Help/ Decision-decision to get a Mac Mini Server or not

I am naturally new at this, I have never dealt with a server before as an administrator. I am very interested in Podcasting and Wikis and naturally came across Podcast producer and Wiki Server 2 from Mac Os X server. How hard is it to set up, and how hard is it to run and administer? What kind of resources would I need and what kind of support? I work at a University that does not haveMac IT gurus I can just call and ask for help, they only deal with PC's. Any help is appreciated before I make a decision or forget about and go low tech ( Fred Flinstone like)

The mini will be about as powerful as your current MBP. You could have more RAM in the mini, 2 GB is certainly not enough for any serious work.
People on this list were initially(LP 9.0.0) underwhelmed by the MBP i7 dual core, it is a step up from your older MBP, but don't expect miracles. Get lots of RAM/a SSD for optimum performance.
9.1.3 may have improved performance, not sure,
Fast and relatively cheap: iMac i7 quad core. Not very portable, though.
Not ideal either is your M-audio interface, its drivers are below par making your Mac sweat more than necessary.
My 2c,
Zip

Similar Messages

  • Mac mini server - will not take 4GB so-dimm in bank 0

    Mac mini server - will not take 4GB so-dimm in bank 0
    Hello,
    Memory works ok as long as the old 2gb 1066 so-dimm is in bank 0.
    Switching the dimms around is no go. It seems to need that bank 0 populated with an old 2gb.
    I can use only one 2gb and one 4gb for the mini server to boot.
    It seems to have a hard time figuring out the 2x4gb configuration.
    Tried PRAM and NVRAM reset. Always getting 3 beeps.
    Any chance of getting the full 8gb detected?

    Hi All,
    I had the same problem that you, I had a mac mini server late 2009 with 10.7.3 OS X, with 4 GB of memory.
    I have got these two memories on amazon:
    "8Go mémoire - Kit double canal SAMSUNG original 2 x 4 Go 204 broches DDR3-1066 PC3-8500 SO-DIMM (2x M471B5273BH1-CF8) mémoire portable ordinateur DD"
    First test to install in the mac mini:
    Slot 0 - 4 GB
    Slot 1 - 4 GB
    3 beeps
    2nd test
    Slot 0 -
    Slot 1 - 4 GB
    OK
    3rd Test:
    Slot 0 - 4 GB
    Slot 1 - 1 GB
    3 beeps
    4th Test:
    1 - 1 GB
    2 - 4 GB
    OK
    5th test:
    reset PMU
    Slot 0 - 4 GB
    Slot 1 - 4 GB
    3 bips
    6th Test:
    I did a test of the 2x4 GB in a mac mini 2010
    OK
    7th test:
    Slot 0 - 2 GB
    Slot 1 - 4 GB
    OK
    After to read this forum I gave up and I decided to let the mac mini with 6 GB. Well, as I wanted to try it again one last time, I tried to put the slot 0 memory forcing a bit. But I did not noticed nothing special.
    Well, at this last time, it works. 8 GB in the mac mini server
    here some screenshots:
    I hope this info will help you to resolve this problem. But seriously, I am not giving you nothing else than hope

  • Mac Mini Server will not go into recovery?

    I've just bought a Mac Mini Server 2012 model, and when I try and boot to recovery or safe mode, the boot hangs, then the machine restarts with the 'Your computer restarted because of a problem' message. The machine boots to normal mode fine, and can also boot to startup manager, which shows a recovery partition. I've tried resetting the NVRAM, as well as booting straight from Apple's servers. Both have not helped. The previous owner said he reinstalled OSX from recovery before he gave it to me, which leads me to believe it could be something other than a faulty drive. In addition, Disk Utility has not thrown up anything. If anyone could shed some light on this at all it would be very much appreciated as I'm starting to get a little bit annoyed!
    Thanks.

    The first thing you should do after acquiring a second-hand computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. How you do that depends on the model. Look it up on this page to see what version was originally installed.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) installation disc, which you can get from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller — not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. I suggest you install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the gray installation discs that came with it. If you don't have the discs, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.
    To boot from an optical disc, insert it, then reboot and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, it should boot into Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.
    Once booted from the disc or in Internet Recovery, launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive — not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive, which is what you should do.
    After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. When the installation is done, the system will automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
    You should then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. If you want to upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, buy it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the previous owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed — you have to repurchase them.
    If the previous owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Apple customer service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.
    If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able toauthorize it under your ID. In that case, contact iTunes Support.

