spec me a mac pro server

[derbothaus]

5 People?
Mac Mini for file server.
Mac Mini for backup server. Don't even think of using FileVault for your encryption.
Mac Pro for content creation. Get high GHz instead of cores as you were not specific on the actual apps you are using. If it is going to do everything, get the 6-core.

You don't need the Pros for your limited serving needs.
And if you need them for i/o get the slowest. You do not need any major processing. Now you Go!

 

[chrismacguy]

Sorry if i was not being clear.

I have been using OSX since 1997 and quite competent in it.

I was generally looking for advice on hardware specs.

On the whole

One of the mac pro servers will deal with the daily running of a very intensive, media and web oriented user osx user enviroment

the secondar server will be used as a big backup "data centre" which will be heavily encrypted

The third mac pro will not be server but i was looking for suggestions on spec. (It will be doing everything from video editing, to website design/virtualisation)

If you were competent in OS X youd be able to judge your hardware requirements yourself - and you haven't been using Mac OS X since 1997. In 1997 it was called Rhapsody and was a developer release that IIRC didnt exactly resemble OS X *coughcough* Yellow Box / Blue Box*cough*, and was rather featureless. Also, why not just let every user have an account on their local machines - you don't need to host them on a server. And what on earth is a "very intensive media and web oriented user environment" - that is not specific enough to be any use. We need to know what kind've software you want to run, for how many users per piece of software etc. It sounds to me as if you, while you may have been using OS X Client a while, really dont have much of a clue when it comes to servers and network management.

What you need to do, is get a NAS box (DroboPro is my favourite) to store projects etc on, and possibly a single Mac Pro to run Final Cut Server or a similar program on, as well as any Volume License programs, including ones for Adobe CS. Nearly all your services should be catered for outside of a dedicated server, as its waaay to much hassle for just 20 or so users - the only things I could even imagine you wanting on a server would be software licensing and possibly something like Final Cut Server - and a single Mac Pro Server would handle all of that just fine with a decent NAS box. I would recommend away from a Mac Pro to use as just a file server, since NAS can do that better, and waaay cheaper than a Mac Pro.

As far as workstations go, it depends again on what software you want to run, and what you want to get done with it (We need s/w and project combination examples in order to be able to help you).

 

[derbothaus]

Yeah dude. I was rocking OS 8 in 1997 on a beige powermac G3. History fail. Over articulation of qualifications.

 

[jgbr]

what encryption would you all recommend?

 

[DustinT]

I give up

Someone else continue please

Lol, me too. Some people just don't listen.

 

[chrismacguy]

Yeah dude. I was rocking OS 8 in 1997 on a beige powermac G3. History fail. Over articulation of qualifications.

Lucky! In 1997 I was 5 and just starting to use a PowerMac 6100/66 with System 7 - But yes, massive over articulation. I think Rhapsody DR1 wasnt even that widely released. The earliest build Ive come across is DR2...

And jgbr - You dont need encryption. Just a good firewall. If you want to keep users away from your data just use FileVault. Anything more than that is highly likely to be massive overkill.

 

[DustinT]

what encryption would you all recommend?

I recommend you go to the beginning of this thread and read again and try and absorb the ideas people are giving you. Its much more effective than trying to bend peoples comments to support your ideas.

Oh, and *please* hire a consultant.

 

[chrismacguy]

I recommend you go to the beginning of this thread and read again and try and absorb the ideas people are giving you. Its much more effective than trying to bend peoples comments to support your ideas.

Oh, and *please* hire a consultant.

Giving up lasted a long time - And anyway, we've already caught him out with his claim of using OS X since "1997".... hopefully he will reread and call a consultant.... then he might be satisfied with his network for a while...

 

[DustinT]

Giving up lasted a long time - And anyway, we've already caught him out with his claim of using OS X since "1997".... hopefully he will reread and call a consultant.... then he might be satisfied with his network for a while...

I hope so. I have *no* problem spending tens of thousands of dollars on infrastructure when its going to lead to an increased bottom line. This sounds more like an intern who was told to spec out a server system. Anyway...

 

[chrismacguy]

I hope so. I have *no* problem spending tens of thousands of dollars on infrastructure when its going to lead to an increased bottom line. This sounds more like an intern who was told to spec out a server system. Anyway...

Nope, none of us have a problem of spending a fortune if the profits we gain are more than the fortune... and yes, I have to agree with the intern/ possibly a rich kid whose claiming he needs these for "reasons unknown"

 

[DustinT]

Lol, a spoiled rich kid... Why didn't I think of that?

