Headless Mac Mini
Locked
 
Administrator
|
I'm considering a mac mini for a home server: backups (Time Machine), large overnight file uploading to my web site, torrents, etc. A non-desktop utility system running snow leopard. I plan to run it without keyboard, mouse and display .. a headless wifi networked box in a corner.
Has anyone built/used such a home server? My two main question are: 1 - "Desktop" mini vs XServe mini. The mini comes in two flavors, a desktop version, with DVD drive and running the standard leopard desktop; and a server version, running Leopard Xserve software and with a second disk replacing the DVD drive. The server mini is heftier and costs more. I'm considering the server version, but not sure if I really need it. So the question is: Has anyone used a mini server and is it worth it? In particular, is the lack of a DVD drive a pain? 2 - Headless: I don't know the details of how to run a mini headless. The server version has a server admin console and apparently can do most things one needs to do. The standard mini generally is not run headless, but can be via Apple Remote Desktop, basically a version of VNC. I believe it is an additional cost however. I think both versions can run ssh just fine. So the second question is: How do you run minis headless? -- Owen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
I've used the desktop mini that way. I just made sure to boot it the first time with peripherals attached. Then made sure the VNC service started at boot, removed the peripherals and used VNC forever after. The DVD drive was quite handy for several upgrades. We also ran http://codefetch.com/ off a network of (desktop) minis at a colo. Now it's running out of Cosmo's house on a linux box, though. Owen Densmore wrote circa 10-07-30 03:47 PM: > I'm considering a mac mini for a home server: backups (Time Machine), > large overnight file uploading to my web site, torrents, etc. A > non-desktop utility system running snow leopard. I plan to run it > without keyboard, mouse and display .. a headless wifi networked box > in a corner. > > Has anyone built/used such a home server? My two main question are: > > 1 - "Desktop" mini vs XServe mini. The mini comes in two flavors, a > desktop version, with DVD drive and running the standard leopard > desktop; and a server version, running Leopard Xserve software and > with a second disk replacing the DVD drive. The server mini is > heftier and costs more. I'm considering the server version, but not > sure if I really need it. > > So the question is: Has anyone used a mini server and is it worth it? > In particular, is the lack of a DVD drive a pain? > > 2 - Headless: I don't know the details of how to run a mini headless. > The server version has a server admin console and apparently can do > most things one needs to do. The standard mini generally is not run > headless, but can be via Apple Remote Desktop, basically a version of > VNC. I believe it is an additional cost however. I think both > versions can run ssh just fine. > > So the second question is: How do you run minis headless? -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
I guess if you really wanted to use a Mac...
I could build a headless micro ATX Linux box to do that for < $200. --Doug
On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 5:19 PM, glen e. p. ropella <[hidden email]> wrote:
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Another unhelpful reply: I used an old Dell Laptop with its original
WinXP Home OS to do that for $0. I use VNC when I need to work the OS. ;) ~~J On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 7:24 PM, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote: > I guess if you really wanted to use a Mac... > I could build a headless micro ATX Linux box to do that for < $200. > --Doug > > On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 5:19 PM, glen e. p. ropella > <[hidden email]> wrote: >> >> I've used the desktop mini that way. I just made sure to boot it the >> first time with peripherals attached. Then made sure the VNC service >> started at boot, removed the peripherals and used VNC forever after. The DVD >> drive was quite handy for several upgrades. >> >> We also ran http://codefetch.com/ off a network of (desktop) minis at a >> colo. Now it's running out of Cosmo's house on a linux box, though. >> >> Owen Densmore wrote circa 10-07-30 03:47 PM: >>> >>> I'm considering a mac mini for a home server: backups (Time Machine), >>> large overnight file uploading to my web site, torrents, etc. A >>> non-desktop utility system running snow leopard. I plan to run it >>> without keyboard, mouse and display .. a headless wifi networked box >>> in a corner. >>> >>> Has anyone built/used such a home server? My two main question are: >>> >>> 1 - "Desktop" mini vs XServe mini. The mini comes in two flavors, a >>> desktop version, with DVD drive and running the standard leopard >>> desktop; and a server version, running Leopard Xserve software and >>> with a second disk replacing the DVD drive. The server mini is >>> heftier and costs more. I'm considering the server version, but not >>> sure if I really need it. >>> >>> So the question is: Has anyone used a mini server and is it worth it? >>> In particular, is the lack of a DVD drive a pain? >>> >>> 2 - Headless: I don't know the details of how to run a mini headless. >>> The server version has a server admin console and apparently can do >>> most things one needs to do. The standard mini generally is not run >>> headless, but can be via Apple Remote Desktop, basically a version of >>> VNC. I believe it is an additional cost however. I think both >>> versions can run ssh just fine. >>> >>> So the second question is: How do you run minis headless? ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Our replies are only unhelpful when they are ignored.
