Running Server on a maxed out Mac Mini

Sure.

The mini isn't designed for server operations, but there's nothing stopping you from installing Server if that's what you want.

Just so you can see that you're not alone 🙂...

http://www.macminicolo.net/index.html

No, just a saved link I had. I do have 2 clients with minis (one a filemaker server, one running file & mail but only 6 users) but they have only been running for about 8 months (without problems, so far).

-david

I run a couple of Mini 1.66 duos with server 10.4.8 and they're great. One is hosting 5 web sites and the other is a file server on a network of 14 Macs.

If you want to colo a Mini I'd highly recommend the company I use:

http://www.xservhosting.com/

Much more competitive pricing and top notch support.

Before we decided to go with a XServe, we also considerd a Mac Mini as cost-effective alternative. However these things spoke against:

1. Downtimes in the case of needing to replace harddisks, since they are not directly accessible and not hot-swappable.

2. Hard to impossible to get a RAID1 mirror running (we required it for higher redundancy). In order to realize a RAID array you would need to connect a SAN storage product (we had a closer look to a Maxtor two-drive system) via firewire cable.

3. Although the Mac Mini surely is capable of, it originally was not intended to run 24/7/365 as a XServe does. There is also no way to do remote monitoring of the hardware.

But as other stated, as a file server or mail server it is a good choice and may work. If you decide to run something critical for your business, I would not recommend it. However this is my personal opinion only.

By the way: When you add the costs of a separate monitor, mouse and keyboard to the Mac Mini's price, why not save some cables and power adapters and get a MacBook for this purpose ?

Considering this, it even comes with a built-in UPS (battery compensates a downtime of several hours - which UPS is able to do this 🙂

1. Downtimes in the case of needing to replace
harddisks, since they are not directly accessible and
not hot-swappable.

The simple solution is to run the Mini booted on an external Firewire drive and clone that drive to the internal as a backup. In the event of the FW drive failing you simply reboot and run from the internal drive while replacing the FW drive.

2. Hard to impossible to get a RAID1 mirror running
(we required it for higher redundancy). In order to
realize a RAID array you would need to connect a SAN
storage product (we had a closer look to a Maxtor
two-drive system) via firewire cable.

FW drives can be configured by Disk Utility to run as a RAID or a FW/hardware RAID could be used to fulfill this need. Then running the Mini booted from the internal drive backup could be written to a USB drive.

3. Although the Mac Mini surely is capable of, it
originally was not intended to run 24/7/365 as a
XServe does. There is also no way to do remote
monitoring of the hardware.

Yes the Xserve offers an advantage here.

Will running a server on a mini 24/7/365 affect the life of the hard disk? its a 2.5" after all, and I don't think it's built to run non-stop. However, I do not need to access it all the time, just that the mini will be on all the time. So I am thinking that the hard disk might be suspended most of the time, which is good. So i am just trying to clarify my doubts and concerns.

Secondly, can I set the mini to run off an external disk such that it does not run the internal 2.5" at all? If that is possible, is it then possible to remove the internal disk (making it diskless) while running directly off an external?

I am aware of mods and hacks, but I am looking for legitimate methods, meaning not modding the case.