 

[gabicava83]

Is it wrong to find this thread rather amusing ?

 

[DustinT]

Is it wrong to find this thread rather amusing ?

Nope!

 

[theSeb]

Stand aside guys - I am a consultant. I am coming to the rescue since no one else is helping

It's pretty clear to me that you will need some serious processing power for the job

machine 1

Two Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors give you up to 12 processor cores - 2.93 Ghz of course

32 GBs of ram to ensure that all of the hardcore applications, like a wiki server, run smoothly

512 GB SSD in all 4 bays. You'll be surprised how taxing a mail server with 20 users can be, especially with the overhead of a wiki server. This machine will need plenty of fast local storage available. You'll thank me later when you see how much space these 20 users can eat up with their silly joke emails and spam like, send this mail to25 people and get a free phone. It's best to be prepared

I've only specced the machine with 2 27" displays, but I would suggest getting 3 to make sure that you can monitor everything easily

I would also suggest the dual graphics card option to ensure that you can drive all of the monitors properly. Also, if you have more graphics power, it will allow the users to have better looking mail.

I haven't yet figured out why, but I think that you should get 2 SuperDrives. It will help when you need to install 2 pro applications at the same time or something.

You will need an external backup solution. Have you considered this at all? Nothing less than a fibre channel based storage will do for your particular needs.

Therefore I would suggest that you also get
**Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card and Xsan 2.2
don't forget to purchase mac OSX server as well

Nothing less will do my friend. You should then get another mac pro just like this one for redundancy and load balancing for those particularly taxing times when all 20 users are checking their mail and editing the wiki.

For the third machine that will be used to muck about with and play with some pro applications I would suggest the same specs, except that you won't need Mac OSX server and the fibre channel stuff (you could spec it just incase anyway). Do you think 4 displays would be enough or would an array of 6 be more suitable?

So, with only 2 displays machine 1, 0 in machine 2 and only 2 in machine 3, the total comes out to be (I still think that you are selling yourself short without the extra displays - you don't want to look like a chomp in the office)


As for your backup solution. My friend, your users' data is priceless. Do you think a normal raid storage is good enough? No! You will need at least two of these or similar products

HP StorageWorks M6412A Fibre Channel Drive Enclosure Storage enclosure - 12-bay

You will still need to buy the proper hard drives as well. I can advise you in this regard as well.

This will ensure that your users have the space and backups for all of important data and backups. Imagine what would happen if the wiki was lost?!?!?


The other things to consider is the printers and scanners and so forth. Have you considered it at all? Sounds to me like you'll need a top of the range colour laser printer that can print 10 pages a second. I'll get back in touch with a quote.

Machine 1

Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)
32GB (8x4GB)
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Two 18x SuperDrives
Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card
MAC OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)
Xsan 2.2
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro - Auto-enroll
*

$ 18294

Machine 2

Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)
32GB (8x4GB)
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Two 18x SuperDrives
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card
MAC OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)
Xsan 2.2
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro - Auto-enroll

$ 16296

Machine 3*

You will note that I've removed the fibre channel stuff but added 64 GBs of ram. You will need this to run pro applications properly when you are drawing things and editing the wiki.*

Specifications
Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)
64GB (8x8GB)
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
512GB solid-state drive
Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Two 18x SuperDrives
Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro - Auto-enroll

$17796

There are still my consulting fees to consider. I like you so I'll charge you a reduced rate of $3000 per day and I estimate 10 man days of work for me. I may need some support consultants from my company as well.

 

[chrismacguy]

Stand aside guys - I am a consultant. I am coming to the rescue since no one else is helping

It's pretty clear to me that you will need some serious processing power for the job

<snip>
There are still my consulting fees to consider. I like you so I'll charge you a reduced rate of $3000 per day and I estimate 10 man days of work for me. I may need some support consultants from my company as well.

Hey, Im a Consultant too, and Ill do it for $2500 per day for 10 man days... Heck, Ill do it for whatever you'll do it for - $500 per day for however long it takes. (Assuming you charge over $500/day... if you don't Ill do it for FREE )

 

[DustinT]

Stand aside guys - I am a consultant. I am coming to the rescue since no one else is helping. It's pretty clear to me that you will need some serious processing power for the job.

You nailed it. Are you a consultant in the real world?

 

[theSeb]

Hey, Im a Consultant too, and Ill do it for $2500 per day for 10 man days... Heck, Ill do it for whatever you'll do it for - $500 per day for however long it takes. (Assuming you charge over $500/day... if you don't Ill do it for FREE )

I shall now start a smear campaign against Chris' competing consultancy.

