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nemanirc · Aug 2, 2007, 07:54 AM

Our daughter's school has a lab of about fifteen Macs (ranging from 350 MHz G3 iMacs to a few eMacs and Mac minis). The school also has a Windows lab and manages the students' accounts on a Windows 2003 server. The server gives the students a log on ID and file space.

I was going to help set up a Mac OS X Server for the Mac lab, primarily to let the Macs use the Windows authentication, allowing kids to log on to either the PCs or the Macs to get to their files. Right now, the Macs are underutilized, in part since the kids cannot get to their files.

The budget is low, so I was thinking of a 450 MHz G4 tower. Megamacs has them for under $300. We already bought the unlimited version of Mac OS X Server 10.3.

imitchellg5 · Aug 2, 2007, 11:01 AM

A 450 MHz would be just fine. Just load it up with RAM.

Lateralus · Aug 2, 2007, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by nemanirc

The budget is low, so I was thinking of a 450 MHz G4 tower. Megamacs has them for under $300.

You say that like it's a good price.

You can find similar machines on eBay for under a hundred pretty easily.

imitchellg5 · Aug 2, 2007, 12:03 PM

True, he should be able to get a nice QS for $300.

svtcontour · Aug 2, 2007, 01:14 PM

How many drives can you put in a G4 though. I thought it only has space for 2 drives - three maybe if you put one where the zip drive goes.... Its been a while....

Waragainstsleep · Aug 2, 2007, 03:28 PM

If you can get a dual Proc MDD, it will scream along happiily under fairly high loads, and you can fit 5 HDs if you want to.

Lateralus · Aug 2, 2007, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by svtcontour

How many drives can you put in a G4 though. I thought it only has space for 2 drives - three maybe if you put one where the zip drive goes.... Its been a while....

Any G4 will take at least 5 drives if you use either the Zip bay on the earlier models or the second optical bay on the MDDs.

mavherzog · Aug 3, 2007, 01:13 AM

But if the kids will be simply accessing their files off of the Server 2003 box, is it really a concern how many drives the server will accept?

Lateralus · Aug 3, 2007, 01:17 AM

I was wondering the same thing. I mean, a 500GB hard drive can now be had for under a hundred bucks. And a controller card for another $60.

I see no reason why anybody would want to ram a G4 full of hard drives. It'd do nothing but strain the power supply and create excess heat.

wpd7 · Aug 3, 2007, 02:45 AM

You should be asking why do you even need an OSX server?

Macs interface just fine to WS2003 AD. Access the volumes through SAMBA.

Waragainstsleep · Aug 3, 2007, 03:33 PM

Thats true. You can bind them to the directory using the Directory Access Utility.
I picked the MDD since it can have 5 drives without the need for PCI controllers. Most earlier ones have physical room for 5 or more drives, but the MDD has built in busses to match.

pixelbaker · Aug 3, 2007, 04:52 PM

Personally, I don't see why you need the OS X server either. The last week or so I've been setting up an iMac for use in my HS's all windows based network with Win2k3 servers using Active Directory. The iMac authenticates against the AD and understands logon hours and all of that perfectly as well as automatically mounting the users personal home folder on the Win2k3 share. The only problem I'm having with this is that it mounts the user folder in the dock, but not as a volume on the desktop, which for some users can be confusing when they're trying to save files in the save dialog (it's not listed on the left and they have to navigate to it themselves). I have also locked down the workstation using Workgroup Manager to prevent some access and personalize the user experience, settings which can then be transferred to other Macs if needed. I'm still a newbie at OS X and especially AD integration, but check out my thread here for some info on how to do some of this stuff.

dowNNshift · Aug 4, 2007, 12:23 AM

I think what yall are forgetting is that Mac OS X Server doesn't have expensive CALs for the Active Directory services -- which is a huge savings! The OP was all about the biggest bang for the lowest budget buck.

So yeah, I too agree with the assessment that an older G4 Quicksilver with two new PATA hard drives in a RAID 1 config, loaded with either Panther or Tiger Server would make a great school server. I strongly recommend that you use new hard drives, because Lord knows how much abuse and wear-and-tear the old one(s) have been through. Not to mention you can get them pretty economically from an online retailer (i.e. NewEgg)...