Small office server setup?

[psymac]

I have two macs in my office, an iMac and a mac Mini, a G4 quicksilver at home, and a G4 iBook when I'm on the road. I'd like to use the Mini as both a light duty secretary computer and also as a server for the other macs through wireless (for the iMac at the office) and internet (home Mac and on the road iBook).

My goal is to have a master file folder that all the macs have access to 24/7 through wireless and the internet, so I don't have to sync files all the time or not have all files available to all computers. It'd probably be good for the server mac to backup to another disc for safety sake.

Not sure exactly how to set this up and what, if any, software I'd need. I know that I will need probably need a static IP to access the server Mac from the internet, but am not sure.

Thanks for any help!
Steve

 

[atomwork]

I would look into a network RAID system ( I like RAID 5). A cheaper solution then a full apple server. At least for your described purpose.

Here is a good 7.5 GB solution (Keep in mind that with Raid 5 you lose 2/3 of the total HD space due to backup)

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11143

 

[belvdr]

Here is a good 7.5 GB solution (Keep in mind that with Raid 5 you lose 2/3 of the total HD space due to backup)

Not necessarily true; if you have a RAID 5 array of 3 disks, then you are correct. If you have 42 drives, you get 41/42 of the total space. In other words, you lose the equivalent of one of the physical drives.

If this box could be exposed to a warm temperature, you may want to find something using RAID 6, RAID 10, or RAID 01 to get more redundancy.

 

[fxstb2002]

I wouldn't go the server route either. Network attached storage is going to be easier to administer and more redundant.

We have 5 computers in the office (Macs and Windows), some of which go on the road as well.

We use a Netgear ReadyNAS. It is set to RAID 1, and I have a backup USB drive on it as well. It also has a built-in FTP server. (Itunes and torrent as well)

We actually ditched the server (a MS Small Business Server) to go this route. Much easier to manage for us considering we use a hosted Zimbra service instead of Exchange now as well.

 

[ChrisA]

Not sure exactly how to set this up and what, if any, software I'd need. I know that I will need probably need a static IP to access the server Mac from the internet, but am not sure.

You can do it without the static IP. Use "dynamic DNS". This is a service that will update a DNS record whenever your dynamic Ip address changes. There are a few free dynamic DNS services. One is http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/

The simple way to do this is to simply share the directory over the LAN and use FTP over the Internet.

 

[belvdr]

I'd highly discourage using standard FTP or file sharing over the Internet. Those aren't secure protocols. You could use Secure FTP (sftp), but I have never set that up to be used as a network share.

If you have a router supported by OpenWRT, you could install it, and OpenVPN, then use a VPN client and access your shares normally.

 

[aplnub]

I am in the same boat as you. I have Mac OS X Leopard Server Unlimited sitting here on my desk. I am going to approach this through VM Ware on my 24" iMac Aluminum and when I get it working, purchase a mini or use our quad core MacPro.

I want VPN, iCal, Wiki, file storage for everyone that will allow me to access the files or sync up with the latest copies, and a software update machine so we are not downloading the updates redundantly.