01-11-2012, 09:24 PM
DRR wrote:
[quote=C(-)ris]
I don't think that would be a good fit. There are probably going to be driver issues and a complete lack of support from either MS or Apple. If he really needs a Windows server, he should get one that comes with it. I would imagine that things like RAID and partitioning would be a PITA.
Could you expand on this for my education?
From my perspective, a windows-only mac pro as a server should be fine. You're talking about two main things for a server like this, disk i/o and networking. Neither of which I see having driver issues. Further, if you were going to do RAID in a case like this you'd more likely be buying a RAID card, so "Apple's drivers" become a non-issue.
So what drivers are you talking about, that Apple may not support in the future?
Using a Mac Pro as a windows server is akin to custom building one from parts from newegg. You get no support and have to deal with gathering drivers for RAID cards, fiber cards, scsi cards, etc. The Apple RAID card does not work in Windows. Neither will a software RAID setup in OSX.
For a business you need to be able to get support and a fully supported system. As, stated by others, you can configure a Dell server for half the cost that would do a better job and have better support.