Mac Mini as Server?

Question

Has anyone had success with using a Mac Mini as a server on a network? We're wanting to setup a Mac build agent for a continuous integration server, and the Mac Mini seems like a good lower-cost option to the Mac Pro or XServe. This wouldn't get a huge amount of load either.
Has anyone tried using these as servers on a network? What has your experience been?

Answer 1

I had the same questions and concerns. I wanted to upgrade our office from a NAS to an actual server and had read multiple posts on using a Mini as a Server. I made the plung last month and have most of the services up and running.
Our small construction office is mixed with 7 PC's and 4 macs, in addition, we wanted to enable our New Orleans office to VPN to a centralized server. I know, its pretty simple, but we did not have that before. In addition, we wanted our PM's to be able to access the server while out of the office. We are a small office that generally run off Word, Excel and PDF files for the most part, most of which are under 10MB, and a few plan sets that may be 50-60MB, so nothing too large. Our accounting files are also on the server, and thee files are up to 800MB. But no problems.
I ended up going with a Mac Mini 2.0Ghz with 4GB of Ram and SL server as well as a Lacie 2TB external Raid drive and will add another one for backups and client backups. I am not a tech geek, by any means, and did not want to become one to implement a new server, but had read through a few of the manuals at night prior to deciding and implementing. We are using the mini as the boot drive, and then storing all the data on the Lacie in Raid 1 mode for mirroring.
I would have to say it was pretty painless. Once the SL Server software was loaded on the mini, everything else was pretty simple to log in remotely and take care of. Creating and copying the sharepoints was relatively easy, as well as setting up the individual accounts (Since there were only 10). I did have to spend 2 hours refining my understanding of permissions for the sharepoints, but other than that, the VPN and the file server functions were easy. We are running AFP and SMB, which again, sounded like I may get lost, but no problems thus far. The morning we made the actual switch I had to re-map the PC clients network drives to map the new Mini server sharepoints, but that took all of 5 minutes each. We did also change the internal network settings to a more obscure setting vs. 192.168.1.XXX to avoid any conflicts with other internal addresses when we were VPNing. I did want to note, I read a comment that said the individual could not get the VPN running on a Mini, but was able to run it on a Mac Pro. We did not have that problem at all. In fact, I was actually confused when it was able to connect the first time after we changed the network address. I expected to have to screw with it at least 30 minutes, but the first time, I was shocked.
I have really been monitoring the processor usage of the mini and we are generally at 2-5% with 10 people using files. I wanted to run our web server and email off of it, but heard that is a big no no from all the posts on hosting external info on an internal machine. I will hold off of that for now, maybe just buy another in a few months for the external, but will stick with our hosting service for now.
If anyone reading this has concerns about using a Mini as a server and are in a similar situation, I can only say we have not had any problems thus far. I was nervous at first because even the apple business partners always push for the Mac Pro, or XServe. I actually called the Apple support line and spoke with an Apple Engineer if it would work. Other than the fact the Mini only has one boot drive, he indicated it should work for our purposes. If the Mini does go down, we will just end up hooking the Lacie up to a client and open the files for sharing for a day or so until we get a new mac mini up and running. It is still cheaper than a Mac Pro and is doing the job fine so far.
I will try and update in a month or so.