Is it possible to install Mac OS X Server on a Mac Mini without hacking it?

Solution 1:

Yes, according to apple themselves you can run OSX server on a mac pro, iMac or Mac Mini. So it should just work.

Solution 2:

Yes, its perfectly possible to install Mac OSX Server on a Mac Mini, although performance may not be stellar.

The minimum system requirements advertised for OS X 10.5 Server are:

• Mac server or desktop computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
• 1 GB of RAM
• 20 GB of available disk space

A recent Mac Mini will fulfill all of those.

Solution 3:

It's important to note however, that while OSX Server 10.5 is still the primary Apple server OS, your Mac Mini is not supported by Apple.

While the server operating system will run with little to no problem, should you require any support from Apple, they will hang up on you (metaphorically) when you tell them what it's running on.

Official support for the Mac Mini hardware doesn't come till September when OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard server is release.

Solution 4:

Additionally, there is now a version of the mac mini shipping with OS X Server:

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC408LL/A?mco=MTM3NTAyODU

You can also run OS X Server in a VM from VMware's products.