Snow Leopard™ Server

Chapter 4. Evaluating Hardware Requirements

In This Chapter

• Evaluating server

• hardware needs

• Planning server and

• network data storage

• Network performance

• requirements

The decision to use Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is also a decision to use Apple's hardware. The requirements for Snow Leopard Server also limit it to running on modern machines.

That limits certain applications of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, as it's not designed or licensed to run on do-it-yourself hobby servers or any of the older Apple servers or generic PC equipment you may already have on hand.

However, if you're interested in Apple's server operating system, tight hardware and software integration is probably a primary consideration. You're also less likely to be looking for an Erector Set solution that requires lots of your own resources to finish the missing integration links.

That makes evaluating hardware needs a lot easier; you're simply unable to get Snow Leopard Server running on outdated server equipment that isn't capable of working properly. The flip side: The hardware you buy to run it is modern and reliable.

Snow Leopard Server's new 64-bit kernel enables you to run your services on top of a system that can take full advantage of existing hardware capable of using up to 32 GB of RAM today and accommodate even more RAM in the future.

It's also possible to run Snow Leopard Server on consumer machines such as the iMac and Mac mini, although you probably want to reserve those efforts for testing purposes rather ...