How stable is the mac mini as a server?

Hi List,
I am planning to get the mac mini with snow leopard server.
Has anyone tried it?
How stable is the mac mini as a server?
I'd be setting it up for 10 mac clients.
It will be used as a file/print/dhcp server.
thanks.
Dp

max out the memory to reduce / eliminate paging. although you might not need to in your situation. I think printing is a light use of memory. Inkjet printers are heavy on the cpu.
electronics don't usually fail. It's the moving parts. Doesn't the mini take the 2.5 inch drives that are not as reliable as the 3.5? An external drive will get past this.
You could get an external bootable harddrive.
You need an external Firewire drive to boot a PowerPC Mac computer.
I recommend you do a google search on any external harddrive you are looking at.
I bought a low cost external drive enclosure. When I started having trouble with it, I did a google search and found a lot of complaints about the drive enclosure. I ended up buying a new drive enclosure. On my second go around, I decided to buy a drive enclosure with a good history of working with Macs. The chip set seems to be the key ingredient. The Oxford line of chips seems to be good. I got the Oxford 911.
The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATAFW800_FW400USB
Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
Here is what one contributor recommended:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10452917#10452917
Folks in these Mac forums recommend LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Here is a list of recommended drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5564509#5564509
FireWire compared to USB. You will find that FireWire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 when used for a external harddrive connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniversalSerial_Bus#USB_compared_toFireWire
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storageexternal.html
Here are two utilities for making a complete backup of your internal hard drive. I've recommend using one of these so that you can create a bootable system on your external hard drive. ( PPC require a firewire connected drive. ) Once created, you can run your system from the external drive. Hold down the option key on your keyboard then power on your machine. This will bring you in startup manager click on the drive image you wish to boot then click on the arrow key to the right.
"Clone, synchronize, backup. Schedule and forget it."
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
"SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless."
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Robert

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HT1338 how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks :D

how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks

go to Apples website and look. That's what anyone else here would do.

How Well Does the Mac Mini handle Garageband?

Hi, I'm wondering about how well the mini handles garageband. My sister may finally be leaning towards getting their first mac for her family. They are long time old version windows users, I think they have a 6 year old HP running Win2k still. So they don't do a whole lot with the pc as it is. They are a musical family, very involved with their church and school. She has finally realized that macs are widely used in music creation (even though I've been telling them that for years and she's starting to do some research on garageband. I recommended the mini since budget is a big priority for them. Am I setting them up to be disappointed? I've already told them to wait until the intel version is released since it will most likely be faster/more effecient. After spending say $800 for mini and non-apple lcd and 1gb of ram, would going the extra $500 to get the imac instead be the smartest route. Just concerned its either going to be not enough power (mini) or more then they're ready for (imac). Any thoughts?

Hi Leandro
I use GarageBand 3 on my mac mini without a hitch
what so ever and I can even have several other fairly
intensive apps up and running without it
complaining.
Considering that your sisters family are using the
system that they currently own without really feeling
that they are falling behind, the mac mini will be a
fantastic advantage to their lifestyle. It's plenty
powerful and it's pretty much silent meaning that it
would make a great "first mac" for them to
experience. With regards to the intel mac mini, we
don't know that there is going to be one as of yet.
Steve Jobs did however, announce that all Macs were
going to be purely running on an Intel Core by next
year, meaning that if Apple don't discontinue the mac
mini line, it would be of a greater advantage. There
is no indication as to when an intel chip will appear
inside a mac mini, so you could well be waiting
anything from a matter of days to months or even
never!
At the end of the day, the current mac mini, some of
which are now shipping with a 1.5gHz G4 processor and
64MB Graphics will be the perfect solution for your
sister and her family.
Hope this helps
-pos
thanks for the quick reply. I am concerned about them having a positive first experience with a mac, I've been preaching it to them for a good ten years now! Her husband is the real stubborn one, he would need the most convincing. Good to know that it runs well on the mini and with such praise. Which model do you have and did you max the ram? I told her about the hard drive/hub stack kit which would have a faster drive to boot from. I forgot about the 1.5's. I was sure it was a rumor. Didn't know about the 64mb video card though...that would be a great boost as well!

How to configure the mac mini to allow the clients to access both partitions...the client will only see the one we are logged into at the server???

if possible??? how do we configure the mac mini to allow the clients to access both partitions...the client will only see the one we are logged into at the server???

You have to explicitly share directories on external/secondary volumes.
Use the Server admin app to configure file sharing, and select which directory/directories on the second drive you want to share, then they'll be available to clients.

How reliable is the Mac Mini or iMac (2009) models?

