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Category:Technology -> Adventures with the naked Mac Mini Server

Category:Technology -> Adventures with the naked Mac Mini Server

Adventures with the naked Mac Mini Server

Apple’s basic Mac Mini Server (mid 2010) configuration is one of the best deals going in tech. Mac OS X Server v10.6 Snow Leopard with an unlimited client license (the only option) costs US$499 on its own—the Mac Mini Server with Snow Leopard Server is US$999. Think of it as paying US$500 for the software and US$500 for the hardware. It’s a tiny, quiet, and relatively cheap solution for a small business, a small workgroup, a home media and file server, or a co-located server providing internet services. Best of all, it’s adequately powerful and only draws about 14 watts of power when idle.

For any of these solutions there’s no need for a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. You can run your Mac Mini Server(s) naked, like I do. Just order the Mac Mini Server from the Apple store. Be sure to order the basic configuration; Apple’s RAM prices are notoriously high and at the time of this writing the 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with two 500GB 7200-rpm drives and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics is the only option.

At the same time you place your order for the Mac Mini Server click on over to Crucial and order two 4GB 204-pin 1066MHz DDR3 PC3-8500 memory modules. As of this writing that’ll set you back about US$125 with shipping (compared to Apple’s US$400).

While you’re waiting for your memory upgrade to arrive, go ahead and install the Admin Tools CD that came with your Mac Mini Server on the Mac(s) you’ll be using to remotely administer your server(s).

Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard procedures

1. Upgrade the Mac Mini Server’s memory
2. Establish a remote connection to the Mac Mini Server
3. Initially configure your Mac Mini Server
4. Install the PEAR PECL libraries for PHP
5. Install and configure cron
6. Install and configure Drupal
7. Install and configure WordPress

Mac OS X 10.7.x Lion procedures

1. Configure PHP
2. Install the PEAR PECL libraries for PHP
3. Install the MySQL database
4. Configure MySQL
5. Install phpMyAdmin
6. Install and configure cron
7. Install and configure Drupal
8. Install and configure WordPress
9. Set up and configure wiki collaboration services
10. Repair PostgreSQL

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