  • Mac Mini (server) 2011 not accepting 4 GB

    My Mac Mini Server (mid 2011) does not accept 4 GB of memory. It does boot succesfully with a 2 GB SODIMM in slot 0 or in slot 1, but when I insert 2 2GB SODIMMs in both slots, it does not boot. It does give the start up beep and then after a few secs it 'restarts' or so and beeps again. It repeats so continuously.
    When I insert a 4 GB SODIMM in either of the slots, the issue is exactly the same.
    I've been trying several things regarding memory placement. 2 GB in slot 0 and 4 GB in slot 1. 4 GB in slot 0 and 2 GB slot 1, 2x 2 GB in slot 0 and 1. All the same result.
    Only once, it somehow did start with a 2 GB and a 4 GB SODIMM installed and then OS X did report 6 GB in total, so somewhere both slots do work. However, on next day (after power down) the same issue of continuous beeps reoccured.
    I inspected both memory slots but could not see any dirt or mishap. I cleaned both slots with cleaning alchohol. I even "sanded" the contacts with a narrow piece of paper, folded to proper thickness. I've given the Mac a PRAM reset, an SMC reset. All to no avail.
    Any idea what this can be caused by?
    BTW, I do not know whether it is related: I also noticed that the 2 leftmost USB ports (seen from front) do not detect a keyboard when inserted in those. When the keyboard is inserted in one of the 2 rightmost ports, the kb is detected without problems.

    Kingston says it should work
    http://www.kingston.com/us/memory/search/?partid=kta-mb1333/4g
    I can't find where ICIDU says anything about supported computers
    http://www.icidu.com/en/memory/notebook-memory/sodimm-ddr3-1333-8gb-kit.html
    Based on what you did and problem with UBS ports I suspect either a slot problem or a problem on the logic board.
    - Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store.
      Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

  • Help with home system centered around Mac Mini server and 2 iPads.

    Hey guys - sure this question has been asked ad naseum but I could not find too much relavent.   My 2008-2011 Apple suite is slowly kicking the bucket and it is time to invest in all new. 
    Current setup:
    1- 4th Gen MacBook - limping along.
    1 - 5th Gen Unibody MacBook - good to go. 
    2 - iPhone 3GS - Soon to be replaced by iPhone 5 in July,  both limping along.  
    1 - 3rd Gen AppleTV
    1 - 2009 circa AirPort 802.11G,  limping along.  
    1 - 2nd Gen iPad 32GB WiFi+AT&T 3G
    Proposed setup:
    2 - iPad 4th Gen
    2 - iPhone 5
    1 - 3rd Gen AppleTV (stayover from previous setup)
    1 - AirPort 802.11N - replacing 802.11G due to WiFi speed limitations in high density community.
    1 - MacMini Server
    1- External drive to backup the MacMini
    So the plan is to ditch the laptops and replace them with iPad accessing items stored on the Mini.  Combine iTunes music through importing and create one account for future purchases.  Purchasing an external drive for backup of the MacMini,  horror stories on the TimeCapsule has me steering clear of that. 
    In my mind I may be envisioning this to be an easy feat.  Should this be as easy as I am imagining it to be or do I need to be worried about anything else that I am not thinking about?
    Thanks in advance! 

    Look at
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3197548?start=0&tstart=0

  • RAID on Mac mini Server (2011 i7)

