Of course, mac minis make a lot of sense as servers because theyre. You can create a redundant array of independent disks raid set to optimize storage performance and increase reliability in case of a disk failure. As i type this, my mac mini server is downstairs rebuilding its raid 1 mirror set. I am a bit confused about the optimal system setup. Designed to work with macos and ios, macos server makes it easy to configure mac and ios devices. And it would mean that the system itself and the data store are on the same raid set. The small business that i do sysadmin work for on the side uses a mid2011 mac mini server running 10. Sonnet xmac mini server thunderbolt pcie 1u enclosure. We shipped the first version of softraid for mac os x over 15 years ago and have been actively developing softraid and supporting mac os x ever since. To do that, follow the steps in the apple knowledge base article link below.
Heres how i got around that and ultimately installed apples. And for completeness, neither raid 0 nor raid 1 is an archival strategy. How to configure a software raid in macos sierras disk utility. Doc documents technical documentation erp here you will. Downloads software, firmware and updates here you will find the latest updates for your product. I made a guide for sata hd connector so new cable will be placed at exact position in a hard drive frame. We have been creating raid software for mac os since 1996. Enabling raid 1 on a mac mini server scotts weblog. I started receiving daily softraidgenerated emailed reports that one of the internal drives had 2 bad sectors and was predicted to have 20 60 % chance of failure in the next 3. Nov 21, 2019 boot camp does not install microsoft windows on raid volumes, including volumes provided by a raid card. Setting up a software raid or random array of independent disks is a great way to inexpensively provide a huge boost to readwrite speeds. Raidd ssd are as fast this system can go as far as storage access. Using os x server, you can back up every mac on your network too.
Hopefully, it still works when reassembled with 8 gb of. I will tell you two reasons why i wont use software raid anymore. Jul 17, 2010 as i type this, my mac mini server is downstairs rebuilding its raid 1 mirror set. Today i bought a new mac mini running mac os x server to replace an aging homebuilt linux server that supports my home network. I was also warned not to use the osx softwarebased raid 0 in a server application, that it was not reliable. My mac mini is set up with a caldigit t4 thunderbolt 2 raid. And whether on your desktop, as a media library for your home entertainment system, or doing duty in the server room, ministack delivers reliable, highspeed performance. Mac mini features the apple t2 security chip secondgeneration custom mac silicon designed by apple to make mac mini even more secure.
Of course, mac minis make a lot of sense as servers because theyre small, quiet, power efficient and dont have a. They use a mac mini server with a raid 1 set of regular spinning disks. I using a mac mini server 2012 using a raid appleraid on both internal hdd. There is no better software raid solution for mac than softraid. Since my mini will be replacing my main business computer i needed a raid, preferably a sata raid solution for storage. Owc ministack the external drive with a mac mini footprint. Basically dont worry about it, spend a fraction of this money on a 80gb usb disk and leave it to time machine to give you a recoverable backup. This article provides instructions to rebuild a raid 1 using the mac os terminal. If you have a raid set in your imac, youve likely been staring at a grayed out icon in the macos high sierra installer since monday. In fact, our team wrote the original version of appleraid. May 05, 2015 using os x server, you can back up every mac on your network too.
Mid2011 mac mini server keeps dropping a disk from raid, not. Use our highperformance hard wired dc power cable to connect power supply to mac mini. Hello, we are looking into using mac minis as servers in windows environment. This mac mini happens to be a server edition but these steps apply to any mac. If you are running the raid array on mac, you need the help of another program minitool mac data recovery. Youll need to make certain that your mac is updated to the latest and greatest software so that your base macos environment will have all security and performance updates in place. You now need to run diskutil list again to see the disk identifier for the new raid volume. Raid stands for redundant array of independent disks, and there are many levels of raid. How to upgrade a raid system to macos high sierra youre. We want to boot off the os x server disk that was included with the. Optionally, you can check for any extra macos sierra updates in the app store and install those as well before continuing how to download macos server. Mac mini dual drive ssd raid mac mini late 2012 ifixit. Raid 0 and raid 1 and the other raid levels can be hardwarebased or software based. I have been using raid on macs and pcs since 1999, and i have done it in software and 78 different kinds cards on various oses.
