Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server.

[chris26]

Hi All,

I've been reading these forums for ages, Yet never signed up

Anyhoo.

Has anyone purchased the new 'Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server.' ?

I'm looking at one of these so i can store all media etc. (Media Server)

Anyone got any reviews? Any other ideas?

Thanks

Chris

 

[luffx]

I'm not asking this to be a flametard, but out of curiosity...

Why would you use something w/ only 1 hard-drive as a media/file server? Is an external drive + Time Machine your only form of redundancy?

Also, does Snow Leopard Server have something similar to Shadow Copy?

~Luf.

 

[beaner454]

Why would you use something w/ only 1 hard-drive as a media/file server?

The Mac Mini he's talking about has two hard drives. Apple swapped out the DVD drive for a second hard drive.

While I personally would want something to the tune of 3 or 4 internal drives for a media server. I can definitely see the allure of the Mac Mini Server since it is so nice and compact.

 

[luffx]

The Mac Mini he's talking about has two hard drives. Apple swapped out the DVD drive for a second hard drive.

While I personally would want something to the tune of 3 or 4 internal drives for a media server. I can definitely see the allure of the Mac Mini Server since it is so nice and compact.

Ah. I'm assuming they're Raid 1, then?

 

[chris26]

Yes this is the mac mini with dual HD (think there 1tb).

The main reason for this one is size and the fact that it's running mac!

I was looking at HP home media server but it runs some windows home server software

 

[Serif]

The mini server comes with two 500 GB drives which are seen as two separate disks but which can be reconfigured as either RAID 0 or RAID 1 if you're prepared to reinstall the system which is not particularly hard.

I've seen a lot of comments that the mini server might make a nice home media server. I don't intend any offence but I don't think people are really understanding what the mini server is or what it is intended for.

A lot of the value in the Mac mini server package is in the inclusion of a copy of Snow Leopard Server edition. This works well at providing services such as file sharing, backup, DNS, mail, directory services and a whole heap of other things which might be useful in a small business setting. It's also a fun toy to play with such things as a hobbyist but is a bit overkill for home use. It also involves a fair bit of knowledge and thought to set up properly.

I think Apple may be missing a trick in not specifying a product that would be a better match as a home media server, which certainly seems to have some interest and demand behind it. That said, such a server would not be very different to the existing non-server mac minis. You'd want to run Snow Leopard Client and have a superdrive (or even blue ray) built in. I think the media server part would be best provided as a bunch of applications similar to iWork or iLife but targeted at media serving tasks; iMedia anyone?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The Mini w/ SL server is really overkill as a media server. I have a C2D mini w/ 10.5 I use as a media server & works great. My setup is rather basic - I just use Front Row as my interface, but if you Google you'll find all sorts of interesting apps and features to add.

I keep all my media on separate external drives. The only thing on the internal drive is the OS & files that must be on the boot drive. I also have a backup drive w/ CCC that does its thing once a week. Since I don't add media too often once a week backup is fine and limits downtime.

 

[mrsir2009]

It should be fine as long as its not too much of a heavy load your putting on it. Lol it'd be great as a small server Plus you can get external drive if you run outa room. You could also have a 1TB HDD and a SSD (for boot drive) so it'll be fast!

 

[chris26]

Hi all,

Thanks for your posts and advice.

The main reason i would like this is to use as a media server - However i would also like to use it as a development server ( therefore i think the leopard server software would be good) - Has anyone used leopard server before?

I've been looking at a few media programs, FrontRow being the obvious - But i have also seen plex, which looks good .

 

[mrsir2009]

Hi all,

Thanks for your posts and advice.

The main reason i would like this is to use as a media server - However i would also like to use it as a development server ( therefore i think the leopard server software would be good) - Has anyone used leopard server before?

I've been looking at a few media programs, FrontRow being the obvious - But i have also seen plex, which looks good .

Aren't you going to use the Snow Leopard Sever software that came with it? Also, remember you won't have a superdrive. Although you can get an external one

 

[chris26]

Aren't you going to use the Snow Leopard Sever software that came with it? Also, remember you won't have a superdrive. Although you can get an external one

Sorry, yes i do plan on using the software that is coming with it .

I was looking at the super-drives etc. I'm gonna see what blu-ray drives are around.

I'm sure i can 'share' my cd drive on my macbook pro with the mac mini in the mean time.

 

[Serif]

The main reason i would like this is to use as a media server - However i would also like to use it as a development server ( therefore i think the leopard server software would be good) - Has anyone used leopard server before?

I have a mac mini server and I'm a developer. The SL server software adds nothing to a development environment; Xcode runs the same on SL client as it does on SL server. The server specific software is targeted at business type services. My mini server handles things like file shares, printers, and other housekeeping. It runs headless. For development I use an iMac running SL client.

The SL server software is interesting to play with and understand, but I keep getting the impression that people are not really understanding what the software is intended for and is maybe irrelevant to what they want to do with their computer.

 

[mrsir2009]

Sorry, yes i do plan on using the software that is coming with it .

I was looking at the super-drives etc. I'm gonna see what blu-ray drives are around.

I'm sure i can 'share' my cd drive on my macbook pro with the mac mini in the mean time.

Or you can get the external superdrive with it.

 

[Sun Baked]

Been posted that people were using these in their server farms ...

Consider that most people don't need the full Horsepower of the big servers so the sheer number of Minis that you can stack in a rack has some appeal.

 

[Serif]

Been posted that people were using these in their server farms ...

Consider that most people don't need the full Horsepower of the big servers so the sheer number of Minis that you can stack in a rack has some appeal.

Yes, and they were using the standard minis and mainly OS X client. You don't need OS X server to run a web server even if that is one of the things that OS X server provides out of the box.

 

[supercooled]

Yes this is the mac mini with dual HD (think there 1tb).

The main reason for this one is size and the fact that it's running mac!

I was looking at HP home media server but it runs some windows home server software

You've written something off sight unseen because it runs a Microsoft product?

You know that the HP MediaSmart is very compatible with the Mac while dutifully performs other cross platform tasks very well.

I've run a Mac Mini as a media server daisy chained with USB drives and it's just not efficient enough. For movies, photos and music, basically every multimedia needs I want, a NAS running Windows Home Server is more than capable. I can stream them on demand on a number of devices like my laptop, my desktop and my AppleTV. The only thing it can't do is stream to my iPhone which in the grand scheme of things isn't worth running a Mini for.