 

[theSeb]

You nailed it. Are you a consultant in the real world?

I haven't even warmed up yet. This guy will also need some user acceptance testing and operational acceptance testing. Again, my consultancy can supply the necessary resources to help plan and drive these phases.

Yes, I am actually a management consultant working in technology and I've consulted to the likes of Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Sony. I've worked for some of the large, well-known consulting firms, but I freelance now via my own company.

 

[DustinT]

I haven't even warmed up yet. This guy will also need some user acceptance testing and operational acceptance testing. Again, my consultancy can supply the necessary resources to help plan and drive these phases.

Yes, I am actually a management consultant working in technology and I've consulted to the likes of Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Sony. I've worked for some of the large, well-known consulting firms, but I freelance now via my own company.

I thought I detected the lovely smell of high quality BS.

 

[theSeb]

I thought I detected the lovely smell of high quality BS.

Correct. That's my job

I've realised that it will be most beneficial to go into a partnership with Chrismacguy. He is going to spec out the software the the op will need.

 

[chrismacguy]

Correct. That's my job

I've realised that it will be most beneficial to go into a partnership with Chrismacguy. He is going to spec out the software the the op will need.

Well, I shall spec the software then: He definitely needs 3 Copies each of Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio, Final Cut Server, 2 Copies of XSan and 2 Copies of CS5.5 Master Collection just to give him so flexibility. I'd also recommend volume licenses of iLife and iWork, and ofc he'll need to track down copies of Shake 4 on eBay for each machine , oh and he'll also need copies of ProTools, AVID Media Composer, Reason, and also require extra BlackMagic cards and ProTools Cards for each Mac Pro.

 

[DustinT]

Well, I shall spec the software then: He definitely needs 3 Copies each of Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio, Final Cut Server, 2 Copies of XSan and 2 Copies of CS5.5 Master Collection just to give him so flexibility. I'd also recommend volume licenses of iLife and iWork, and ofc he'll need to track down copies of Shake 4 on eBay for each machine , oh and he'll also need copies of ProTools, AVID Media Composer, Reason, and also require extra BlackMagic cards and ProTools Cards for each Mac Pro.

****... I've got to get into this somehow...

ARGH! I'm going to loose out on this massive contract...

 

[theSeb]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

Well, I shall spec the software then: He definitely needs 3 Copies each of Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio, Final Cut Server, 2 Copies of XSan and 2 Copies of CS5.5 Master Collection just to give him so flexibility. I'd also recommend volume licenses of iLife and iWork, and ofc he'll need to track down copies of Shake 4 on eBay for each machine , oh and he'll also need copies of ProTools, AVID Media Composer, Reason, and also require extra BlackMagic cards and ProTools Cards for each Mac Pro.

****... I've got to get into this somehow...

ARGH! I'm going to loose out on this massive contract...

Do you have a pickup truck? We need someone to transport all of this to the op's office from Chris' house.

 

[DustinT]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)



Do you have a pickup truck. We need someone to transport all of this to the op's office from Chris' house.

Hell yes! It's a high security, suspension equiped truck. The high security comes from the fact the bed of the truck has metal walls on all four sides. Plus, the optional 'cooling system', ie. there's no cover on the bed, allows proper cooling of all goods in transit. (Its a bit of a problem in the rain. Luckily I have the MIT cover. (thats Materials In Transit, no connection to the school. Yet) The MIT cover might look like an old sheet but in reality its a vintage sheet. I guarantee it will protect this massive order from at least (but no more) 30% of the rain.

On a clear day I'll handle the transportation for 23% of the gross order volume. If there's even one cloud in the sky that shall increase to a 40% surcharge.

(How am I doing so far?)

 

[chrismacguy]

Hell yes! It's a high security, suspension equiped truck. The high security comes from the fact the bed of the truck has metal walls on all four sides. Plus, the optional 'cooling system', ie. there's no cover on the bed, allows proper cooling of all goods in transit. (Its a bit of a problem in the rain. Luckily I have the MIT cover. (thats Materials In Transit, no connection to the school. Yet) The MIT cover might look like an old sheet but in reality its a vintage sheet. I guarantee it will protect this massive order from at least (but no more) 30% of the rain.

On a clear day I'll handle the transportation for 23% of the gross order volume. If there's even one cloud in the sky that shall increase to a 40% surcharge.

(How am I doing so far?)

You've forgotten the most important component of a high-security transport (HST), and that is it must be FAA, CIA, NSA, FBI, and AASHTO certified.