Does it make sense to make a Mac mini as an office server?

Artem2012-07-28 13:28:12

System administration

Artem, 2012-07-28 13:28:12

It is necessary to make an office server for a small web studio so that it can act as a web server, gateway, mail server, shared folder, VPN server, print server.
Is Mac Mini Server suitable for these tasks?
Very little information about OS X Server.
What are the benefits? What kind of rake can you stumble upon?

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9 answer(s)

Stdit, 2012-07-28
@Stdit

I don’t see the point in this, it’s easier and cheaper to install any ordinary computer / laptop with Linux.

Anatoly, 2012-07-28
@taliban

I suspect that it is worth using in this case proven solutions that you had to work with, otherwise there is a chance of stopping work due to issues with the server. and judging by the question “Will the Mac Mini Server be suitable for these tasks?”, You have not come across this system =)

Alexey Prokhorov, 2012-07-28
@megahertz

It seems to me an ordinary system manager and one-time admin services for setting up + maybe some kind of gui like webmin will come out much cheaper

dsd_corp, 2012-07-28
@dsd_corp

It seems to me that ideally, in this case, you would be good to bet on a bunch of NAS + Mac Mini.
NAS - something like QNAP or Synology ( goo.gl/67pF9 ). The number of discs is up to you.
NAS will give high reliability and storage flexibility(RAID1/5/6/10). In addition, almost all or all of your NAS requirements are already there, although not all of them may be as convenient and flexible as you need. These inflexible services, as well as the lack of computing power (number grinding) compensate for the Mac Mini standing next to it, the system of which, by the way, can also be backed up to the same NAS via TimeMachine.
Much also depends on your budget and your requirements for polish, flexibility and load capacity of each of the listed services.

Sergey Lerg, 2012-07-28
@Lerg

I would try ClearOS www.clearfoundation.com/ - positions itself as a server for the organization with all the applications and configuration interfaces out of the box.
But Ubuntu is not difficult to customize for all your tasks.

amc, 2012-07-29
@amc

Your question does not contain the most important information:
what (on what OS) do the studio employees work on?

mikes, 2012-07-29
@mikes

buy yourself this HP Microserver

andydufreyne, 2012-08-04
@andydufreyne

I have the youngest mac mini model of 2011, MC815
bought an adapter for the second disk - Dual HardDrive Kit , you can put an SSD or an additional 1 TB as storage, the price of $ 70 without delivery
also put 8 GB of memory instead of two - it cost only $ 46
from a quite budgetary poppy - a very powerful machine is obtained. Only in the younger model is the video built-in, but this is my conscious choice.