Which they will be -- you can't talk reason with the Mac-Enamored. ;-} --Doug
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 9:16 AM, James Steiner <[hidden email]> wrote:
Another unhelpful reply: I used an old Dell Laptop with its original ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
Administrator
|
No, not ignored. But I may have left out that I wish to use Time Machine for backups. Alas, I don't know if Apple is making TM open source yet.
If so, I'd definitely consider a tiny Linux box. My use of a hosting service has kept my Linux hacks up well enough so that admin overhead would not be too great. It was interesting to watch the majority of Sun engineering and research move to OSX. They grew weary of admin being so intrusive, and OSX provided unix underneath. So I'm not being a fan boy, just lazy. And the Mac mini is a nifty box, and used a lot at the complex, so I wouldn't mind figuring out how it works. Hmm. I wonder if google will ever make Linux easy to use and have a ton of nifty software? ---- Owen I am an iPad, resistance is futile! On Aug 2, 2010, at 9:20 AM, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote: > Our replies are only unhelpful when they are ignored. > > Which they will be -- you can't talk reason with the Mac-Enamored. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Re: backups, I find rsync to the perfect solution for me. Here's an excerpt from one of my backup scripts:
/usr/bin/rsync -vurltD --exclude-from=/home/roberts/.rsync/exclude /home/roberts /mnt/backup >>/home/roberts/backup.log 2>&1
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:05 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote: No, not ignored. But I may have left out that I wish to use Time Machine for backups. Alas, I don't know if Apple is making TM open source yet. -- Doug Roberts [hidden email] [hidden email] 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:07 AM, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Re: backups, I find rsync to the perfect solution for me. Here's an excerpt > from one of my backup scripts: > > /usr/bin/rsync -vurltD --exclude-from=/home/roberts/.rsync/exclude > /home/roberts /mnt/backup >>/home/roberts/backup.log 2>&1 > Here's part of mine: if mount | grep -s $DEST >/dev/null 2>&1 then rsync -ax --delete --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=.gvfs $SRC/ $DEST/ else echo destination $DEST is not mounted fi first thing the original did was fill the root file system by rsync'ing into a mount point with nothing mounted on it. I'm backing up the root these days, too, because it was such a pain to recover the install state two weeks ago. Now the backup is configured to replace the laptop drive in the time it takes to swap drives. You could always take a MacMini and install Ubuntu on it. Anybody know in what format TimeMachine stores your stuff? -- rec -- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Duh, good catch! I've filled up the root partition that way before too.
--Doug
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Roger Critchlow <[hidden email]> wrote:
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
Administrator
|
Good stuff! But one catch: I want to set this up for the family to use. TM gives us automatic backups whenever we connect to the network, so vastly reduces the chance of data loss.
