5 ms·

Seems like an expensive way to do data center stuff. Why not create a rack full of alienware laptops or something?

taligent 14y ago
Actually it's far cheaper than even an equivalent Supermicro solution let alone HP/Dell etc. You are getting at minimum 2 Mac Minis in 1RU which as of today could be a 8 core Core i7 / Dual SSDs / 16GB RAM. Plus if you want to upgrade them then you can put them on eBay and get 75% of the original cost back. Try doing that with a server.
- gonzo 14y ago
  The machine you quote (Mac mini: 8 core i7 / Dual SSD / 16GB ram) does not exist. The closest thing to it (Mac mini: 4 core i7 / single SSD / 16GB ram) costs $1499 from Apple. Are you proposing that I can't get a dual i7 @ 2.6GHz, dual SSD, 16GB ram from Supermicro for less than $3,000? I have a mini on my desk, but even as an Apple fan, I think you're off the mark here.
  - taligent 14y ago
    Mac mini is hyper threaded so appears in the OS as 8-cores. The OSX Server edition starts at $999. Replace the two hard drives with two SSD ($200) and add 16GB RAM ($100). Now show me a Supermicro that will have two nodes in 1RU for equivalent price. Then remind me how much it is going to sell in a year when I decide to upgrade. I guarantee that the Mac Minis would sell in a day on eBay.
    - theatrus2 14y ago
      You're not going to beat the two-nodes price. If you're fine with a single-NIC single-disk server, Minis are not a bad deal. However, you're not going to get dual-NICs, ECC memory, or multiple "spindles" in a Mini formfactor.
      - taligent 14y ago
        Actually you can get dual SSDs. But sure. The Mac Mini are not real servers and if you treat them like they are then I am sure you will have problems. But for use cases where you just have dumb nodes they are perfect.
    - frozenport 14y ago
      The PowerEdge R210II Rack Server at http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/poweredge-r210-2/fs http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/poweredge-r210-2/fs fits in less than 2k. Any beowulf setup would be cheaper. But, as mentioned, the guy had special software constraints.
      - taligent 14y ago
        Unless I misread something that is a single node. The key point about the Mac Minis is you can have TWO nodes in 1RU. And given that the data centre costs will be more than the hardware it makes the overall proposition very compelling.
        maratd 14y ago
        If you look at the picture carefully, it's clearly 4 minis in 1RU. The problem isn't that. The power draw and heat generated will be ridiculous. You'll pay big $$$ to keep them running 24/7.
        taligent 14y ago
        Right. I use more established solutions which only allows for 2 Mac Minis and has roughly same power draw/heat as my previous dedicated. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html
        virtuallynathan 14y ago
        If you want 'real' servers with that density: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm Those would all be cheaper than the Mac Mini
        taligent 14y ago
        I already mentioned those. They aren't cheaper.
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    - equalarrow 14y ago
      This is exactly what we did. I bought a mini, replaced the hd with a 128gb SSD and then maxed the ram out at 16gb and installed CentOS on it. The machine works great and if we start getting a lot of traffic, I'll just get another one and move postgres off onto that. At some point if the need arises, I'd love to look into getting a thunderbolt nas for the db storage. That would be fun.
      - wolfhumble 14y ago
        From my reading on the subject I am not sure if the current Linux kernel will support a thunderbolt NAS. That and the lack of ecc memory is what currently holds me away from buying mac minis for hosting.
    - kalininalex 14y ago
      Hyper-threading doesn't mean you magically get extra 4 cores. It's a technology that works well for _some_ workloads, and for those it achieves up to 30% performance boost, per Intel claim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading). So, at best you could treat it as approximately 5-core. This may not change the original argument, but mac mini is not an 8-core computer. A true dual 4-core CPU server will have significantly more CPU capacity.
      - hosay123 14y ago
        Hyperthreading works by duplicating just enough circuitry to allow use of CPU resources for a thread while another is stalled on a load, nothing more. No "5 cores" about it, it's simply a hardware assisted scheduling trick.
- simbimbo 14y ago
  We actually use SuperMicro machines for our Windows and Linux racks. They work great.. This rack required Apple hardware.
ghshephard 14y ago
The company requires a legitimate test bed for their OS X testing. It wasn't designed for generic data center work.

Actually it's far cheaper than even an equivalent Supermicro solution let alone HP/Dell etc. You are getting at minimum 2 Mac Minis in 1RU which as of today could be a 8 core Core i7 / Dual SSDs / 16GB RAM. Plus if you want to upgrade them then you can put them on eBay and get 75% of the original cost back. Try doing that with a server.

gonzo 14y ago
The machine you quote (Mac mini: 8 core i7 / Dual SSD / 16GB ram) does not exist. The closest thing to it (Mac mini: 4 core i7 / single SSD / 16GB ram) costs $1499 from Apple. Are you proposing that I can't get a dual i7 @ 2.6GHz, dual SSD, 16GB ram from Supermicro for less than $3,000? I have a mini on my desk, but even as an Apple fan, I think you're off the mark here.
- taligent 14y ago
  Mac mini is hyper threaded so appears in the OS as 8-cores. The OSX Server edition starts at $999. Replace the two hard drives with two SSD ($200) and add 16GB RAM ($100). Now show me a Supermicro that will have two nodes in 1RU for equivalent price. Then remind me how much it is going to sell in a year when I decide to upgrade. I guarantee that the Mac Minis would sell in a day on eBay.
  - theatrus2 14y ago
    You're not going to beat the two-nodes price. If you're fine with a single-NIC single-disk server, Minis are not a bad deal. However, you're not going to get dual-NICs, ECC memory, or multiple "spindles" in a Mini formfactor.
    - taligent 14y ago
      Actually you can get dual SSDs. But sure. The Mac Mini are not real servers and if you treat them like they are then I am sure you will have problems. But for use cases where you just have dumb nodes they are perfect.
  - frozenport 14y ago
    The PowerEdge R210II Rack Server at http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/poweredge-r210-2/fs http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/poweredge-r210-2/fs fits in less than 2k. Any beowulf setup would be cheaper. But, as mentioned, the guy had special software constraints.
    - taligent 14y ago
      Unless I misread something that is a single node. The key point about the Mac Minis is you can have TWO nodes in 1RU. And given that the data centre costs will be more than the hardware it makes the overall proposition very compelling.
      - maratd 14y ago
        If you look at the picture carefully, it's clearly 4 minis in 1RU. The problem isn't that. The power draw and heat generated will be ridiculous. You'll pay big $$$ to keep them running 24/7.
        taligent 14y ago
        Right. I use more established solutions which only allows for 2 Mac Minis and has roughly same power draw/heat as my previous dedicated. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html http://www.sonnettech.com/product/rackmacmini.html
      - virtuallynathan 14y ago
        If you want 'real' servers with that density: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/FatTwin.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/2UTwin2.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm http://www.supermicro.nl/products/nfo/MicroCloud.cfm Those would all be cheaper than the Mac Mini
        taligent 14y ago
        I already mentioned those. They aren't cheaper.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - equalarrow 14y ago
    This is exactly what we did. I bought a mini, replaced the hd with a 128gb SSD and then maxed the ram out at 16gb and installed CentOS on it. The machine works great and if we start getting a lot of traffic, I'll just get another one and move postgres off onto that. At some point if the need arises, I'd love to look into getting a thunderbolt nas for the db storage. That would be fun.
    - wolfhumble 14y ago
      From my reading on the subject I am not sure if the current Linux kernel will support a thunderbolt NAS. That and the lack of ecc memory is what currently holds me away from buying mac minis for hosting.
  - kalininalex 14y ago
    Hyper-threading doesn't mean you magically get extra 4 cores. It's a technology that works well for _some_ workloads, and for those it achieves up to 30% performance boost, per Intel claim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading). So, at best you could treat it as approximately 5-core. This may not change the original argument, but mac mini is not an 8-core computer. A true dual 4-core CPU server will have significantly more CPU capacity.
    - hosay123 14y ago
      Hyperthreading works by duplicating just enough circuitry to allow use of CPU resources for a thread while another is stalled on a load, nothing more. No "5 cores" about it, it's simply a hardware assisted scheduling trick.
simbimbo 14y ago
We actually use SuperMicro machines for our Windows and Linux racks. They work great.. This rack required Apple hardware.

ghshephard 14y ago

The company requires a legitimate test bed for their OS X testing. It wasn't designed for generic data center work.