Apple Mac mini "Core i5" 2.5 (Late 2012)

[SwisherSweet]

I'm looking at building a few remote backup servers using these Macs:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i5-2.5-late-2012-specs.html

It will have 16GB of RAM and FreeNAS running on internal drive and external drives for the pool. I realize USB external drives not ideal, but that's all I have to work with.

Other than the USB drive setup, is there any other problem I might run into with this machine?

All this machine will do is be a remote backup target. If it's not replicating data from our main server, it will sit idle.

The only concern I have is the processor. Will it support compression and encryption? Since this server will be a colocation, I want to protect my data on the USB drives.

If the CPU isn't strong enough, I also considered the i7 version:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.3-late-2012-specs.html

But, I won't to keep my cost low and since the machine will sit idle 99% of the time, I didn't think I would need the extra cores.

 

[Ericloewe]

Do they even boot FreeNAS? Macs tend to be fussy about the boot process.

 

[blacs30]

I like Mac Minis as their power consumption is very little and yet they are powerful and very quiet, even with high load.
2 of the 2012 models work here at home but not related to FreeNAS.
I believe that the CPU is not a problem at all but other things have to be considered:
- no ECC Ram
- USB drives don't have SMART

You could use thunderbolt (if FreeBSD/FreenAS supports this on a Mac), AFAIK via thunderbolt SMART should be possible.
Anyway if it was me I would not use it based on the non existing ECC Ram, maybe a more frequent SCRUB could give some more trust but hopefully some more experienced people can give you better/more feedback.

I had ESXi for long time running on a Mac. I think the boot process isn't the problem.

 

[SwisherSweet]

Ericloewe, the 2012 Mac Minis will boot FreeNAS fine, even from USB I understand. This won't be an issue since I will install FreeNAS on the internal drive, which Mac can boot most OSs.

blacs30, good point about the RAM. I'll make certain to request ECC RAM in the purchase, if possible/available. Otherwise, I'll scrub more often. I'll need to try to find bus-powered (colo requirement) thunderbolt drives. They might exist.

 

[SwisherSweet]

You could use thunderbolt (if FreeBSD/FreenNAS supports this on a Mac), AFAIK via thunderbolt SMART should be possible.

I found this drive, which is a Thunderbolt bus-powered external drive:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RuggedTU-5TB

I guess the only thing holding me back is knowing if FreeNAS supports TB on a Mac Mini. So far, based on this post, it appears FreeNAS does NOT support Thunderbolt:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/201702/connect-imac-to-san-nas-using-thunderbolt

 

[blacs30]

ECC Ram alone doesn't help you if the mainboard/CPU doesn't support it. That is only supported by the new iMac Pro coming soon and the Mac Pro. So you'd need to trust the scrubs and hope.

 

[SwisherSweet]

ECC Ram alone doesn't help you if the mainboard/CPU doesn't support it. That is only supported by the new iMac Pro coming soon and the Mac Pro. So you'd need to trust the scrubs and hope.

Dang. That is unfortunate. None of the Mac Minis support ECC RAM. Not really sure if it's worth proceeding in this case since my data will be at risk, and I can't trust it.

 

[Stux]

Supermicro make little servers based on MiniITX boards. They do support ECC and depending on price, would be more appropriate.

 

[SwisherSweet]

Supermicro make little servers based on MiniITX boards. They do support ECC and depending on price, would be more appropriate.

Thanks. I was just looking at those. I think I have a new strategy. I can rent a 1U slot at a local data center for $75 per month. I can buy a 1U server off of Ebay for $100 - $200, buy some ECC RAM, drives and probably solved - I would have my remote, replication server.

 

[BillCardiff]

I like this train of thought. I loaded a Mac Mini with an i5 / 4G of RAM with Ubuntu 16.04 server edition. The bonus was I got it cheap as the secondary GPU was messed up and wouldn't load anything like a GUI. It ran Docker without issue, had it running Plex native, and then Deluge, Sonarr and Radarr in docker containers. I didn't have any Thunderbolt devices to see if ubuntu knew what was connected internally, but it should would make it a sweet machine as it was sitting. Power draw would have been minimal, ability was right up there. As pointed out though, it was plain RAM, and the machine I was poking at was limited to USB2.0 and one Thunderbolt port.