    I just purchased a new Mac mini Server today (the base configuration 2011 Quad Core i7 with 4GB RAM and 2x 500GB 7200RPM magnetic hard disks) and wanted to share what I've learned about setting up RAID on the system.
    First, as you may have heard, the Mac mini Server does not include any installation/reinstallation media (I was hoping for a USB reinstall key, but it seems that the new systems don't include these or optical discs; last year's Mac mini Server included handy reinstall DVDs even though the system didn't have an optical drive).  Out of the box, the new Mac mini Server has Mac OS X Lion, the iLife suite, and the Mac OS X Lion Server tools pre-installed on one of the two 500GB internal drives; the other disk is formatted as a separate, second drive.
    If this is the configuration you're looking for, you're good to go right out of the box.  As an aside, this shipping configuration is ideal for using the second disk as a Time Machine drive.  I would argue that Time Machine would be a better use of the second volume than a RAID 1 configuration, as Time Machine provides versioned backups and you don't incur the write performance penalty RAID 1 requires every time data is saved to the disk.  I would further caution that, while an internal Time Machine disk is a convenient safety measure, any critical data should be backed up outside of the system as well.
    Now for those like me who were intrigued by the opportunity to mate the Quad Core i7 with a RAID 0/striped configuration for a performance boost (or if you want to use RAID 1), a RAID configuration is possible, but it there are a few caveats.
    First, Apple has two recovery options for the new Macs: a small hidden recovery partition on the boot drive and their Internet Recovery system.  While it's possible to boot other systems from a Lion installation DVD extracted from the App Store Lion installer, such bootable optical discs will not boot the Mac mini Server at this time (this may change if Apple modifies the App Store Lion installer).  Therefore, as of right now, the recovery partition or the Internet Recovery system are the best options for installing/reinstalling on a RAID set.
    Second, if you boot the system using Command+R to access the recovery partition, you can wipe the two drives and create a RAID set, but this process will remove the recovery partition and is incompatible with FileVault encryption (a warning to this effect comes up when you try to start an install/reinstalll on a RAID set, but at that point, you've likely already erased the recovery partition in Disk Utility).  If the system boots after the recovery partition is deleted, the only install/reinstall option is Apple's Internet Recovery.
    Third, as might be expected depending upon your internet bandwidth, the Internet Recovery system can take a while to boot the recovery tools (10-15 minutes to boot on a standard cable modem connection) and to reinstall the OS (50+ minutes on a standard cable modem connection).  Internet Recovery currently reinstalls only Mac OS X Lion and the Server tools on the mini Server; there's no option to install iLife during the OS install (Apple could always change this by updating their servers, and there is a Customize button on the installer, but it is greyed out and cannot be clicked at the present).
    Fourth, once the OS is reinstalled, it's possible to reinstall the iLife applications by launching the App Store from within Mac OS and selecting Purchased.  The store will indicate that the system is eligible to download the iLife apps and you can do so by agreeing to upload system-identifying information to Apple and signing in with your Apple ID.
    I hope all this helps.  Here's a more concise step-by-step of how to set up the system with RAID:
    THINGS YOU NEED
    A fast Internet connection for the mini
    Patience
    Hold Command+R on the keyboard at start up to boot from the system's recovery partition (if the recovery partition has been deleted, the system should start from Apple's Internet Recovery system; you may need to connect to WiFi if wired ethernet isn't available)
    Once you get into the recovery utility, select Disk Utility and for each of the two hard drives:
    highlight the drive
    select the Partition tab
    select 1 Partition from the Partition Layout pulldown menu
    select Free Space from the Format pulldown menu
    click Apply
    After you've wiped both of the drives, highlight one of the disks and click the RAID tab, then create a RAID set (striped or mirrored, as you prefer)
    Quit Disk Utility and from the main recovery utility menu select Reinstall Lion (from this point on, if you have any trouble, you can restart the mini from the Internet Recovery system and return to this point, but the recovery partition will be gone as long as you keep the RAID set)
    After you install and configure Mac OS X Lion Server (which can take well over an hour to download and install), you should be able to reinstall the iLife applications by launching the App Store App and selecting Purchased, then logging in with your Apple ID and agreeing to send your system info to Apple to download the iLife Applications
    If you're using the mini as a production server, I highly suggest setting up some local, external recovery tool, as you don't want to have system downtime protracted by having to wait for an Internet Recovery boot/reinstall.  I would also beg Apple to consider this sort of scenario and to provide more supported methods for recovering and reinstalling from local media.
    Best of luck to you all.

