sl server on a mac pro or a mini?

[j2048b]

I am getting sl server soon, and wanted to ask which system it would be better suited to run on? I will have the mini downstairs in my middle atlantic stereo cabinet, and will also have a scalio home server in the same rack.
My mac pro will be upstairs with 4 tb hard drives installed.

I want the mini to do internet stuff, and itunes as well as plex, but am torn between which system to install SLS on?

I also want to install winblows xp pro on either one of the machines, strictly for blue ray authoring and things of that sort.


any advice or incite, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[belvdr]

That's all well and good, but what are you wanting from OS X Server? That is what you need to examine to determine which machine is best suited.

 

[notjustjay]

Yes, everything you've specificied so far can easily be done with regular OS X. Where does the "Server" part come in?

 

[bld44]

It may seem "cool", but SLS can be a major time-sink and source of frustration (as with managing any server), not to mention it's expensive. If you can do everything with normal SL, go with that instead. I'm sure many, many others will agree.

 

[j2048b]

Thanks for the input guys! I actually just got SLS for an unbelievable deal so I had to jump on it! I will be running either my mac pro or my mini as the server for printing/ scanning and faxing as well as a dns server along with file server for iTunes/ time machine and a few other things!

I know there are a few other things a guy named talmy (screen name here on mac rumors) has listed that he has done and I want to do a few of those! Such as VPN and a few others that escape my mind!

So my main question still remains:

which system should I dedicate As the server?

Mac pro will be upstairs and the mini as well as a mac pro unibody 13 inch downstairs along with an hp laptop and a few other computers that will all be able to link to which ever is doing the server aps.

Mini will be a part of the home theater system and will be my central location
for iTunes, movies, and as much other stuff as I can!

I don't want to tax the hell outa themini so would it suffice to say the mac pro should be doing all the server stuff?


Thanks guys!

 

[dazey]

I run leopard server on a MDD G4. I did consider changing to a Mini to reduce power consumption but I need the server to operate a mirror RAID which is currently a softraid. To do this on a Mini would need a new hardware raid system. In the end of the day, I decided to stick with the MDD as it has 4 drive bays and I could not justify the cost of another machine. If you don't need the storage then the Mini will consume a lot less power than the Pro. I also run a g4 mini running 10.4 server in another location. Having a pro on 247 seems a bit excessive if the mini can do the job.

 

[satcomer]

I run leopard server on a MDD G4. I did consider changing to a Mini to reduce power consumption but I need the server to operate a mirror RAID which is currently a softraid. To do this on a Mini would need a new hardware raid system. In the end of the day, I decided to stick with the MDD as it has 4 drive bays and I could not justify the cost of another machine. If you don't need the storage then the Mini will consume a lot less power than the Pro. I also run a g4 mini running 10.4 server in another location. Having a pro on 247 seems a bit excessive if the mini can do the job.

If you looking for a home Raid then look at the new Drobo products. IMHO this will be better then raid because you can use cheap any size hard drives you can find in any box electronic stores.

 

[belvdr]

I'd suggest using the Mac Pro then, simply for the fact that if you are watching something on the Mini, you don't want your experimenting in SLS to cause your TV viewing to stop.

From a performance perspective, I don't think it will matter for one person.

 

[Serif]

Probably obvious point, but you plan on leaving both systems on full time? If not then the server software should be running on the one that is normally on.

I wouldn't worry about overloading a reasonably recent mini doing anything you mentioned, but if it's already running happily as part of your entertainment system then I'd leave well alone.

 

[talmy]

I know there are a few other things a guy named talmy (screen name here on mac rumors) has listed that he has done and I want to do a few of those! Such as VPN and a few others that escape my mind!

Talmy reporting. It's all working fine on my mini. Frankly I don't see why you couldn't run SLS on your entertainment mini.

One thing that I haven't mentioned here is that I went with the Mac mini server instead of keeping my Dell box running was to reduce power consumption. If there's one system that light on the power consumption it is the mini, and you have to keep the server running 24/7. My Dell ran 24/7 for 8 years and a month -- I hate to think what that cost me in the electric bill.