Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

olePigeon · Dec 8, 2009, 10:40 AM

With 3 shiny new Mac mini 1TB Servers dancing on my desk.

Man these are cool.

Laminar · Dec 8, 2009, 11:12 AM

Mazel tov.

olePigeon · Dec 8, 2009, 11:16 AM

Oh wait, I'm Jewish now. Guess it could be Hanukkah, in which case my 5 Mac minis short.

Doofy · Dec 8, 2009, 11:48 AM

Those things look sweet!

olePigeon · Dec 8, 2009, 03:59 PM

Speaking of my crappy PC thread, Apple spares no expense at the packaging of these computers. Not too many computer companies put as much effort into the design of the packaging as they do the computer.

besson3c · Dec 8, 2009, 04:53 PM

What do you plan to use the Minis for?

Laminar · Dec 8, 2009, 06:48 PM

Something you could do cheaper and better with a PC running *nix, obvi.

besson3c · Dec 8, 2009, 06:55 PM

Why are you trying to pick a fight Laminar?

I liked you better when you were Gossamer.

BlueSky · Dec 8, 2009, 07:25 PM

I liked him better when he wasn't closeted.

besson3c · Dec 8, 2009, 08:06 PM

Is Laminar really a closeted gay Abe or something? Please fill me in, I'm always the last person to figure these sorts of things out since I have both a lousy gaydar and Abedar.

lexapro · Dec 8, 2009, 08:33 PM

Lchaim on the new Macs!

olePigeon · Dec 8, 2009, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Something you could do cheaper and better with a PC running *nix, obvi.

OS X is the only flavor of UNIX that actually makes the configuration process painless. That alone makes it priceless for me.

Also, I'm not aware of any computers as small and as powerful as the Mac mini.

A generic PC with *nix also doesn't give me technical support, Apple does.

olePigeon · Dec 8, 2009, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

What do you plan to use the Minis for?

Two will be set up to replace two of our servers; an aging G5 tower and a MDD G5 tower, neither of which can run Snow Leopard Server.

The third will be used as our broadcast server, which hooks up to our CC television network and will broadcast daily and special announcements to the students.

besson3c · Dec 8, 2009, 10:37 PM

Cool! What did your G5 towers do?

hayesk · Dec 9, 2009, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Something you could do cheaper and better with a PC running *nix, obvi.

Only if your time is worthless.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by hayesk

Only if your time is worthless.

Or, your needs are not covered by the OS X Server GUI tools making OS X Server pointless, and/or you don't trust the GUI/Apple's bubble, and/or you intend to run your server without a GUI at all (which would make OS X Server pointless), and/or you don't want to use Apple's hardware, and/or you want a real VM host...

There is a reason why OS X Server does not reign king in big enterprise, and it has nothing to do with admins wanting to take on extra work, because I've yet to meet one that wasn't lazy.

The Final Dakar · Dec 9, 2009, 11:04 AM

Someone couldn't resist sounding like a broken record.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Someone couldn't resist sounding like a broken record.

That goes for both the standard "time is worthless" refrain and my repetitive response, bucko!

The Final Dakar · Dec 9, 2009, 11:09 AM

Ah, but one was bait.

sek929 · Dec 9, 2009, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Speaking of my crappy PC thread, Apple spares no expense at the packaging of these computers. Not too many computer companies put as much effort into the design of the packaging as they do the computer.

The packaging for iPods is cooler than most companies entire line of electronics.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Ah, but one was bait.

It looks like I have some fist shaking to do.

Why are you guys always trying to fool good ol' besson3c? That isn't very nice.

hayesk · Dec 9, 2009, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Or, your needs are not covered by the OS X Server GUI tools making OS X Server pointless, and/or you don't trust the GUI/Apple's bubble, and/or you intend to run your server without a GUI at all (which would make OS X Server pointless), and/or you don't want to use Apple's hardware, and/or you want a real VM host...

Blah blah blah - off topic. Obviously this isn't the case for the OP.

There is a reason why OS X Server does not reign king in big enterprise, and it has nothing to do with admins wanting to take on extra work, because I've yet to meet one that wasn't lazy.

No arguments there. Well, resistance to change, hoarding of knowledge, and Apple's secrecy are other reasons why admins are reluctant to try it, but we're not talking about big enterprise here.

Point is MacOS X Server is an excellent server solution for someone who doesn't want to be a die-hard UNIX command-line guru.

olePigeon · Dec 9, 2009, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by hayesk

Point is MacOS X Server is an excellent server solution for someone who doesn't want to be a die-hard UNIX command-line guru.

But you'd be right at home even if you were a die-hard UNIX command-line guru, just open up Terminal.

olePigeon · Dec 9, 2009, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Cool! What did your G5 towers do?

One was our video workstation, but either the motherboard or the power supply died. Either way, it's borked.

The other one was our server. We just got a new laptop cart complete with Snow Leopard, and normal Leopard Server can't hand out updates to Snow Leopard clients (something that really, really annoys me.) The G5 can't run Snow Leopard server. The Mac mini server cost just a little more than buying the server OS by itself, so we just got the mini.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by hayesk

Point is MacOS X Server is an excellent server solution for someone who doesn't want to be a die-hard UNIX command-line guru.

No, it's an excellent server solution for small businesses who fit in well with the little bubble that Apple designed for making OS X Server a turnkey sort of product.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

But you'd be right at home even if you were a die-hard UNIX command-line guru, just open up Terminal.

Until you discovered that there was no native package management outside of Macports/Fink (which pale in comparison), a goofy software update mechanism, and a different way of stopping/starting services, setting runlevels, etc.

SpaceMonkey · Dec 9, 2009, 03:41 PM

Sigh. This is why we can't have nice things!

Doofy · Dec 9, 2009, 03:43 PM

What is this "stopping services" thing that you speak of, Bess?

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 04:30 PM

I'm not sure in what context you are asking that question Doofy, and I'm particularly bad about derailing things so it's probably best that we not hack away at my post at the risk of annoying the poster and taking the joy away from his Minis (which, for the record, I was not trying to assert were a bad purchase decision at all).

My point can be better summarized by saying that OS X Server is a turnkey sort of solution, like Windows in that respect. Linux is not. You can't really say that one is better than the other, because they have different designs.

Doofy · Dec 9, 2009, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

I'm not sure in what context you are asking that question Doofy

Well, mainly in the "not everyone wants to be a sysadmin and tinker in the depths of their server every five minutes, which is why Mini servers are lovely" kind of context.

besson3c · Dec 9, 2009, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Well, mainly in the "not everyone wants to be a sysadmin and tinker in the depths of their server every five minutes, which is why Mini servers are lovely" kind of context.

Ahhh... well, not everybody can use turnkey products, so there infidel hippy!