r/macsysadmin • u/ExchangeEfficient442 • 11d ago

Mac Mini Fleet

Hello,

I am a server provider who usually provides windows/linux servers to my customers. Lately there has been an uptick in requests for Mac Mini Servers, so I got a bunch. But I am having trouble managing them.

They are constantly going down, freezing, remote access and SSH going down, customers breaking them by changing settings, etc... and I am having to send remote hands in everytime to fix the devices

For people managing large Mac fleets/server farms:

What are you using for:

mass updates

remote command execution

preventing users from breaking remote access

recovery after macOS updates

Best practices for maintaining persistent remote access?

Main priorities are:

reliability

easy recovery

customer flexibility

Would appreciate hearing from anyone operating a fleet of Macs remotely.

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u/SGG 11d ago

This is what I would do

  • Don't treat them as a pure server, they are a desktop OS first and foremost
  • Make sure you have Apple Business Manager setup
  • Order through apple and make sure they get enrolled correctly into ABM
  • Make sure you have them setup to go into an MDM (JAMF, Intune, Mosyle, whatever)
  • Deploy your RMM tools through the MDM
  • Get some kind of IP KVM for out of band management.