Earlier this year we added a feature to our Enterprise colocation plan. We didn’t hype it up or do a big press release about it. However, it’s the biggest thing we’ve done since we made our rent2own payment plan a permanent fixture on our order form. Our perpetual warranty is just an added bonus to the already attractive Enterprise plan. The plan already includes unlimited bandwidth and data transfer on a 1,000 Gbps port along with our other standard colocation features.

The perpetual warranty is applicable to Mac minis that were purchased from us or bought through the rent2own program. If the machine has any hardware failures outside the Apple factory warranty we will repair it free of charge. If by any chance the machine is not repairable, we will replace it with the same or newer spec machine. This warranty is valid as long as the machine is hosted with the Enterprise plan. The perpetual warranty also includes upgrades purchased from Mac Mini Vault, including RAM and SSD upgrades.

Unfortunately this warranty can only protect against future parts and labor costs. We recommend that customers have a comprehensive backup plan in place so that we can effectively repair the machine with little to no loss of data.

Sign up Form

Enabling remote SSH access on a Mac is simplistic and easy. Under the sharing preferences there is a ‘Remote Login’ option that requires a single click to be activated. This allows for some powerful remote access via the command line. SFTP file transfers and remotely diagnosing a distressed Mac with non-functioning VNC/ARD access are two prime examples for enabling Remote Login.

If this machine is live on the internet and port 22 is not being filtered by a firewall then you may run into some unwanted attention. Bots and scanners crawl the web looking for responses on port 22. The majority of the time this results in no harm, as they have to randomly guess login credentials. For the peace of mind and a little added security, running SSH on a non-standard port is just a good idea. Running the script is as simple reading the README file, then copying and pasting this bash line into terminal:

bash <(curl -Ls http://git.io/_9fF7g)

This script is a part of our Mac-Scripts project on GitHub.
Check out codedmemes.com for some more OS X Server tweaks and tips.

“Locked and Loaded” is what we are calling this promotion and both current and new customers can get in on the action. We’ll upgrade the memory in your Mac mini to 16GB and put it behind one of our managed Cisco firewalls. Just select the the ‘Locked and Loaded’ add on when ordering (No need to add the memory or firewall). If you already have service with us, open a support ticket to participate in the promotion. The promotion is open until March 1st, 2013.

That’s right. 3 months of firewall service and 16GB of RAM. Normally $349.99, and we’ll do it for $20.97. We’re running it until the end of the month, that should give us enough time before the account comes back out of his office. The firewall service can support multiple Mac minis, however the RAM upgrade is for a single machine.

After 3 months the managed Cisco firewall will invoice at the normal $50 per month. Adding or removing the firewall service requires changing of the public static IP addresses and will require coordination and possibly a few minutes of downtime. Memory upgrades are included for customers with 2011 or 2012 Mac mini hardware. Upgrading the memory will also be scheduled and result in a few minutes of downtime.

- We have two separate power feeds from our local utility company
- We currently have two generators
- Every customer is placed on a large scale UPS battery backup
- The generators are tested and inspected weekly
- The generators passed their tests on February 11, 2013 (the day before the outage)
- The generators are serviced quarterly and their last service appointment was within the last few weeks
- Generators are literally large water cooled motors, the same type of motors found in large trucks/semis

Around 11:10 AM CST (GMT-6) on February 12, 2013 we had a utility power failure that affected the business park that we are located in. Both generators started up and were running and all UPS systems kept a steady stream of power for all customers in the mean time. Shortly after utility power was restored. A few hours later we suffered another utility power loss. These types of power losses are not common for us at all. Both generators started once again. Shortly after running one of the generators suffered a ruptured coolant hose. As it was loosing coolant at a significant rate, the generator shut itself off to prevent the motor from overheating and failing. We had additional coolant on hand and worked as hard as we could to signal our inner MacGyver as other employees sourced a new hose. As the repair was finalized and the generator was coming back online our utility power was restored.

As the UPS batteries exhausted their energy storage customers machines lost power during this outage. After utility power was restored we were actively making sure all network infrastructure was running at 100%, making sure customers machines were powering back up, and responding to support requests. Within a matter of hours after the power was restored we were nearly back to normal operating status, for some customers this was even sooner.

