nastravel

I saw the new Apple product launch today and in particular the new macmini line up.

There is a server version with Quad processors and 2X500GB HD (assume this can be used as a RAID?)

Anyway my other thread on NAS is getting a bit too technical for me to understand but this new macmini server does look interesting and I wanted to know:

1) Whether I can store all my music/video/photos on this macmini server and then connect it out to the LAN (though a router - hopefully can still find a 4 port router)

2) Is this ok to be turned on 24/7. - will it damage the HD?

3) backup, whether I should also get the Time Capsule or just hook up an external USB drive to the server to do incremental backups? hopefully a thunderbolt HD will come up soon!

4) If I get the new IMac as well, what is the best way to setup this. should I point this to the Macmini server for all the files, or also store the music on the Imac and then use the server for incremental backups?

5) For my other devices, HDTV with DLA, Ipad, Iphone etc... how should I hook it up

6) the Lion Server app, is this secure enough? It looks pretty simple to use

7) Can I access this server REMOTELY? Also is it secure?

BobbySteel

- It's unclear whether it's RAIDed but I'd assume you can raid it to get 500GB storage (which isn't that much really).

1) that would be fine to run as a network storage volume if you share the mount points in OSX.
2) I have an older Mac Mini that's run 24/7 for 4 years w/o any problems
3) I use an external Iomega 2TB drive for archives and backup of media. Works well with the Apple backup software.
4) I personally like to use the Mac Mini as my backup volume and use my personal PC as the primary. Then I have a nightly job that uses rsync to sync the volumes over wifi. Then I don't bother with RAID on the Mac Mini since it's already backed up on my personal PC.
5) I use the Mac Mini's DVI out to connect to my display's HDMI port. It runs Boxee so it's a nice media server.
6/7) don't know much about Lion but it's pretty secure in general if you configure it right. By default it's pretty ready for remote access, but you'll prob want to tweak your router's port config if you want remote access outside your own wifi network.

pdxer

it can be configured as a raid, as can any mac with multiple hard drives.

sure, but you can do that with a nas too.

not a problem but you will of course want a backup of your files, no matter what you do.

if you already have the mini (and a wifi router), a time capsule is not needed. you can add external hard drives to the mini, and thunderbolt is overkill for a network drive. on the other hand, if all you want is network storage, a time capsule is cheaper.

network storage is slower, so only put stuff that's not speed critical on the server.

configure them to connect to your network (the ipad and iphone will be wifi) and there's various software to stream content as well as other things.

it's actually fairly comprehensive, although it's easier than configuring other servers. if all you want is network storage, you don't need lion server. any mac (or even a pc) will do.

it is if you set it up for remote access and the security is as good as your passphrase. you will also want to keep up to date with security patches.

richinaz

This is getting off track but I have a question for those savvy computer people that are reading this (hopefully). I'm familiar with tools such as Exceed/Reflection on windows which allow access to Unix type systems (Linux, Solaris/Sun).

Can you set up the Mac Mini (or any Apple computer that you leave on) in a manner where you can access it via any computer anywhere?

I guess "access" would fall into a couple of categories:
1. Access files
2. Run applications on the Apple system

Any good web sources on doing things such as the above?

I have a technical background but my experience with Apple products is more limited and my work hasn't been in IT or network infrastructure (other than some classes).

I'm guessing the biggest concern is security since if you let in one person there is always a chance someone else may find a way into the system.

Thanks
Rich

skofarrell

Yes to both.

All Macs speak VNC, so you can remotely "screen scrape" in if you want. I have a macmini setup as a dedicted itunes server in the basement next to my main network switch. I VNC in to fiddle with it...using Jollys Fast VNC as my main VNC client.

They also support smb and afp or ftp for file sharing....

pdxer

yes, and not just macs.
there are several options, including vnc (open source and built into os x, free clients for mac/win/linux/ipad), timbuktu (much faster and supports file exchange and more), logmein, gotomypc and others.
that's a risk. be sure you have a very good password and open only the necessary ports. an even better solution is set up a personal vpn to your home system, ideally via a router/vpn endpoint.

nastravel

Thanks so much for all the replies. I am really not technical so unfortunately I don’t understand the last few replies. But my follow up Q:

1) So the setup of using the Macmini as the server should work. Well basically I just want somewhere to STORE all my music/video/pictures so that any devices in my LAN can access it WITHOUT me turning on my IMAC 24/7. Therefore is Macmini server the ideal solution or should I use the time machine or a NAS?

2) My concern on the NAS is that it is not compatible with Apple/Itunes etc. and also what happens if I want to play MP4 format videos – understand Itunes does not use this format directly? Need to be converted?

3) Remote access is a plus where I can access these FILES. In terms of taking over and actually using the whole Imac (Assume this NEEDS to be switched on)or the Macmini Server. Well it is not essential but I wouldn’t mind IF the security setup is EASY and it is SAFE. I don’t understand things about ports config etc…. Also how do I setup VPN? Is this automatically configured in the Lion Server App?