Greetings to you all. I have a question directed at anyone who owns the 2009 Mac Mini or has recently bought a Mac Mini either last year 2009 or this year, 2010. My Acer Aspire L-100 finally died on 29th Dec 2009 as a result of USB failure caused by a windows auto update. Fed up with Microsoft, I am thinking about switching over to Mac and thought the Mac Mini or iMac would be a good start. I am however troubled by the numerous complaints I am reading on the Apple website posts regarding the 2009 model Mac Mini loosing sound after a month or two of use and some posts claim that the sound on their Mac Mini is distorted, crackling and some had broken systems out of the box. How many of you have had similar sound issues with the Mac Mini? Also, is it better to get the iMac 21.5 inch instead? Has anyone had hardware issues with the Mac Mini and or the 21.5 inch iMac in less than 2-6 months of use? If so please let me know so that I can make up my mind, whether to purchase Mac computer platform or just build my own customized machine. What I need to know is, how reliable or durable is the mac mini computer, especially the 2009 model and how does the mac mini, especially with its small size, handle temperatures? Does the mac mini overheat? Please help. All information will be highly appreciated.

Remember, Apple offers a 1 year hardware warranty and 90 days free software support, both of which can be extended to three years from date of computer's purchase. This means if you appear to have what is a technical issue with your machine off the bat, Apple will cover the lemon issue, if it is obvious it is not an issue you the user could have caused. Mind you, if issues appear much later during the ownership, it gets harder to justify that it is a manufacturer issue. As long as you don't upgrade the internal hardware, the hardware test CD that comes with the machine will be able to tell if there is a manufacturer issue with the machine. All bets are off, if you change the RAM, or hard drive beyond the specs of the machine. Apple publishes the specs of the machine on http://support.apple.com/
Your machine shouldn't overheat unless you excede the published specs.
The advantage of the Mac is that malware and viruses are practically a nonissue, and everything you usually could desire is already built-in to the machine. So while you could build your own machine, you can't really get the integrated hardware and software as you do with the Mac.
Yes, the 27" iMac has been hit hard with issues, more around the display than anything else. I for one, if were forced to get an iMac, would get the 21.5".
I've not seen any specific Mac Mini issues really come to the fore.
If sound is lost on a Mac Mini, it usually is due to the fact that minijack connectors themselves are fragile to begin with, and endusers tend to jiggle them a lot in the connector, causing the connectivity to get lost. If you are careful to follow these directions about cables*:
http://www.macmaps.com/frayguide.html
You should avoid most of those issues. Thankfully there are 5 USB ports on Mac Minis, and USB audio is frequently better than the built-in audio, except when adding your own 5.1 speaker system with mini-Toslink connector speakers.
Don't forget the number of posters to this board, don't even amount to 1 tenth of a percent of all purchasers of iMacs, Mac Minis, or MacBooks any one quarter. Thus the remark you said was "rude" is not. It is factual. You are basing your information on what amounts to less odds of happening than a space program disaster with NASA. Mostly people who have problems are posting, and those who don't rarely do post.
I recently had a hard drive die after the three year warranty was spent, but hard drives I've seen die on Acers and Dells on the first day of ownership too, so that's nothing new. Backing up your data is the best way to deal with data loss*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

How good is the mac mini

hello
I am planning to buy a mac
How goof is a mac mini with 2gh processor/ 2gb ram
for applications and leopard os or any future os ?
also will it work well with a full hd 24 inch display?
I think of a mac mini , i wanted an imac
but maybe better a mac mini / a full hd 24 inch screen
and a playstation 3 with the screen on the top
for gaming and blue ray ... i am thinking
so if mac mini would work well with photo editing etc
and leopard would run fast and smooth on it , i would go for my trio
mthx
Message was edited by: anteros27
Message was edited by: anteros27

In a broad sense it's probably best to think of the mini as a full desktop computer, simply shrunk down to a small size - that way you'll get the idea of how good it is rather than risk the impression that it's small size is in any real way indicative of it's performance. It isn't.
The new 2.0GHz mini is very close in performance to the original dual processor G5 computer (advertised as the fastest desktop on earth when it was released in 2003). Leaving aside the advertising hype, it was (and remains) an incredibly powerful system in very extensive use in video, image and publishing industries. Given the mini has as much raw power, just a slower hard drive and no internal expansion options, you can see that it is, in it's own right, a very capable system.
Just how capable depends a lot on the specific uses you have in mind for it of course. It'll cope well with all the normal computing tasks people typically run - word processing, internet, email, photos, etc, and would be suited to a lot of far more intensive tasks, including image editing work. Gaming is a bit suspect though, with the limitations of the on-board video sub-system making some games run well and others less so.
There should be absolutely no problem with Leopard when it is released, though of course it isn't possible to give a definitive statement on it since as yet Leopard is still in development. However, at this time developer builds are being run on existing minis of lower specification, and historically Apple have typically ensured new OS versions are backwards compatible with older hardware platforms - certainly recent ones. Given the newly updated mini has just been announced and is likely to remain on sale for some time as a result without further change, and Leopard is due in a couple of months, it in highly improbable the mini won't run it, and run it well.
It will drive a 24" display since the maximum resolution of the mini is 1920x1200 (DVI) or 2048x1536 (VGA).