But I'm also considering backup to the internet .. my Joyent web hosting service or possibly s3 or gs. Big problem there is that our up speed is miserable, around 800Kb. It might be that the best upgrade I could make would be to get a premium broadband acct of some sort. Comcast claims to be upgrading their broadband. I'd like to push more of my data to the net anyway. Email is solved: imap. Website ditto -- Joyent. Important source files are svn on Joyent or Google. I suppose I could use desktop net disks of various sorts to move a bunch of my presentations etc to the net. That was part of my research last week of server-to-server speeds. Wow! I can easily backup my entire web hosting account to both amazon and google at very nice speeds indeed. -- Owen On Aug 2, 2010, at 10:28 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote: > Duh, good catch! I've filled up the root partition that way before too. > > --Doug > > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Roger Critchlow <[hidden email]> wrote: > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:07 AM, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote: > > Re: backups, I find rsync to the perfect solution for me. Here's an excerpt > > from one of my backup scripts: > > > > /usr/bin/rsync -vurltD --exclude-from=/home/roberts/.rsync/exclude > > /home/roberts /mnt/backup >>/home/roberts/backup.log 2>&1 > > > > Here's part of mine: > > if mount | grep -s $DEST >/dev/null 2>&1 > then > rsync -ax --delete --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=.gvfs $SRC/ $DEST/ > else > echo destination $DEST is not mounted > fi > > first thing the original did was fill the root file system by > rsync'ing into a mount point with nothing mounted on it. > > I'm backing up the root these days, too, because it was such a pain to > recover the install state two weeks ago. Now the backup is configured > to replace the laptop drive in the time it takes to swap drives. > > You could always take a MacMini and install Ubuntu on it. Anybody > know in what format TimeMachine stores your stuff? > > -- rec -- > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Cron is your friend. I've got mine set up to do the incremental backup once per night, but you could easily also hook it up to an internet connection/disconnection script.
--Doug
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:
Good stuff! But one catch: I want to set this up for the family to use. TM gives us automatic backups whenever we connect to the network, so vastly reduces the chance of data loss. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
In reply to this post by Owen Densmore
I used this for several years, before Time Machine was put out, and was satisfied:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html For Mac, automatic if you like, creates a fully bootable back up, it's gotten a bit more pricey would be the biggest drawback at this point. Leigh On 02 Aug 2010 at 10:50 AM, Owen Densmore related > Good stuff! But one catch: I want to set this up for the family to use. TM gives us automatic backups whenever we connect to the network, so vastly reduces the chance of data loss. > > But I'm also considering backup to the internet .. my Joyent web hosting service or possibly s3 or gs. Big problem there is that our up speed is miserable, around 800Kb. It might be that the best upgrade I could make would be to get a premium broadband acct of some sort. Comcast claims to be upgrading their broadband. > > I'd like to push more of my data to the net anyway. Email is solved: imap. Website ditto -- Joyent. Important source files are svn on Joyent or Google. I suppose I could use desktop net disks of various sorts to move a bunch of my presentations etc to the net. > > That was part of my research last week of server-to-server speeds. Wow! I can easily backup my entire web hosting account to both amazon and google at very nice speeds indeed. > > -- Owen > > > On Aug 2, 2010, at 10:28 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote: > > > Duh, good catch! I've filled up the root partition that way before too. > > > > --Doug > > > > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Roger Critchlow <[hidden email]> wrote: > > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:07 AM, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote: > > > Re: backups, I find rsync to the perfect solution for me. Here's an excerpt > > > from one of my backup scripts: > > > > > > /usr/bin/rsync -vurltD --exclude-from=/home/roberts/.rsync/exclude > > > /home/roberts /mnt/backup >>/home/roberts/backup.log 2>&1 > > > > > > > Here's part of mine: > > > > if mount | grep -s $DEST >/dev/null 2>&1 > > then > > rsync -ax --delete --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=.gvfs $SRC/ $DEST/ > > else > > echo destination $DEST is not mounted > > fi > > > > first thing the original did was fill the root file system by > > rsync'ing into a mount point with nothing mounted on it. > > > > I'm backing up the root these days, too, because it was such a pain to > > recover the install state two weeks ago. Now the backup is configured > > to replace the laptop drive in the time it takes to swap drives. > > > > You could always take a MacMini and install Ubuntu on it. Anybody > > know in what format TimeMachine stores your stuff? > > > > -- rec -- > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
«
Return to Friam
|
1 view|%1 views
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |