server on a spare HP machine i've got. At least for £3.50 a month I can do exactly what I wanted to do with my server & hosting from home but with out the headache. I love solving problems, but hate spending too much time on them. That was my thoughts for getting OS X Server. It looks easier to use from a server point of view, and in the past servers have caused me a lot of headaches.

I just need to set up my CalDAV correctly with my hosting provider along with SSH & then SVN on my iMac. Then, I will have my perfect setup...

So, again, thank you for your views Darwin and angelwatt.

 

[SDub90]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Have you considered a VPS and using google apps for your domain?

A lot of shared hosting packages restrict the use of the webspace for backups and repositories.

 

[calimedic911]

another option is to use a regular mac mini and register as an apple OSX dev. the cost is the euro equiv of $99 a year and you get the latest OS and server os as well as all of the SDK's. the os images are for internal dev use so that would fit your requirements exactly.

Sean B

 

[calderone]

another option is to use a regular mac mini and register as an apple OSX dev. the cost is the euro equiv of $99 a year and you get the latest OS and server os as well as all of the SDK's. the os images are for internal dev use so that would fit your requirements exactly.

Sean B

I don't think you understand this thread.

 

[calimedic911]

I completely understand the thread. The op was mentioning that £800-900 was a lot to pay for a one man shop. I offered an alternative to that for a quarter of the price. I also offered constructive input to a discussion instead of "you don't understand the purpose of this thread" with no explanation or constructive comments.

Sean