    I found the basic principle on another forum thanks to a guy called 'e-whizz' and this what I did to make RAID 1 work on a mac mini server with LION server.
    You can easily configure the second drive on a mac mini server for a Mirrored RAID 1 set with Lion Server without either reinstalling or erasing your existing setup.
    The initial setup process takes about 30 minutes, though the rebuilding of the mirror disk will take several hours, depending on the amount of data you have on the drive. It took around 3 hours on a new mac mini server with lion server installed, nothing else configured.
    Before you start, please ensure you have a current backup of the server. Getting the following commands wrong can render you server unusable.
    What you need to use is the command line version of Disk Utility, diskutil.
    Before you start, clone the hard drive. You can use SuperDuper (or similar, I have used SuperDuper) with copying all files onto a USB memory stick. If Lion is freshly installed, 8Gb will do. SuperDuper will create a bootable copy on the USB.
    Boot the mac mini from the external USB. To do that, reboot and hold down the option key while restarting. You will see a window, select the USB drive to boot from.
    Launch the terminal and type the following command:
    diskutil list
    This gives you a list of all the drives and partitions your system knows about.
    You need to find the Server HD partition (the first disk) and the HD2 partitions (the second disk). These are the two main ~500GB drives. You will be using the disk IDENTIFIERs when issuing the diskutil commands. For a stock standard Mac Mini Server, the commands below are correct, but if you have previously changed the volume names, or repartitioned at any stage the disk identifiers and volume names may differ.
    First enable RAID mirroring on existing Server HD volume. This will create a single disk, unpaired mirror, without affecting your data.
    Using this syntax:
    diskutil appleRAID enable mirror disktomirror
    where disktomirror is your disk identifier for Server HD
    On my mac mini server, Server HD was disk0s2, so I used this command:
    diskutil appleRAID enable mirror disk0s2
    You now need to run diskutil list again to see the disk identifier for the new RAID volume. The new RAID volume will be listed as disk# on its own at the bottom of the list.
    On my mac mini server this was disk3 (disk 2 was the USB I booted from, disk 0 the first disk and disk 1 the second disk)
    Next add the disk HD2 to the Server HD raid mirror volume (on my mac, as I said before, this is disk3) as a new member.
    This step will erase disk HD2 and begin an auto repair of the Server HD.
    Using this syntax:
    diskutil appleRAID add member newdisk raidvolume
    replacing newdisk and raidvolume with your particular disk identifiers
    On my server this was:
    diskutil appleRAID add member disk1s2 disk3
    To follow the progress of rebuilding the mirror set, type
    diskutil list
    It will show you the progress in % of the rebuilding under status
    Once finished, reboot and your RAID 1 is up and running and you have also a working backup on your USB (coz' that's where you booted from ;-)
    After reboot you can check the status of your RAID with
    diskutil appleRAID list
    Both drives should show ONLINE under status, interestingly, the device node for the RAID changed on my mac mini server from disk3 to disk2
    That's it

  • Can i put snow leopard on a mac mini server? MORE INFO BELOW

    Hi! I am getting a mac mini server in august (new hdmi type) and i dont want server becuase i am a home user. can i buy and install regular snow leopard (preferably mac box set) and will there be any software isues? questions: [email protected]

    Double posting the same question is a good way to confuse everyone. I suggest you close at least one of these.
    See your other posting for my reply.
    Allan

  • Is the Snow Leopard Mac Mini Server the right solution for my office?

    I'm the de facto "sysadmin" for my small office, which usually just means I set up the wireless, configure network printing, troubleshoot little issues with Mail and MS Office products.
    Currently, we have 4 employees all on iMacs. We share files through a slapped-together setup, where there is a public folder on our owner's iMac and we all share files there. There are a few problems with this:
    - If the owner's computer is off, no-one can get to the shared files.
    - The owner's computer has had some strange "permissions" issues so sometimes files in the "Public" shared folder end up being read-only, or "read & write" for "nobody".
    - A 5th employee telecommutes on an iMac, and can't access the shared folder or files.
    So, we're considering getting a Mac Mini Server to do file storage and sharing, both locally and with telecommuting employees (of which there may be more in the future).
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    - What level of access control / authentication can we do on the Server? For example, could we have a password protected folder on the server to restrict access?
    - Would we need to upgrade our standard DSL service if we want to share files on the server with folks not on the local network?
    - Am I biting off more than I can chew here, given that my technical knowledge is slim but I am the most computer-literate of anyone in the office, so I will need to trouble-shoot any issues that come up with the server?

    For your stated goal, network-attached storage (NAS) or an always-on Mac client would be a simpler solution. Either preferably with RAID, and with provisions and storage for periodic archives.
    A Mac OS X Server box is overkill. The Mac client boxes have 10-client sharing.
    If you want single-signon and shared directory services and mail and web and various of the other pieces and services that are available within, then you can grow into a Mac OS X Server box.
    A server is rather more to manage, regardless of what you choose. You're getting DNS and networking and other core pieces, minimally, and you're also responsible for many of the configuration settings and services and details that a client box receives from a server box. And you're definitely dealing with protections and such across multiple boxes.
    For some other perspectives, there are various previous discussions of this posted around the forums. A search that includes NAS should kick over a few of these; this is a typical low-end alternative to running a server.

  • Mac Mini server won't boot after logoff, any suggestions?

    My mac Mini Server will not boot after administrator logoff, I get a gray screen with the spinning progress wheel, but nothing happens.  Any suggestions?

    Can you boot into single user mode? If so, run fsck and post the results.

  • Mac Mini Server (Latest Model) and Bootcamp?

