Should I attempt to setup a server by myself?

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Should I attempt to setup a server by myself?

I'm new to the Mac family ... not quite at the 1st year anniversary ... but definitely enjoying my mac mini this year 🙂

Thinking of installing a Mac mini server. Is this something a moderately computer savvy person can do or it it best left to the experts?

Current specs are:

Processor:

2.3GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

2.6GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 (add $100) <-- not worth upgrading IMO

Memory:

4GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB

8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB (add $100) <-- thinking for upgrading to at least 8GB

16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x8GB (add $300)

Hard Drive:

2x1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

256GB Solid State Drive (add $200) <-- should I? Is it more reliable? Will it last longer?

2X256GB Solid State Drive (add $600)

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice you can offer.

Mac mini, OS X Server

Posted on Dec 3, 2012 4:12 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Dec 3, 2012 6:15 PM in response to tigerlily25

It depends on what services you need to set up. Basic setup is not that hard if you follow the documentation, but troubleshooting problems with OS X Server can be a bear.

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2012 10:21 AM in response to tigerlily25

I agree with Linc. There are many things to bear in mind alongside your personal skill-set....

What is the server going to be used for, now? and in a year or two...?

Who will have access to the services? Is this a personal server or one for your office?

Will it need to integrate with other services/systems?

As Linc says - an out of the box server set-up can be straitforward - BUT, if you want to start running specialist services you'll need to know how to set them up and manage them properly.

Regards

Col

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Answer 3

Dec 4, 2012 5:20 PM in response to tigerlily25

While not a "go for it", I ultimately find there aren't a lot of people that understand Server. If you have the time and resources to do some learning, you have a feel for the underlying technologies then there's no reason to not undertake at least the learning exercise. If anything you'll at least gain the knowledge in knowing the person you call in knows what they're doing.

Server is very different animal to the client version.

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