Planning a JSS system upgrade - all Linux or OS X mixed?

[chris_kemp]

So it's time to R&R our old XServes, which means time to re-design. :-)

I'm definitely going to move the JSS to a Linux server, and move us up from 8.73 to 9.x (whatever is advisable when we actually deploy). However, I'm still deciding about NetSUS vs. Mac Mini servers as distribution points.

We've run a clustered environment for several years, with three client servers. One client is an in-house network segment; the others are in London, where there are two segments with their own servers. Everything is inside our company LAN - we don't do any outward-facing stuff. We also don't currently manage any iDevices, so that simplifies things a bit (although I never say never...it could happen).

Our client servers are all Mac Mini servers with a small RAID attached, and they are all local NetBoot & distribution points. This model works pretty well for us, but I want to fairly assess the NetSUS option.

I did some testing when it first came out, and while it worked OK it seemed very "tweaky" to get it working & maintain it. I also was not fond of the idea of using a VM for it - if I did go this route I'd probably go with a hardware install, although I guess going VM could be a good since it's not running the database, but just providing services.

I'm curious about how some of y'all are approaching your setups?

Just FYI: per the thread title, I'm either going all Linux or Linux with OS X client servers. Not going Windows on this.

[rcorbin]

We run the JSS and 50 distribution points all on Mac Mini's. They are a recent server model with 16GB of RAM and a 2.6GHZ i7. We use Thunderbolt RAIDS with them. One advantage to having the distribution points on OS X server as there is the caching server which can come in handy if you have a lot of iOS devices. I may be mistaken but with NetSUS you get a Software Update server, but I don't think you get a caching server for Mac and iOS apps. We may at some point move the JSS to a virtualized Linux server but for now the MacMini seems to handle it fine.

[chris_kemp]

In my reading here, moving the JSS itself to a VM can be problematic. That's why I'm planning to go with a real server for the JSS itself, to do the heavy database lifting. Good to know I'm not the only one fond of the MMinis, though. :)