I transferred files from a NAS server to the Mac Mini Snow Leopard Server and now some of the files have Custom Access and can't be opened by some users. How do I fix this?

We're setting up our Mac Mini Snow Leopard Server, and in the process transferred files that had been stored and accessed from our Blackarmor NAS server over to the Mac. These files were all created on PC's and are Office Excel files, WordPerfect files or PDF's. When you look at the files on the Mac from the Mac and bring up Get Info for the affected file, it says that the file has Custom Access. The files that work properly don't have that configuration. I can access and open the files on some computers, but some users can't open the files from their computer even though they can see it. We're all using PC's and they get the Error: Access Denied-Contact your administrator--or something similar. I've seen on the web similar issues and it may have something to do with ACL permissions. I don't know enough about Mac OS to understand this, but what is baffling is that they can be opened from some PC's but not others, and all of the Users have the same accessibility to the files. Thanks for a solution!!

Oh, on the losing Internet, try this...
Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712
10.7 & 10.8…
System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.
10.5.x/10.6.x/10.7.x instructions...
System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.
The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.
Instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.
For 10.5/10.6, System Preferences>Network, unlock the lock if need be, highlight the Interface you use to connect to Internet, click on the advanced button, click on the DNS tab, click on the little plus icon, then add these numbers...
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Click OK.
PS. Your English is quite good & completely understandable.

How to get the Mac Mini Digital Audio output at 192kHz?

I have a mid 2011 Mac Mini (and love it). According to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4806, "The headphone / line output port accommodates digital optical audio output, analog audio output with a 24-bit, 44.1-192 kHz D/A converter, digital audio output up to 24-bit stereo and 44.1-192 kHz sampling rate and supporting encoded digital audio output (AC3 and DTS)."
So there is digital audio output to 192 kHz but how do you configure it to work? Using the Audio Midi Setup Utility, I can set the sample rate to 96000 Hz -- but it won't go higher to 192kHz. Anyone know how to do this?

That is in some ways confusing. For the analog output, the
internal DAC can support 24 bit/192Khz audio data. It does
require an application that has the capability of playing back
such material.
The TOSLINK optical standard does not support this data rate.
It has nothing to do with the Mini, it is the standard itself. The
TOSLINK optical spec is 96 kHz, 24 bit stereo (uncompressed).
The mini will however support multichannel, 24 bit, 192 kHz
(uncompressed) via the HDMI interface. Also, again,
the playback software needs to support it.
Just as a final note, unless the source material has the
higher sample rate format, there is no benifit to outputing
at the higher sample rate, especially if the source some
lossy comporessed format (mp3, aac, Dollby and DTS
non-HD formats).

How well does the Mac Mini look with an LED Tv?

I'm considering a Mac Mini over an iMac to cut costs, especially because I already have a 32in LED 1080p Samsung HDTV. Would I connect it with a thunderbolt cord or with an HDMI cord from the Mini to tv? Currently my 13" MBP, early 2011 plugged into a 40in HDTV looks terrible with the Thunderbolt to HDMI. Do you get a better display output? Thanks

It will be easier to connect via HDMI since Minis have HDMI out and your TV certainly has HDMI in. You can use Thunderbolt but would need a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter, so I don't see the point of doing that unless you have a second HDMI display you wish to use simultaneously.
I find the output quality to be fine. Of course, TVs vary widely in quality. And you must remember that 1080p equates to 1920x1080 resolution, which is not particularly high resolution for a desktop monitor nowadays.

HT202856 Can the Mac Mini (Late 2014) support 4k display @ 60 Hz via the DisplayPort?

