Do i need an Xserver or not ?
Hello,
I have a very small office with only 2 users. I need to run a website and i will probably use a wiki program (or the new wiki server in leopard) to display project information to my customers. First i tought to program something in filemaker, but i guess the wiki will do the trick for me.
My question is, i will only have around 5 customers somethimes browsing on that wiki (maybe a few times a month) and since we are only with 2 users i have a real problem desciding if i need an Xserver or not. The collaboration is only between me and my collegue, doesn't it makes more sence to buy 2 big macpro's 8 core and on my machine run the wiki and configure it for some file sharing ? Or would you advise to use the Mac OS X server even if we are only with 2 people and we will not expand in the comming years ?
Thank you for your reaction.
I have a very small office with only 2 users. I need to run a website and i will probably use a wiki program (or the new wiki server in leopard) to display project information to my customers. First i tought to program something in filemaker, but i guess the wiki will do the trick for me.
My question is, i will only have around 5 customers somethimes browsing on that wiki (maybe a few times a month) and since we are only with 2 users i have a real problem desciding if i need an Xserver or not. The collaboration is only between me and my collegue, doesn't it makes more sence to buy 2 big macpro's 8 core and on my machine run the wiki and configure it for some file sharing ? Or would you advise to use the Mac OS X server even if we are only with 2 people and we will not expand in the comming years ?
Thank you for your reaction.
Comments
What you *may* want, based on your technical prowess, is to get a copy of MacOS X Server, however. $499, and it gives you GUI tools over the servers for mail, web, iChat, and in 10.5, wiki. Buy a copy of that, put it on the hardware of your choice, and that should be plenty.
Be sure not to skimp on the backup solution though.
Agreed. FWIW, I have a mail server (IMAP/SMTP), web server, file server, and DNS server in my study at home. It's a G4 Cube. You don't need the hardware of an Xserve.
What you *may* want, based on your technical prowess, is to get a copy of MacOS X Server, however. $499, and it gives you GUI tools over the servers for mail, web, iChat, and in 10.5, wiki. Buy a copy of that, put it on the hardware of your choice, and that should be plenty.
Be sure not to skimp on the backup solution though.
With 2 persons working togheter, do you think installing a centralized server is worth it ? For backup purposes ? Others ?
Thanks for your reaction
Look at it this way - I'm considering doing a massive upgrade of my system to add centralized code repository (svn), wiki, and several other things to the server. And I'm looking at a mini.
Unless you get into massive network loads, or PHP/DHTML scripts running like mad, the impact for a light duty server is going to be negligible on day to day tasks in all but a few boundary cases.
I haven't looked recently, but you may be able to buy a Mac Pro preinstalled with MacOS X Server for a bit less than purchasing them separately.
Agreed. FWIW, I have a mail server (IMAP/SMTP), web server, file server, and DNS server in my study at home. It's a G4 Cube. You don't need the hardware of an Xserve.
What you *may* want, based on your technical prowess, is to get a copy of MacOS X Server, however. $499, and it gives you GUI tools over the servers for mail, web, iChat, and in 10.5, wiki. Buy a copy of that, put it on the hardware of your choice, and that should be plenty.
Be sure not to skimp on the backup solution though.
Kicka,
Does the X server OS have the ability to act as a DHCP server as well or do you let your router do that?
Not really - I mean, one of the machines can be the server.
Look at it this way - I'm considering doing a massive upgrade of my system to add centralized code repository (svn), wiki, and several other things to the server. And I'm looking at a mini.
Unless you get into massive network loads, or PHP/DHTML scripts running like mad, the impact for a light duty server is going to be negligible on day to day tasks in all but a few boundary cases.
I haven't looked recently, but you may be able to buy a Mac Pro preinstalled with MacOS X Server for a bit less than purchasing them separately.
For taking backups, is running mac os x server on a mini a good idea ? Will the new mac os x server run on a mini ?
Mac OS X Server runs great on a mini. We have quite a few customers who run it from our data center and the performance is great.
Thanks for your message, any idea about the 10.5 mac os x server ?
Coincidentally, I just installed 10.5 on a mini for the first time today. It works fine.
Thanks for your message, please tell me do you have 1gb ram or more ?
Makes a great little server and you may wish to reboot to do/update something on your Mac Pro and with the mini you won't have to worry about taking down your customer wiki at the same time.
The memory only cost $65 on newegg. (Corsair Mac Memory 2 x 1GB).
I put it in myself
Way way cheaper to buy and upgrade yourself than buying it from apple and having them do it.
(by the way, the OS was still really snappy when I only had 1GB in it)
Skip the xserve and spend that part of the hardware budget on a NAS and/or tape-drive.
My advice:
Skip the xserve and spend that part of the hardware budget on a NAS and/or tape-drive.
What model would you buy ?
For instance, a NAS/SAN can easily cost anywhere from $100 to $100000.