4) The actual placement of the files and storage. What will be the most efficient way. So I should use the IMac as my main desk top, but where should the MUSIC files/photos etc. be stored? Will it make sense to store it on Imac, and then through the Time Machines app do a nightly incremental backup to the Mini Mac. This way I can achieve 3 things:

a. Things can be shared on the whole network
b. I can have a direct backup of my main desk top – so no need to have an external drive attached to the mini, as if something FAILS on the Imac I can be assured that the Macmini is there.
c. Increase overall performance? As the Imac do not have to always PULL the files from the server – BUT will this have issues in Intues having 2 separate locations of the media?

5) Network drive issue. Well I will have a DVR which can allows me to attach an USB Harddrive. It will record directly into the HD into MP4. So I want to see how can I set this up. Is there an actual Hardrive that has an USB port and a LAN port at the same time or dual USBports so that 2 devices can access it at the same time?

pdxer

if all you want to do is share files among multiple machines on a network, a nas is adequate.

time machine is an incredibly simple way to have up to date backups, and can also function as a nas (but with less space available for backups).

it sounds like a mac mini server is overkill.

all nas devices are compatible, but some more than others. ideally the nas supports afp (apple filing protocol) but that's not an absolute requirement.

all you need to do is put your music, video and photos on the nas, then point itunes and iphoto to it and that's that.

itunes supports mp4 directly but there are some variants so you may need to convert.

if you use apple's airport routers (including time capsule), the imac can sleep and wake only when you try to remotely access it, and then sleep shortly after you disconnect.

another option for accessing files remotely is a pogoplug.

setting up vpn is usually fairly convoluted. it's definitely not automatic.

if you're just going to listen to the music or watch the videos, then put them on a shared hard drive. you'll want to back that up in addition to your desktop computer, but chances are it won't change that much, so you could just clone it when you add new music or videos (as opposed to hourly, as with time machine). if your network is gigabit, the speed impact will be minimal.

there are hard drives with both ports, or you can plug a hard drive into some routers, including an apple time capsule.

nastravel

Thanks, Sorry for more questions

1) My network is all routed with Cat 6 cable, so I guess if I get a Gigabyte router that means my network has decent speed. Also are there routers with more than 5 LAN ports available?
2) Problem with the DVR is that you must plug it in an USB port, it won’t support a LAN connection, so I can really plug the hardrive to the router (which would be ideal – and will function as a backup to the iMac and the NAS)
3) Problem with NAS is, I heard there are compatibility issues with things like Apple TV, whereby you MUST have an instance of Itunes running?
4) Apples’ Airport Express and Time Capsules? How many LAN ports does it come with ? Can you actually link it to a HUB for more ports?
5) This questions is a bit shameful as I have not used an Imac before (still in process of getting it). How does the Sleep function work. In Windows this function is crap and not reliable. I really don’t want the HD to be spinning at the time and reduce its expected life
6) I saw the popoplug in another thread. So essentially is it a SECURED connection back to your home PC and you can access the FILES only and not actually run a session of your computer elsewhere?

LIH Prem

The new Lion Server add-on that will come with the mac mini server makes it incredibly easy to share files with either or all of Mac Clients (AFP), Windows Clients (SMB), ios devices (WebDAV), guest access or access only to those with an account. It's just a set of checkboxes under file sharing, after you pick the directory point you want to share.

-David

nastravel

Thanks

Also another thing is whether I can just get a normal Macmini to run the SERVER app? Given my use will this be adequate or i need the Server Speced Macmini to handle?

LIH Prem

Yes, you can install the Lion Server "app" on any Mac as far as I know. It's just an add-on to the OS now, for an extra $40 or so from the mac app store. I was reading some article where the author was running it on his Macbook Pro.

You will also want to find and download the server admin tool for Lion, which is a separate, free download from Apple. It has the firewall configuration for the server. On mac-os X client, that's in 'settings'. But not on the server. The server runs a different type of firewall. The normal server app will modify the firewall configuration for you, but there are some things you might want to enable. I think under snow leopard server I had to modify it to allow itunes sharing to work from the server, for example. There's good documentation on all of that stuff on support.apple.com.

-David

UAL1200

Like pdxer said, getting a VPN running is very hard,time consuming, and expensive. The easiest way is to utilize a free service like LogMeIn Hamachi.

Apple provides a few consumer-level tools for remotely accessing your iMac, such as Back to my Mac. However, these tools are flaky at best from my experience and when they do work, its often very slow (mostly due to the speed of the internet connection). Additionally, Back to my Mac requires enabling UPnP on the router, which is not a good idea from a security standpoint.

Any Mac running Mac OS Server can act as a VPN server, but you will need to:
1) Make the Mac Server your router (ie. connect it to the modem) and have the firewall turned on.

OR

2) Tell the router to forward all VPN traffic to the Mac Server

LIH Prem

The new Lion server tool offers a simple VPN setup thing. Haven't tried it.

Have either of you tried it?

The server stuff in Lion Server is light years ahead of where it was before, from an ease of use standpoint.

-David

UAL1200

Not yet, but from what I can see it looks like the VPN config is much more polished. However, it looks like the Server needs to be the gateway too.

My past experiences with Mac OS Server was less than stellar, I and my other SysAdmins could not get Apple's "Golden Triangle" to work properly with Active Directory. Even though our department had a large Mac/PC ratio, Snow Leopard server was just not worth it.

I was considering upgrading to Lion on my personal Mac in a few months, but its officially never since MATLAB 2010a does not support Lion.