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
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