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mac mini as corp server (for small company)? what do you think?
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Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: earth
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hi all. i was wondering if anyone has used a mac mini, running os x server, as a corp server. this would be for a small company of 10-20 people. roughly half are developers. the corp server would be running the source code repository, internal wiki and other tools, maybe a calendar server, possibly email and vpn into the network.
i was wondering if i got a new mini, maxed out the ram and installed os x server.... would their be a real issue in terms of performance or limitations? given the companies 10-20 person size, i tend to think that this would be fine. please let me know if i am crazy.
feel free to offer suggestions if this is a bad idea. i was originally budgeting for a new xserve, but think that is overkill. the alternative is to get a stripped down linux box to run most of this, while keeping google apps for email and calendar.
if the mac mini option would be fine for as many as 20 people, i could use it for a few years and then go the xserve route. thanks.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Boston
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I dunno, I would think the lack of redundancy would be an issue, what happens if the power supply fails or the hard drive goes south? Would the hard drive performance/bandwidth be an issue?
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~Mike
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Moderator  Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
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Friends of mine are running a Mac mini as their server. They're a startup with four people and they're doing most of what you're doing (plus testing of their web apps), works like a charm.
If you're already planning for such a big group, the most important monetary factor are man hours, not costs of hardware (they're usually the cheapest in the whole budget). If you don't need
(1) redundancy of any sort,
(2) a lot of very fast harddrive storage,
(3) very much cpu power,
then a Mac mini would actually work for you. Judging from the list, I think a Mac mini fits your bill. If you need redundancy, an XServe or a similarly priced server from, say, HP should be given preference (companies like IBM and HP offer cheap servers with `normal' pc components, but they are `less redundant').
There is one additional thing to consider: if you get a `real' server, you want to add a small, sound proof rack to the budget. Servers are loud while the mini is virtually silent.
Overall, I think you'll be fine.
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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
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