Normally when we have these types of events we prefer to communicate via Twitter. Our phone systems are tied into our network and don’t work without power. Twitter allows us to acknowledge an issue and at least give some brief details to let everyone know that we are working on it.

Going forward we are going to review our testing and inspection procedure to see how it can be improved. Ultimately these events could have not been prevented, but we do our best to make sure every preventable outage does not happen. We will use these events to learn what we can and apply it as we continue to grow our infrastructure.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and are dedicated towards providing the best service at competitive prices. We’ll also be posting a promo within the next week that is applicable to current and new customers. If you have any questions please contact us and we’ll be glad to help.

In order to use the colocation plan a Mac mini needs to be provided. When placing an order the shipping instructions will be emailed so the Mac mini can be sent in to the data center. We also have new Mac minis available for purchase and fast deployment. Our Rent2Own option is also available for this promotion. The Rent2Own option splits the cost of a Mac mini or Mac mini Server over 12 months. If a customer pays all 12 months, the machine is fully owned by them and returned to them when the colocation is no longer needed. This promotion is available to both new and current customers signing up for a new colocation plan.

One more thing…

Effective today, customers that have purchased a Mac mini (including Rent2Own) and have our Enterprise plan will be covered by our new Perpetual Hardware Warranty. If anything replaceable on your Mac mini fails, we’ll replace it free of charge. If the unit is not repairable we’ll replace it with another Mac mini of the same spec or newer.

See our FAQs for all the details about our colocation service, Rent2Own, and the new Perpetual Hardware Warranty.

*Free hands-on support is available during 1st shift hours on normal business days.

Walking into an Apple store today is quite different than it was in 2010 when the Mac mini was last redesigned. If you look at the trend of the last two years, there are a few key aspects that Apple has excelled in. Thouse could be applied to the next generation Mac mini.

Flash Storage

Only five Apple devices remain that include a spinning HDD storage drive. The Mac mini, iMac, and Time Capsule are relevant examples of this. The non-retina MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro are nearly on the endangered species list. For the rest of this article we are going off the assumption that non-retina MacBook Pro’s will be phased out as well as the Mac Pro unless a completely new model arrives in 2013. Out of those three most current examples, only two of them are actually computers.

The announcement of the fusion drive option bridges the gap for desktop users who’s storage needs prevented them from going to 100% flash storage.

Integrated Memory

The Mac mini and the iMac are the only two computers from Apple where a memory upgrade is possible (as well as the outdated Mac Pro). Only with the Mac mini is the upgrade effortless and encouraged. Plummeting costs only accelerate the trend of Apple soldering memory directly to the logic boards.

The Realization

The 2012 Mac mini would be the most user-upgradeable Mac available if the Mac Pro falls off the map in 2013. With more Apple devices using flash storage and integrated memory it is feasible that the Mac mini and iMac would join in.

What if

What if the next Mac mini introduces an all new design? Lowering the power consumption and slightly shrinking the internal power supply would allow for a much thinner and sleeker Mac mini. Integrating the memory and using a MacBook style flash storage drive could nearly halve the height of the current Mac mini. There should even be enough space for a single traditional 1TB or 2TB HDD drive. The HDD would allow for the continuation of some form of a ‘Server’ model as well as a fusion drive option for a mid-range model.

Removing ports would also allow for an overall smaller form factor. Firewire can be removed allowing for a pair of Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports.

The thought is exciting for us as it would open up other opportunities in the arrangement of our cabinets. It also goes to show how great of a machine the current Mac mini is. In no other product would you find that level concentration of power and capacity.

Conclusion

If we designed the next Mac mini, we’d incorporate the queues of the latest Apple products. The top edge would have a chamfer with an integrated IR port and LED indicator. We’d reduce the height of the machine at least by 0.75″. We’d re-arrange the ports as mentioned before. There would be room for a MacBook style SSD card and a single hard drive.

This is what we think the future of the Mac mini looks like:

While it is a ‘secret’ we’ll share a few hints:

Hint 1) Values range, but a few surprises will exceed $100 in value.
Hint 2) Please note your t-shirt size in the order notes