Running JDS, NetBoot and Caching Server on same hardware

[talkingmoose]

I'm working with a client who has multiple sites and we'll be installing Mac mini servers with JAMF Distribution Server (JDS) installed on each system.

We'd also like to use these minis as caching servers for Apple software (OS X and iOS) and maybe even use them as infrequent NetBoot servers. We already should have plenty of drive space for packages, cached apps and one or two NetBoot images. Servers themselves should have 1 GB wired connections and most clients will be mostly 802.11n wireless. (NetBoot is, of course, for wired Macs.)

Is anyone already running two or all three services on a Mac mini and, if so, have you noticed any issues? Any gotchas to look for?

[RobertHammen]

Do this at a lot of client sites. 16 GB of RAM in a mini is plentiful, just if it's a full JSS, be sure to tweak Tomcat and MySQL appropriately. Do need to take care of how many concurrent NetBoot sessions that you need - I start to see I/O contention issues when you get much above 10-12 concurrent connections imaging over Gigabit Ethernet...

[RobertHammen]

Forgot to mention, if you're doing a ton of I/O, an SSD, and perhaps an additional Gigabit Ethernet interface (via a Thunderbolt to Gig adapter) may be beneficial.

[monosodium]

I was told by JAMF to not run Netboot and JDS on the same machine. It caused a whole bunch of issues for us and I had to reinstall OSX completely without the JDS. I cannot recall what reasons they specified for JDS and Netboot conflicts, but I think it was Apache-related. I would ask your support Rep if possible first.

[talkingmoose]

Thanks @RobertHammen and @monosodium!

I'll get with our account manager and ask for anything he knows about the JDS and NetBoot issue.

[Cook]

May also wish to create a http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14045 (Link Aggregation)

This should provide some beefy network speeds depending on your networks distro layer :D