Diverse pcie card supportsupports fibre channel, 10 gigabit ethernet, pro video capture. This combo also makes an ideal replacement for an aging apple xserve. Mid2011 mac mini server keeps dropping a disk from raid. Adds connectivity and capabilities to mac miniconnects two pcie 2. Nov 12, 2011 in this video i show off the disk speeds of a 2011 mac mini server packed with quad core i7 8gb of ram, and dual 500gb 7200 rpm drives in raid 0 striped configuration. The other option is to use another computers dvd drive.
On my mac mini server, server hd was disk0s2, so i used this command. This will erase any data that exists on the disks you want to use for the raid. If you want to create a software raid in mac os 10. We tested a pair of mercury extreme pro 6g ssds set up in a raid 0 inside the mini server and achieved readwrite speeds over mbs. Apple would be doing everyone a favor by bundling softraid with their xserve boxes. The idea was to hookup cable internally and leave all mac mini internal structure intact. Like its predecessor, the 2011 mac mini server has two drive bays, which can see the drives individually or in a software raid 0 or 1. I think ive tried every permutation to get the system to boot with the two drives in a raid configuration including converting the volumes to apfs. Before proceeding, please safely eject and then physically disconnect all external storage devices external hard drives, sd cards, etc from your mac computer, except the device on which you want to create the raid. As a former linuxunix administrator used to configuring complicated text files via a terminal command line interface, that little cash for that much timesavings feels like a steal. The personal license doesnt support windows server at all. Mac mini as a server domain controller and raid q solutions. You mirror the drives by setting up a software raid. Optimize your os x according to our os x optimization guide.
Best configuration for a mac mini server running mavericks. Raid 1 uses two hard drives and doesnt come with the speed advantage of raid 0. In addition to current software and firmware, you will also find operating instructions and utilities. Create a disk set using disk utility on mac apple support. I back up everything in the house to it as a time machine server and i use it for media.
Lets start with hardware side of the question ssd raid and yes your mac mini can support it. Eviltyrant the completely evil blog blog archive late. Late 2012 mac mini server raid 0 or 1 boot under 10. From the desktop, select go from the top menu bar, then utilities terminal. Promise raid 5 box via esata using the mini server, heres some of his post. Holy crap, i dont want to ever have to do that again. If this is the configuration youre looking for, youre good to go right out of the box. Its perfect for adding external storage to your mac mini.
Lately, theyve been complaining that accessing the file share is slow. It ships with 2 500gb hard drives but its not configured as any kind of raid. Its also remarkably simple to install, set up, and manage. In other words, we place your mac mini in a highend data center where you can use it as a server. It used to be bundled with asip server, then later when osx was released, the driver was bundled minus the application. This table summarizes the key differences between hardware and software raids. It was running sierra and was time to do a software update too, but. Minitool power data recovery is also a great choice for mirrored volume recovery.
Out of the box, the new mac mini server has mac os x lion, the ilife suite, and the mac os x lion server tools preinstalled on one of the two 500gb internal drives. If you have the storage for backing up the whole network already hanging off the mac mini server, then you can certain use it. We offer you redundant very high speed internet connections, remote control electrical power, a highly secure location to house your mac mini. The regular mac mini only comes with a single drive installed.
