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OS X-powered rack servers to be withdrawn in the new year, with no replacement planned.
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OS X-powered rack servers to be withdrawn in the new year, with no replacement planned.
At the prices they wanted for them I'm not surprised if they had trouble shifting them. £2451 for a basic config with single CPU, 3GB and a 160GB SATA drive is daylight robbery! Sitting in a datacentre rack style and "magic" don't really count as selling points...
You'd have to have software that ONLY ran on OSX Server to even consider one.
Really, unless you're after a super high end setup (where IBM/Oracle are still playing), nothing can compete with Linux on Intel. Sure people are buying Microsoft servers etc, but bang for buck, I'd go Linux almost every time.... and I like Apple stuff.
There are some applications where you absolutely need OS X in a datacentre - running an OS X only binary for example. I've been in one such situation recently. We opted for Xserve and they're not bad boxes - but hugely overpriced and immature compared with established rack kit. For example the SATA drives will merrily pop out if pushed - that's not behaviour you want in a critical environment. The rack kits are also like something out of a museum - it's a bit galling having to screw rails together when you're used to cheaper servers with sprung mounting kits.
http://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/L...erve_Guide.pdf
That document seriously touts 2x mac pros in 12U as a solution. 12U! The mac mini doesn't have server level poke at all.
This move really pisses on some people's chips. Some people were using OS X for heavy stuff - BSD base and Xgrid etc. Just another instance of Apple being a rather dangerous partner. Xgrid was really nice - remember when they were pushing xserve clusters?
...and no, I can't rebuild my OS X binary and run it on linux. It's from Apple :) Hackintosh (in or out of VM) etc just won't wash in critical environments either.
Having removed Xserve from their store, apple have added a new standard "Server" configuration to its Mac Pro lineup:
http://images.macrumors.com/article/...figuration.jpg
Server configuration:
2.8 GHz quad-core processor with 8 GB of RAM, two 1 TB hard drives, and Mac OS X Server for $2999
Not rackmountable though and a big lump.
5770 in a server? Seems like a standard Mac Pro with a server OS!
for the market i work in (broadcast integration) this seems ludicrous. We buy these things all the time, just did a job with about 30 of them!
Once you put a kona card in these things they make excellent ingest/playout servers. Especially in comparison to what some of the competition make using proprietary hardware with regards to price. You can do the same thing with a windows pizza box i guess but customers are usually quite wary of having windows reliance in critical path. In linux the software just doesnt exist (to my knowledge anyway).
With regard to the rackmount system, having put them in myself i was actually quite impressed at how snug and easily they went in, especially in comparison to a lot of the others i have used recently (supermicro, dell, hp). Sometimes keeping things simple is the best way!
Windows being unreliable is just not the case anymore (if it ever was), I have Windows servers with just a long uptimes as the Linux boxes next to them. Windows & Linux both require security updates, and if you know anything about network security there is no reason a Windows server on an internal network should be hacked or anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biscuit
If you're buying Dell then spring the extra £20 for the sliding ready rails, if it takes you longer than a few mins to rack up a server with those you must have no arms. (Yes, I have done it, did 3 the other day in less than 15 mins from boxed to racked and switched on).Quote:
Originally Posted by Biscuit
I've racked a variety of servers including HP and Apple ones and I can say with authority you are talking from your behind. If you can't get on with the Hp quickdeploy system and think the apple system is superior, you need your head checking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biscuit
And on the words in bold, I think you've been drinking too much of the iCoolaid.
I work in a customer oriented business, what they want they get.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
Also, remember im talking about video and media. A lot of the preferred applications just don't exist or don't work as well on windows as they do on a mac based OS. With data based application's (such as asset management systems) we still use a lot of Windows and Linux based boxes.
We do use the rack sliding rails, for the way we work the speed of getting the things into the rails isnt a priority what really matters is how secure well they fit in. In that regards the X-Servers where good. Some of the others i have use haven't felt quite so comfortable.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
You're sliding it on the rack wrong.
You'd be surprised people will come up with buisness issues that require such strange hardware. Ok never apple because you know no one uses em, but they might.Quote:
Originally Posted by b0redom
I worked (very briefly, my view on tech didn't 'fit') for a business that had a 96 bladefarm running, excel. 8 excels per blade. I honest to god kid you not.
There is a market for stuff like this, the problem is few apps out there run only on OSX.
Im really not...Quote:
Originally Posted by DDY
Spoke to a colleague in work about this and he seems to think the X-Servers are still going to be available via OEM manufacturers, just not directly through apple. Seems odd but he's usually on the ball with these things.