OSx86 in Rackmount Server Environment

[l008com]

I'm a lifetime Mac user. All of my computers are Apples. Including my production sever that lives in a data center. But as you can imagine, my 2008 Apple Xserve is getting pretty old. But what do I replace it with? I need my server to run OS X. But there are no data-center friendly Macs right now. I know you can colo a mac mini but mac minis are not the best servers in the world. Given the option, I'd rather go with a 2012 Mac Pro tower. Also I'm a little weary of the few OS X virtual server providers out there. I've been running Mac servers for nearly 20 years now, I'm perfectly content managing my own. 

 

Back to that Mac Pro option. It's not a terrible choice, but not ideal. No dual redundant power supply. Hard drives that aren't too hard to swap, but not as easy as rackmount. No lights out management. But plenty of power, plenty of cooling to run that power at it's maximum indefinitely. Oh but there's one more problem. This is a colocated server and there are very few affordable data center options for a giant tower. 

 

What I need is another 1U server. Spoiler Alert: this is why I'm here. 

I know that many of my questions can be answered just by "trying it". But I don't have the server yet. And I don't have any physical PCs at all. It's a house full of Macs. 

 

The main thing I want to know is if anyone else has run a rack-mount server with OSx86 and what has the experience been like. Of course my biggest fear is the boot loader failing and my server essentially bricking. It's going to be 1000 miles away so I can't just "fix it". That said, I'm only going to be doing the small point upgrades. Whatever core OS it goes off into service with (probably Sierra), is the core OS it's going to run until it comes out of service. So maybe another 0.0.1 update or two, some security updates, but no full OS updates. (by the time this happens, it may be 10.13 that goes on, and 10.14 is what will not make it on there, whatever I go with, the point is the same). 

 

I've been trying to get my hands on a decommissioned server to toy around with (a friend works at IT in a large hospital) but so far, no luck.