8 ms·
Not too surprising, they killed their server hardware line (Xserve) in 2004, and the Mac Minis that people were using as substitutes lost their quad-core option
by wlesieutre 8y ago
Not too surprising, they killed their server hardware line (Xserve) in 2004, and the Mac Minis that people were using as substitutes lost their quad-core option in 2012.
The number of people hanging on to Macs as servers has to be vanishingly small, and Apple doesn't do small markets anymore. There are currently rumors of a "Pro" focused Mac Mini, yes, but that's going to be comparatively expensive and I doubt it could win back much server market even if Apple wanted to.
They'll stick around as servers for iOS builds because there's no other option (and the Pro Mini would be nice for that), but hanging on to Macs for any other sort of server outside of a home file server is a lost cause.
- mikestew 8y agothey killed their server hardware line (Xserve) in 2004 Minor nit: 2011 [0] But similar to you, I'm surprised macOS Server is even a thing anymore. What are you supposed to run it on? That six year old quad-core Mac Mini? The oh-so-long-in-the-tooth trash can Pro your department still clings to? Off the top of my head, I'm a little stumped as to what I'd use to best utilize Xcode's distributed build functionality. Apple hasn't made what I feel is an appropriate tool for that job in at least six years. [0] https://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/L422277A_Xserve_Guide.pdf https://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/L422277A_Xserve_Guide.pd...
- ryandrake 8y agoI’ve got a Mid 2010 Mac Mini running regular macOS I use as a light duty home server. Went to update it to Mojave this weekend to find Apple dropped support for it! F-me for having still-working hardware, I guess :(
- chrisballinger 8y agoIf you don't mind disabling SIP, you can still run Mojave on a lot of older hardware: http://dosdude1.com/mojave http://dosdude1.com/mojave
- ryandrake 8y agoWow, neat! Thank you!
- ascagnel_ 8y agoThere's also the rumor going around that the mini will (finally) get an update this month.
- asveikau 8y agoThe only logical "server-ish" thing I can think of is a build server for projects requiring Apple-only dev tools. I doubt anyone is using OS X server for that though. I've seen Mac Minis used for this, and I recently learned it's not that hard to run macOS in a VM, but the latter is probably not in keeping with the EULA.
- erric 8y agoYou can run MacOS in a VM as long as it’s on apple hardware.
- asveikau 8y agoRight, but then the question of what hardware to use remains. And if you find it, perhaps the VM isn't as necessary.
- stuaxo 8y agoOutside of that MacOS in a VM is a bit performance hamstrung as hardware acceleration for graphics doesn't work in most straightforward setups.
- briandear 8y agoDo you have any references to running GPU workloads on a Mac VM?
- johncolanduoni 8y agoNVidia passthrough is actually not too hard to get working these days on KVM, thanks to the driver support that’s been added aimed at eGPUs.
- ASalazarMX 8y ago"DO NOT JUMP THE FENCE"
- skykooler 8y ago
- wlesieutre 8y agoAh you're right. In my cursory glance at wikipedia I looked at the Xserve G4 box instead of the product line as a whole. That was followed by Xserve G5 from 2004 to 2006 and Intel Xserve from 2006 to 2011, with its last update in April 2009. The storage-focused Xserve Raid was discontinued earlier in 2008.
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoI wonder what Apple run their builds on, a Hackintosh?
- smacktoward 8y agoAn Apple Watch, of course. It's the blinged-out one studded with Swarovski crystals, which is how you know it's the model for IT pros. The builds admittedly take a bit longer, but that's a small price to pay for style.
- saudioger 8y agoI'm sure in true Apple style, it's entirely custom, works fairly well, and much more expensive than any alternatives. If it has hardware problems they probably need to scrap the entire thing and rebuild it from scratch.
- saagarjha 8y agoFor release mastering, or the normal development cycle?
- TimTheTinker 8y agoThat’s a really good question. You know how we always said there’s hope that Apple won’t ditch the Mac since they themselves couldn’t stand to use Windows or Linux for their workstations... I have no knowledge of their internal setup, but I suspect they have a big room full of racked ESX servers (non-Apple hardware) running builds on macOS VMs. And probably a ton of networked iPhone motherboards running automated tests. I just wish they would make that kind of setup (macOS VMs on non-Apple hardware) legal for other developers.
- jaxtellerSoA 8y ago>I just wish they would make that kind of setup (macOS VMs on non-Apple hardware) legal for other developers. Seriously....would love to be able to install MacOS as a VM on ESXi on a Dell Power Edge, or HP Proliant.
- 8y ago
- teilo 8y agoThe only thing really is Open Directory for centralized accounts, and you only need a Mac Mini for that. We do this in an isolated secure network where we keep certain assets for customers who have confidential data. For everything else, we moved to Windows years ago.
- jaxtellerSoA 8y agoI wouldn't even use it for Open Directory anymore. At this point I would just migrate the accounts to Jumpcloud and ditch the server entirely.
- teilo 8y agoNot an option in our use case. Off-prem introduces too many compliance concerns. We're talking near-HIPPA isolation.
- jaxtellerSoA 8y agohttps://jumpcloud.com/blog/hippa-secuirty-rule-idaas/ https://jumpcloud.com/blog/hippa-secuirty-rule-idaas/ https://jumpcloud.com/solutions/auditing-compliance/ https://jumpcloud.com/solutions/auditing-compliance/
- bhj 8y agoI suspect many people (myself included) were using Server.app solely for one of the services (File Server, Caching Server, Time Machine Server) they since moved into the standard macOS install.