Mac disk utility to create a raid 1 mirror array lifewire. After you create the mirrored set, your mac sees it as a single disk drive. Cable guide was basically made while original hd sata connector was still inplace. When buying the mac mini server from apple, it comes by default with two hard drives. Best storage practices for os x server and time machine imore. Enabling raid 1 on a mac mini server scotts weblog the. Its 2 750gb hdds are raid 1d together, and it time machine backups over usb to a raid 1 array of 2 1 tb disks. Information in this article applies to macs running os x yosemite 10. You can easily remedy this by using a usb dvd drive hold down c while turning your mini on. Apple discontinues mac mini server, limits storage options. Shut down the mini and added the esata cable to the internal second drive connector and restarted the promise raid and the mac mini. Jan 21, 20 i have a 2011 mac mini server, which is fortunate because setting up esxi on that mini model has been welldocumented in a number of places.
I chose to use the mac os x remote install application, found in the utilities folder. Here are the steps to follow to enable raid 1 on the drives in your mac mini server. Many small business i have helped buys the mac mini server, but leaves the 2nd drive as data drive, but there. Windows on your mac does not recognize raid volumes, including volumes provided by a raid card. A sonnet gigabit ethernet adapter card plugged into the integrated, halflength pcie card slot. I have a brand new mac mini, were going to be using it as a server. Boot camp does not install microsoft windows on raid volumes.
Jan 16, 2020 the personal license doesnt support windows server at all. How to configure a software raid in macos sierras disk. The system works great but since i have upgrade my. This is similar to raid 0 in that all you need is a couple hard drives and the raid function in disk utility. If youve purchased a mac mini server youll realize that the default configuration is two 500gb hard drives. It requires four hard drives to use, and is essentially two raid 0 sets mirroring each other. If you do not need more than 500gb of storage you can use that second drive to add redundancy.
Remove any hdds and install one ssd andor msata drive for software and one for library. You can try the free edition firstly and then decide to get an. How to set up a raid in macos sierras disk utility. As for the other question, do you have one disk showing, or two.
In your intended configuration, mirroring will be performed in software slower and less resilient to error, the disks are regular quality and may. Apples new mac mini server combines a lightlymodified mac mini with a mac os x 10. The latest available version as of this date is esxi 5. On my own test mac mini server late 2009 model, i have the two internal 500gb drives and an external fw800 500gb drive configured as raid1 mirrored 500gb volume. Raid mirroring of a server boot disk needs hardware raid for speed, and good quality hard disks from different batches for longevity and robustness. A it is possible to configure the two internal hard drives in a mac mini server as a mirror pair, although it is perhaps not the best setup for a server. Best storage practices for os x server and time machine. The hard drive in side of it is too small for the tasks above, but is there a way i could attach a large external drive array with raid via usb 3 and run the mac mini in server mode to accomplish what i want to do without buying a synology nas. May 03, 2017 it can be any mac you have handy, including an older imac or macbook pro, or even a brand new mac mini dedicated to the task. Information about products not manufactured by apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. The t2 security chip consolidates several controllers into one, and includes a secure enclave coprocessor that provides the foundation for encrypted storage and secure boot capabilities.
With a lowprofile design, ministack is a versatile storage solution. Oct 24, 2015 a it is possible to configure the two internal hard drives in a mac mini server as a mirror pair, although it is perhaps not the best setup for a server. Many small business i have helped buys the mac mini server, but leaves the 2nd drive as data drive, but there is a much better option if you want more protection. Sep 23, 2017 this mac mini happens to be a server edition but these steps apply to any mac. Server room ready1u rackmount enclosure with userreplaceable power supply and fans, builtin cable management features. Raid is an acronym for redundant array of independent disks, which is a storage method that combines multiple physical disk drives into one virtual drive. Upgrade ram to the maximum amount of lowlatency ram your model mac mini can utilize. However, apple leaves it up to the buyers to chose what to do with it. Even more so, apple removed raid 1 from new disk manager accessible by command line, so i am wondering is mini still viable as a server with ssd.
231 1106 266 626 111 59 137 362 387 733 1048 339 1430 208 240 1029 1057 1032 1110 707 390 1107 1600 886 225 1097 944 398 190 15 843 5 404 877 1486 1138 310