    Hi, I am interested in purchasing a Mac Mini Server - The latest model. But have a few questions
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    Yes, thank you for your reply. I did purchase the adapter, which works perfectly.
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  • Please help! We got a used Mac Mini and we don't have the former owner's password, so we can't install anything like flash player.  Does anyone know how to get around this?

    Please help! We got a used Mac Mini and we don't have the former owner's password, so we can't install anything like flash player.  Does anyone know how to get around this? I don't know how to wipe the hard drive, and the support online doesn't seem to work.

    As posted previously:
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    1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    2. If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer.  Proceed with reinstalling OS X.  Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files.  After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
    If installing Leopard the process is similar in some respects.  If you wish to begin anew then after selecting the target disk click on the Options button and select the Erase and Install option then click on the OK button.  To install over an existing system do the following:
    How to Perform an Archive and Install
    An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
    1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
    3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
    4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
    5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
    6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

  • Wondering whether to get a mac mini starting at $599 or a mac-book air 11 inch.

    Hi I'm wondering whether to get a mac mini 2012 starting at $599 or the 11 inch macbook air (newest version as of this post. For about a year and a half I will use it for light gaming (minecraft) and miscellaneous web surfing (Youtube, and other teenage time wasters. NO MASTERBATION JOKES PLEASE) but in a year and a half I will need it for school projects, traveling, and video/photo editing since im heading off too college. This is a hard decision because it is my hard earned money and im spending only about 600-1000.

    I have both the Air and Mini, and 2 mac minis.  I honestly cant decide between either of them,...my Mac Mini is the best desktop I have ever owned, however its purpose is almost totally different from that of my AIR, which is for travel, etc.
    Since YOU are heading off to college and traveling, Id certainly get the AIR, between the two.
    Both have the HIGHEST used resale value of any other laptop / desktop.  Both are great choices.

  • Mac mini server refuses to get DHCP address from router

    Everything was going along fine. But after a power outage the server goes to a 169. address when the router puts out 198. addresses. If I put a static 198. address in it sees the network but won't connect to the internet. I've flashed the router (everything else sees the router fine, 3 computers and a time capsule). I've had the hardware checked at the Apple store - it picked up an address right away. After narrowing everything down the problem has to be in the operating system. I even did a full time machine restore to the day before the storm. No luck. Anyone heard of this problem.

    Mauricette has a point.
    A server function is not designed to accept a floating or dynamic IP address.  If that is the case, how do you create firewall rules that prevent those unnnecessary ports being left opened from being attacked by rogue machines in Romania and China on a hourly basis when you announce to the world that your server is available if the server IP address keep changing due to the DHCP lease change?  Yes, they do have bots that do this VERY EFFICIENTLY!
    By changing the very nature of your firewall rules by working with DHCP, you are opening ports you do not know to accommodate DHCP dynamic addressing, which was the reason why your Mac Mini Server stopped working in the first place.  It's ok for a client, since a client isn't serving any files to any one right.
    By using client based firewall rules, you are exposing your server to attacks and when they get through your Mini server, which they can if they are persistent, they get into your home network and then whatever file server services you have opened and unprotected at the time WILL BE copied by these people easily. 
    I have a client once who did just that.  She was attacked, the hacker went through her network like a rampaging bull.  They were from China.  My Synology RAID server gets this attack all the time, but I have a well establish IDS system and the Synology RAID has logs that tracks attacks.
    For a server setup.  Use static IP and then build a strong firewall around it and protect it and never compromise.
    Recently, I just noticed someone somehow hacked and broke my WPA-PSK AES passkey for one of my Wireless N network router.  It was not set up with a strong password though, but thankgod I had a firewall around that so my internal networks were safe. So this teaches you that if someone wants in bad, they will get in. 
    Hope this helps.

  • Mac Mini Server Hangs, Gets Sluggish

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    2. All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files. This feature is transparent to the user, but internally Apple calls it "XProtect." The recognition database is automatically updated once a day; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders.
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    Any website that prompts you to install a “codec,” “plug-in,” or “certificate” that comes from that same site, or an unknown one, is untrustworthy.
    A web operator who tells you that you have a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with your computer, or that you have won a prize in a contest you never entered, is trying to commit a crime with you as the victim. (Some reputable websites did legitimately warn users who were infected with the "DNSChanger" malware. That exception to this rule no longer applies.)
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    Why shouldn't you use commercial "anti-virus" products?
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  • Mac Mini Server - Can't get past...

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    Update:
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