Mac – How to convert the mac mini into a remote server

The approach we have used is a simple shared folder containing an Aperture library. I can report that this solution is ok but fragile -- permissions on the shared folder need to be fixed every so often.

Dropbox would certainly work in your case, but I suspect that you'll need substantial storage space, which would be rather expensive. If cost weren't critical, though, Dropbox offers a very reliable way of replicating an Aperture library file locally while keeping the copies synced smoothly. Your solution of a GIT repository may be a labor-intensive way of re-creating what Dropbox is already offering.

There is a way to do this, but it involves fiddling with DNS to make a 'transparent' software update server. When clients are on your network, their requests to "Apple's" SWU servers go to yours, without any modification of client settings, it truly is transparent.

Check this article out. It's a little old, but this is the general idea that you want to be going with.

In your internal DNS set swquery.apple.com, swcdn.apple.com, and swscan.apple.com as CNAMEs for the server running SUS.