Re: [Fed-Talk] Opinions solicited: FW800 mini vs MacPro for home server?
Re: [Fed-Talk] Opinions solicited: FW800 mini vs MacPro for home server?
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] Opinions solicited: FW800 mini vs MacPro for home server?
- From: Kevin Stevens <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 20:13:24 -0800
a) Is what I've been using for a couple of years - it replaced a Dell
tower running FreeBSD.
I'm not sure why the drive speed is important if you're using it as a
server, as the drives are still faster than the network. I just used
two external FW cases RAIDed together with non-server OS X; about $75
for both of them. They're all fanless, which is nice.
Acts as home media server, Time Machine backup for the other machines,
NTP.org pool server, web server, DNS master for my domains, IPv6
termination, all the usual stuff. No performances problem. I run it
headless and SSH or VNC/ARD into it.
I guess I just don't see the need for the processing power/drive speed
you're looking for unless I'm missing some of your requirements.
Biggest thing I'd rather see is Gb ethernet; do the new Minis have that?
KeS
Oh, and if you're supporting a federal account full-time, you qualify
for the Apple Federal Employee discount, at least as I read it - and
Apple has confirmed this when selling me several machines over the
years. http://www.apple.com/r/store/government/epp.html
-----Original Message-----
From: David Emery [mailto:email@hidden] Sent: Thursday, March
05, 2009 10:45
To: email@hidden
Cc: Rich Hilliard; Mark Maier; Valentine, Colin M.
Subject: [Fed-Talk] Opinions solicited: FW800 mini vs MacPro for home
server?
I'd like to tap the collected wisdom of this group: The G5 that
I've been
running Leopard Server on has been a problematic machine from the
beginning.
Now it's not booting (it 'boings', but nothing ever comes up on the
monitor), and I think it's (past) time to replace it. This machine's
primary use is as a file server. The home accounts are all Server
Mobile
accounts, so I don't depend on the server for directly serving home
directories. But I do depend on it for reliable large data set
storage
(e.g. photos...) and for 2-stage backup for the laptops/home machines.
(Laptop does mobile synch to server, then server does TimeMachine
backup.)
The choices are (a) Mini + FW800 external RAID case or (b) Mac Pro
Mini: Advantages: Cheap! Disadvantages: FW800 is slower
than eSATA or internal drives. Pro: Advantages: can hold 4
drives internally. can reuse my eSATA card from the G5.
Disadvantages: Cost (and paying for horsepower I don't need.)
The Pro+FW RAID case is about $750, vs more than $2k for a Mac
Pro. (And if I go with the Mini, I'll have a 2 drive eSATA
enclosure and a
4-channel eSATA card to sell...)
Your thoughts very welcome!
dave
p.s. there are times when I think everyone but me has some sort of
corporate/govt/educational discount with Apple :-(
--
David Emery, DSCI, supporting PdM FCS (BCT) SW Integration
703 298 3473 (office/cell), 703 272 7496 (fax)
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Fed-talk mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden