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Server Question
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<blockquote data-quote="MacsWork" data-source="post: 546426" data-attributes="member: 11094"><p>First of all,...</p><p></p><p>You aren't comparing Apple's to Apple's. You are really taking a Mac Pro and loading a server OS and utilizing the RAID card add on to get hardware redundancy. Not Cheap. Apple knows the only RAID option is at their store so you pay $1000 to get it.</p><p></p><p>We all know Apple has a HUGE markup on upgrades. My suggestion would be to buy after market RAM and HD's. Apple want's $500 per 750gb HD. Just get the same thing at NewEgg or CDW for $200x4. They want $700 for the 4gb RAM upgrade. I just bought the same spec RAM 4gb(2x2gb) kit for $369. You'd save roughly $1000 buying after market parts. You could also save $500 bucks upfront to go with the 10 user server OS vs the unlimited client. Unlimited is just a $500 upgrade down the road if needed. You could also save $300 to get the quad 2.0ghz.</p><p></p><p>As for windows server pricing. Entry level HP and Dell servers are going to run in the $2k range without the Server OS and CAL's. That'd be SATA mirroring not RAID 5 too. Keep in mind a Mac Pro is designed to be a kick nuts workhorse not a server that just holds your data and processes print jobs. There aren't many Windows servers with 256mb Graphics cards or either.</p><p></p><p>What's your backup plan? Figure another $500 for software (or go the shareware route), and depending on the size of your data, you'd need that amount of backup storage to accommodate it, and any archiving you might want. Off site backup is a whole other ball of wax.</p><p></p><p>Did someone say warranty? I doubt the AppleCare plan for Mac Pro's cover server OS questions. Either way it's $250 for the 3yr extension on the Mac Pro warranty.</p><p></p><p>What about power protection? You'd need to spec out a UPS that can handle your Mac Pro and your network infrastructure. Switches, router and so on. I'd figure on an APC Smart UPS 1000. That should handle the above mentioned and any external HD's that you might use as backup drives.</p><p></p><p>And since we're talking network, you'd want to consider going gigabit if you haven't already. It's a huge performance boost. Likewise your Mac Pro would ship with two NICs. You might want a switch that supports link aggregation allowing you to team the NICs to get failover and higher throughput. Maybe that's TMI.</p><p></p><p>Also Leopard server only allows Tiger and Leopard clients. If you're running Panther anywhere you'd need to upgrade them to Leopard.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Phew.</p><p></p><p>Chew on that a while. Hope it helps.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MacsWork, post: 546426, member: 11094"] First of all,... You aren't comparing Apple's to Apple's. You are really taking a Mac Pro and loading a server OS and utilizing the RAID card add on to get hardware redundancy. Not Cheap. Apple knows the only RAID option is at their store so you pay $1000 to get it. We all know Apple has a HUGE markup on upgrades. My suggestion would be to buy after market RAM and HD's. Apple want's $500 per 750gb HD. Just get the same thing at NewEgg or CDW for $200x4. They want $700 for the 4gb RAM upgrade. I just bought the same spec RAM 4gb(2x2gb) kit for $369. You'd save roughly $1000 buying after market parts. You could also save $500 bucks upfront to go with the 10 user server OS vs the unlimited client. Unlimited is just a $500 upgrade down the road if needed. You could also save $300 to get the quad 2.0ghz. As for windows server pricing. Entry level HP and Dell servers are going to run in the $2k range without the Server OS and CAL's. That'd be SATA mirroring not RAID 5 too. Keep in mind a Mac Pro is designed to be a kick nuts workhorse not a server that just holds your data and processes print jobs. There aren't many Windows servers with 256mb Graphics cards or either. What's your backup plan? Figure another $500 for software (or go the shareware route), and depending on the size of your data, you'd need that amount of backup storage to accommodate it, and any archiving you might want. Off site backup is a whole other ball of wax. Did someone say warranty? I doubt the AppleCare plan for Mac Pro's cover server OS questions. Either way it's $250 for the 3yr extension on the Mac Pro warranty. What about power protection? You'd need to spec out a UPS that can handle your Mac Pro and your network infrastructure. Switches, router and so on. I'd figure on an APC Smart UPS 1000. That should handle the above mentioned and any external HD's that you might use as backup drives. And since we're talking network, you'd want to consider going gigabit if you haven't already. It's a huge performance boost. Likewise your Mac Pro would ship with two NICs. You might want a switch that supports link aggregation allowing you to team the NICs to get failover and higher throughput. Maybe that's TMI. Also Leopard server only allows Tiger and Leopard clients. If you're running Panther anywhere you'd need to upgrade them to Leopard. Phew. Chew on that a while. Hope it helps. [/QUOTE]
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