We require Mac OS X because the products we make support Windows, Linux and Mac so we have data centers with thousands of machines configured with all 3 OS’s running constant build and test operations 24 hours a day 365 days a year.Īs for device failure, we treat these machines like pixels in a very large display, if a few fail, it’s ok, the management software disables them until we can switch them out. These Mac Machines all run OS X in a NetBooted environment. There were plenty of discussions of Virtual environments and other “Bare Motherboard”/Google Datacenter-type solutions, but the fact is, the Apple EULA requires that Mac OS X run on Apple Hardware, since we are a software company we adhere to these rules without exception. Well, I guess I’m just like a challenge -), but seriously, the company I work for has a need to have large numbers of machines to build and test the software we make. these machines all run SSD’s and I ordered them with AppleCare, so I hope to never have to change a drive -)Īs for the reason I built this. I would like to answer some of the questions posted.
Thanks for the great write up Hack A Day.
#Mac mini hard drive replacement eu professional#
The final result is a professional looking rack that can replace a rack of Xserves, and has capacity to be upgraded in the future. This allows each shelf of four to plug into a single outlet. The solution: a one to four Y cable for the Minis. This would have required a lot of PDUs, and a lot of cables. Since this deisgn was for a data center, the Minis would have to draw power from a Power Distribution Unit (PDU). This was all integrated into the door of the rack.Īnother challenge was getting power to all of the Minis. To provide sufficient airflow, built a custom cooling door out of four car radiators fans, connected to a 40A DC motor controller. Plastic inserts were designed to ensure that exaust wasn’t sucked into the intake of an adjancent Mini.Īn array of 160 computers is going to throw a lot of heat. Once challenge of this was managing the exaust air of each Mini. Nobody made a 1U shelf to hold four Minis, so worked with a vendor to design his own. That’s 640 real cores, or 1280 if you count HyperThreading.įirst, Steve had to tackle the shelving. His solution was to stick 160 Mac Minis into a rack. Needed an alternative to the Xserve, since Apple stopped making it.
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