Recommendation on Mac Mini Server (for VPN)

[fxscreamer]

I'll try to make it short. I work for a small company where we have sensitive data that will need to be centrally located. I've done all the logistics, so my question is regarding the setup and configuration I'm looking at.

WILL THIS WORK? (3 pieces of equipment, VPN connection for multiple clients, Mac Mini located in central office)

RSA Server (Secure ID Server, token verification)
Hardware Firewall (Juniper, Palo Alto, etc)
Mac Mini Server (OSX Lion with File Vault 2 applied)

* Most, if not all clients will be running Lion with File Vault 2 enabled.

In a given scenario, I'd like to be able to have a few people being able to connect to shared files on the encrypted Mac Mini at the same time over a secure connection. Would this work in this scenario?

-J

 

[belvdr]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's nothing more than a shared drive over a VPN.

I'll tell you, though, the performance of the Mini leaves something to be desired. My 2009 model is pretty slow from a disk I/O standpoint. I can't imagine working with encrypted filesystems on it.

 

[squeakr]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's nothing more than a shared drive over a VPN.

I'll tell you, though, the performance of the Mini leaves something to be desired. My 2009 model is pretty slow from a disk I/O standpoint. I can't imagine working with encrypted filesystems on it.

I agree, but the newer ones have quad cores and 7200 rpms, compared to our pathetic 5400 rpm drives, so that can make quite a difference. I am contemplating switching mine out for sad drives (at least the main drive) or hybrids.

 

[belvdr]

I agree, but the newer ones have quad cores and 7200 rpms, compared to our pathetic 5400 rpm drives, so that can make quite a difference. I am contemplating switching mine out for sad drives (at least the main drive) or hybrids.

I haven't experienced issues with the CPU, other than with virtualization.

My 2009 server version has 7200rpm drives. The disk I/O just plain stinks. Going to SSD might help depending on the workload.

I even upgraded to 8GB of RAM to assist and that has helped but not as much as I would like.

 

[squeakr]

I haven't experienced issues with the CPU, other than with virtualization.

My 2009 server version has 7200rpm drives. The disk I/O just plain stinks. Going to SSD might help depending on the workload.

I even upgraded to 8GB of RAM to assist and that has helped but not as much as I would like.

Did you upgrade your discs, as the standard was 5400rpm drives for the server model? I too have 8 GB and I can slam the CPU pretty good with virutalization (as i need to run a Windows image in it for my Automation server), although the RAM upgrade has helped (increased the video memory and helped with the disc swapping from the VM. The benchmarks on the quad versions were very good, so it should make a great difference.

 

[Alrescha]

Mac Mini Server (OSX Lion with File Vault 2 applied)

This may not be desirable. If you turn on FileVault you will have to type the password on a keyboard physically attached to the server before it will boot. No more remote reboots, no automatic restart after a power failure, etc.

A.