6 Unused Mac Minis. Questions. Should I use "fastest" or "slowest" as server.

[mightyjlr]

So I am obsessed with Mac Minis, and have bought at least one of every generation. Now that I bought a couple of the newest ones to be my new HTPCs, I have a bunch of unused ones. I do some web design and 3D work as a hobby. I bought OSX Server 10pack and a 10.5 Family Pack. I want to cluster them in some way with X-Grid and also use one as a media server.

Here is my question: Should I install OSX Server on all of them? Should I only put it on 1 as a main server? Should I use my fastest one (1.83 Intel) or my slowest (original G4 of some speed) as the server? How would you set this up? They will all be headless and controlled remotely.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Here is my question: Should I install OSX Server on all of them?

Do you own a license for OS X Server for as many Mac minis as you want to put it on? Seems weird that one would purchase copies of OS X Server @ $1,000 a pop and just have those copies laying around, ready to install... but, I guess, to each, his own!

Should I only put it on 1 as a main server?

That depends on what kind of setup you're trying to achieve.

Should I use my fastest one (1.83 Intel) or my slowest (original G4 of some speed) as the server?

That depends on what kind of setup you're trying to achieve.

How would you set this up? They will all be headless and controlled remotely.

If they're all headless and controlled remotely, then I would put OS X Server on all of them (I find OS X Server has superior remote management capabilities than OS X Client, even with 3rd-party software). But, again, I don't have 5 copies of OS X Server laying around waiting to be installed on those machines.

It really all depends on what you want to do with these machines. If one will be a media server (i.e., simple file sharing) then a slow mini would suffice. If you want to use it for transcoding video, though, then you'd want to put it on a faster one.

What, exactly, are you hoping to attain with XGrid? Some sort of distributed processing? Do you have some definitive plan for some software that uses XGrid, or is this just a "wow, neat, distributed processing -- what can I do with it?" kind of thing?

Just as a side-note: Mac OS X Server 10-client edition doesn't mean you can install OS X Server on 10 machines. It means you can install it on one machine, and have 10 clients connected to that server. In that case, you cannot install OS X Server on all the machines due to the license -- so, install OS X Server on one machine (fast, slow, whichever one you want) and put the family pack of OS X on the remaining machines, up to 5.