Mac OS X Lion Server For Dummies®

Chapter 2

Choosing Server Hardware

In This Chapter

• Dissecting hardware requirements
• Choosing the right RAM and hard drives
• Selecting the right Mac for your server
• Considering other network hardware

You've chosen the software — Lion Server. Now you need to pick a Mac to run it on. You can spend anywhere from under $1,000 to over $10,000 (with storage options), and no one Mac model is best for running Lion Server. It runs on everything from a Mac mini to the now-discontinued Xserve, with varying amounts of memory and hard drive space. You can't use your old G5 Mac tower because Mac OS X 10.7 Server runs only on Intel processors.

This chapter takes you through criteria for choosing a Mac that best meets your needs as a server. By matching your anticipated uses to the available hardware, you can avoid getting an underpowered Mac server or spending too much for more than you need. If you already have a Mac in mind for use as a server, this chapter helps you decide whether it'll work for what you want to do with it.