Dear Experienced Apple Guru,
Apple made it clear on the Tech Specs for the Mac Mini (Late 2014) that a 4k display can be supported via the HDMI port at 30 Hz. But, can we also be clear how many Hertz the Mac Mini can handle with a 4k display via the Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt 2)?
I have a site linked here saying that the DisplayPort 1.2 can handle up to nearly 20 Gbps, thus can handle 4k display at 60 Hz:
"DisplayPort version 1.2 can support video resolutions of up to 3840 x 2160 pixels (4K) at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and it supports all common 3D video formats. In terms of bandwidth, it can manage 17.28 Gbps. Version 1.3, when it arrives, will support up to 8192 x 4320 (8K) resolution, or two simultaneous 4K streams. It will also double bandwidth to 32.4 Gbps.
Meanwhile, HDMI version 1.4 is the most common at the moment. This supports the same 4K resolution as DisplayPort 1.2, but at just 30 Hz (or 4096 x 2160 at 24 Hz). HDMI 2.0 is new on the scene in a few devices such as this Sony TV. This doubles the refresh rate to 60 Hz as well as increases bandwidth from 10.2- to 18 Gbps."
Thanks,
Trevalyn

That have enabled DP 1.2 on their monitor and used a DP 1.2 cable but still only get 30 Hz at 4K.
The MAC does not support MST

How can I get Mac Mini to accept bootable installers for Mountain Lion ? They work fine on MB-Pro

I've had a Mac Mini (late 2012) for the past week and need to do a complete reinstall to get rid of very mucked up Server.app settings that I can't get rid of even though I uninstalled Server.app and what I thought were all of its Library files. I need to get the Mac Mini back to pristine, factory default to start over. Then I'll be able to put Server.app into a VM so I can trash it if need be without mucking up the rest of my system.
I have both a bootable recovery partition on an external hard drive (My Book firewire) and a USB bootable installer with a fresh edition of Mountain Lion. I know the USB installer works just fine because I used it to do a clean install of my MacBook-Pro just last night. Went like a charm.
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Any suggestions as to how to get the Mac Mini to recognize bootable installers that MacBooks are able to see?

Late 2012 Mac mini uses a special Mountain Lion version that it's only compatible with this Mac and you can only get on Internet Recovery because it's not available in the App Store. If you want to reinstall Mountain Lion, press Command, Option and R keys while your computer is starting

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I would like to know how to use a Mac Mini running OSX Server (10.8 ML) to host web sites on my home network (LAN).
I am developing web sites and previously (before ML) I used my Mac Pro to 'host' the sites I was developing to test them out before publishing them to my hosting package. That was when I was using 10.7 Lion and theer was an option in the System Preferences to turn web sharing on.
I have since upgraded my Mac client to 10.8 ML and have configured it to do the same - even though there is no System Preferences option for web sharing any more.
I also have a Mac Mini running on my LAN and its been upgraded to OSX Server 10.8.
Im now trying to configure it to host the web sites I am developing but with no success.
I thought it was just a matter of adding them as sites in the Server's Websites panel (see screen shot)
but so far Ive had no success.
On my Mac client I can simply add a folder in the Sites directory and then open the web site by putting http://myhost/~myuser/name-of-folder and it will load the default file in the folder e.g. index.html
How do I achieve the 'same thing' on OSX Server?

Hi Johnfromglenver,
There are no Mac drivers for the HP Officejet K60 printer. Therefore it is not compatible with the Mac operating systems. Please call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region please click the link below to get the support number for your region. http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpsupport/index.pl. There may be other solutions that could work for you.
I hope this information helps.
Advance 23
I work on behalf of HP

Making a Mac mini into a server

I cureently have an iMac. I would like to connect the Mac mini to my iMac. Then use the Mac mini as a server. Is there a step by step non-IT person guide for doing this?

Then you just follow the setup instructions for FileMaker Server. In my experience they're pretty clear.
http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9964/~/installing-filemaker-se rver-12
If you encounter problems, FileMaker has their own forums:
http://www.filemaker.com/support/forum_selection.html
and there are many resources on the web also available, including a plethora of FM consultants.
Regards.

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I had to set up a new user account for my son. I need to transfer files from his old user account and from my user account to his new user account on the mac mini. How do I do this?

Move them to /Users/Shared/ and then into the new account.
(85692)

I want to hook up a mac mini and us my tv as a monitor. how can I use airplay from my phone on the mac mini like i can with an apple tv (without having to buy an apple tv!). the airplay capabilities i want to use are mirroring and streaming from my iphone

i want to hook up a mac mini and us my tv as a monitor. how can I use airplay from my phone on the mac mini like i can with an apple tv (without having to buy an apple tv!). the airplay capabilities i want to use are mirroring and streaming from my iphone!

Download AirPlayer for Mac - Transforms your Mac into an AirPlay-compatible display. MacUpdate.com

How stable is the mac mini as a server?

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