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And the question is... Do this "Apple certified server-side network appliances" run on Mac or Linux?

by clopez 7y ago

KirinDave 7y ago
Why is this an obvious question about an edge cache?
- jedieaston 7y ago
  Because some of us have hope that Apple might be using high-performance commodity hardware with OS X and maybe they’ll let us do that one day too, so we don’t have spend $6000 for a Mac tower. Alas, it is but a dream.
  - catblast 7y ago
    That’s irrelevant though. I run OS X on kvm, people run hackintoshes. There’s no technical limitation here, never has been, it’s a business decision. Apple obviously isn’t beholden to the licensing terms that they release OS X to their consumers under. If they want to run OS X on commodity hardware they can, and moreover it doesn’t change their positioning to the outside at all.
    - tinus_hn 7y ago
      If Apple uses Apple hardware to host this they pay the manufacturing cost, not the retail price you pay. It probably wouldn’t look good if they hosted this on third party machines running Mac OS.
pram 7y ago
Probably Linux, but don’t forget Airports ran NetBSD so that’s something else they have internal experience with.
Thaxll 7y ago
Obviously Linux since no one uses mac server side, Even Apple doesn't use mac for their online services.
- pier25 7y ago
  Almost no one. For example IMGX uses Macs in its data center for image processing. https://photos.imgix.com/racking-mac-pros https://photos.imgix.com/racking-mac-pros I remember reading somewhere the performance they got with CoreImage was worth the extra hardware cost.
  - mikepurvis 7y ago
    You have to imagine that the design work done for that was based on an assumption that Apple would stick with the trashcan form factor long term, and that the first gen unit would at least get regular bumps to newer CPU and GPU options. Must have been a heartbreaker sitting on all that infrastructure in July 2019 when the cheese grater was announced and the newest trashcans were still selling for full price with a six-year-old processor. (Here's a comment from 2015 which expresses these concerns in the future tense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9500301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9500301)
    - raydev 7y ago
      Apple gathered a few people from the press to tell them the trashcan wasn't working out in April 2017, and that a redesign was coming. Everyone who cared about the Mac Pro knew then.
    - unlinked_dll 7y ago
      the new designs fit in a standard rack so I don't think it's that big of a deal.
      - mikepurvis 7y ago
        Sure, but still a huge sunk cost to have designed and fabbed a bunch of the previous ones.
tn890 7y ago
I think the better question is whether they run Linux or some BSD.
- krn 7y ago
  Exactly, since Netflix is using highly optimized FreeBSD servers for video streaming[1]: > In the end they are now effectively at 200Gb/s encrypted video streaming from FreeBSD per server. [1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Netflix-NUMA-FreeBSD-Optimized https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Netflix-...
  - trasz 7y ago
    200Gbps per _socket_.
abjKT26nO8 7y ago
I used "nmap -A" on Apple servers that my iPhone downloaded the last OS update from. They were all Linux servers.
- mobilio 7y ago
  They was used Akamai infrastructure in past.
  - mattl 7y ago
    They bought a bunch of Akamai early on
jedberg 7y ago
Last I heard most of Apple still runs on Solaris.
- mattl 7y ago
  I heard Solaris for email, calendaring, etc. RHEL for WebObjects and other servers.

And the question is... Do this "Apple certified server-side network appliances" run on Mac or Linux?

by clopez 7y ago

And the question is... Do this "Apple certified server-side network appliances" run on Mac or Linux?

KirinDave 7y ago

Why is this an obvious question about an edge cache?

jedieaston 7y ago
Because some of us have hope that Apple might be using high-performance commodity hardware with OS X and maybe they’ll let us do that one day too, so we don’t have spend $6000 for a Mac tower. Alas, it is but a dream.
- catblast 7y ago
  That’s irrelevant though. I run OS X on kvm, people run hackintoshes. There’s no technical limitation here, never has been, it’s a business decision. Apple obviously isn’t beholden to the licensing terms that they release OS X to their consumers under. If they want to run OS X on commodity hardware they can, and moreover it doesn’t change their positioning to the outside at all.
  - tinus_hn 7y ago
    If Apple uses Apple hardware to host this they pay the manufacturing cost, not the retail price you pay. It probably wouldn’t look good if they hosted this on third party machines running Mac OS.

pram 7y ago

Probably Linux, but don’t forget Airports ran NetBSD so that’s something else they have internal experience with.

Thaxll 7y ago

Obviously Linux since no one uses mac server side, Even Apple doesn't use mac for their online services.

pier25 7y ago
Almost no one. For example IMGX uses Macs in its data center for image processing. https://photos.imgix.com/racking-mac-pros https://photos.imgix.com/racking-mac-pros I remember reading somewhere the performance they got with CoreImage was worth the extra hardware cost.
- mikepurvis 7y ago
  You have to imagine that the design work done for that was based on an assumption that Apple would stick with the trashcan form factor long term, and that the first gen unit would at least get regular bumps to newer CPU and GPU options. Must have been a heartbreaker sitting on all that infrastructure in July 2019 when the cheese grater was announced and the newest trashcans were still selling for full price with a six-year-old processor. (Here's a comment from 2015 which expresses these concerns in the future tense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9500301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9500301)
  - raydev 7y ago
    Apple gathered a few people from the press to tell them the trashcan wasn't working out in April 2017, and that a redesign was coming. Everyone who cared about the Mac Pro knew then.
  - unlinked_dll 7y ago
    the new designs fit in a standard rack so I don't think it's that big of a deal.
    - mikepurvis 7y ago
      Sure, but still a huge sunk cost to have designed and fabbed a bunch of the previous ones.

tn890 7y ago

I think the better question is whether they run Linux or some BSD.

krn 7y ago
Exactly, since Netflix is using highly optimized FreeBSD servers for video streaming[1]: > In the end they are now effectively at 200Gb/s encrypted video streaming from FreeBSD per server. [1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Netflix-NUMA-FreeBSD-Optimized https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Netflix-...
- trasz 7y ago
  200Gbps per _socket_.

abjKT26nO8 7y ago

I used "nmap -A" on Apple servers that my iPhone downloaded the last OS update from. They were all Linux servers.

mobilio 7y ago
They was used Akamai infrastructure in past.
- mattl 7y ago
  They bought a bunch of Akamai early on

jedberg 7y ago

Last I heard most of Apple still runs on Solaris.

mattl 7y ago
I heard Solaris for email, calendaring, etc. RHEL for WebObjects and other servers.