by Patrick McAvey | Patrick@fndtn.com

This fall Apple introduced a new version of the Mac mini – Mac mini Server – intended for smaller offices that have the need for a server but on a tight budget. An alternative to the Xserve, the Mac mini Server also comes with Mac OS X Server unlimited, allowing an unlimited number of users to connect. While the software is identical, it is the hardware that differs greatly.

The Mac mini Server is a Mac mini with the optical drive removed to allow for the addition of a second internal hard drive, these drives can be made into a software RAID to offer redundancy. Additional storage can be attached via the FireWire or USB interfaces. Gigabit Ethernet is built in for a fast connection to your network.  With a 2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, this server should be plenty fast for a small work group and ideal for a company with modest storage needs. At $999 the Mac mini Server is the same price as Mac OS X Server 10.6.2 Unlimited – one way of looking at the combo is that you are getting the Mac mini hardware for free!

However there are three main ways in which the Mac mini Server may not be for your company.  The first area is storage, the drives that the mini uses are laptop hard drives and so are limited in capacity as well as speed, a work group with the need for more than 400 GB of usable space would need to add external storage, this difference would be especially felt when reading or writing many files that are larger than 20 MB each. Secondly the mini lacks the redundant parts that the Xserve would have, redundant power supplies, a RAID card, and dual ethernet ports makes the Xserve more able to deal with a part failure for always on operation. Lastly the mini does not have the Quad or Eight core Xeon processors that the Xserve comes with, nor can the mini be upgraded to the 48 GB maximum the Xserve can hold, it is limited to 8 GB. These two limitations are only likely to affect companies running applications, databases or web servers that require a lot of processing power on the server end.

The Mac mini Server may make a great first server for a company that has previously not had a server, or a company replacing an older server. If your company uses mostly smaller files, Word files and Excel files, or only has two or three graphic designers working on larger Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign files then Apple’s newest server might be a perfect fit.

Image Courtesy of Apple