7 ms·

Just spent 4h trying to set this up. It's a pain. If you ever stop a running instance, the dedicated host - for which you are paying - stays in "Pending" mode f

Just spent 4h trying to set this up. It's a pain. If you ever stop a running instance, the dedicated host - for which you are paying - stays in "Pending" mode for indefinite amounts of time. I am still stuck at getting macOS to recognize my non-default volume size > than the tiny 30 GB it comes with. Huge pains for something that should not be so hard (a decently strong macOS VM). Would not recommend.

my123 6y ago
Not indefinite - there's a 24 hour minimum for macOS instances on the cloud...
- mherrmann 6y ago
  That's not what I meant. I want to deploy a new instance on the host which I have to rent for min 24. But I can't because the host is "pending".
ManishR 6y ago
Disclosure: I work for AWS and am part of the team that built EC2 Mac instances 1) After every stop/terminate of Mac instances, EC2 runs a scrubbing workflow on the underlying Dedicated Host to wipe the Mac mini's non-volatile storage and reset the NVRAM variables, to enable same security posture as any other EC2 instance. This workflow also upgrades the T2 chip on Mac mini to the latest BridgeOS version if needed. It may take 30-60 mins for this scrubbing workflow to complete, and up to 2-4 hours if BridgeOS update is required - during which the host shows up in "pending" state. We're actively working on lowering this scrubbing duration and really appreciate your feedback here. Important to note - You are not billed for any duration(s) during which the Mac1 Dedicated Host is in "pending" state (or any state other than "Available"). 2. Once you have increased the size of the EBS volume on your Mac1 instance, you can execute following commands within macOS guest to increase the size of your APFS container. 1. Copy and paste the first three lines PDISK=$(diskutil list physical external | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f1) APFSCONT=$(diskutil list physical external | grep "Apple_APFS" | tr -s " " | cut -d" " -f8) sudo diskutil repairDisk $PDISK 2. Accept the prompt with "y", then paste this command sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer $APFSCONT 0 Since the EBS volume was resized after boot, an instance reboot is required before the additional disk size is available for your use.
- dolni 6y ago
  How much concern is there on your team that Apple will make breaking changes to internals that you rely on? I've seen that happen multiple times in the past to JAMF, seemingly without any heads up.
  - ManishR 6y ago
    We have worked closely and transparently with Apple over the past few months not only on the product definition and platform design, but also on multiple architectural decisions for this offering. Many a times - even though not apparent in those moments (but only in hindsight) - Apple has nudged us in right directions that aligned with their future plans. Granted - it's challenging to keep up with the pace of both Apple and AWS - inadvertent regressions do get introduced with certain releases, but we're building mechanisms to catch and jointly remediate them early. Ultimately, both Apple and AWS are excited about this offering, and share the vision of bringing AWS benefits to all Apple developers. We only expect this collaboration to further deepen going forward.
    - marta_weber 6y ago
      Question: If you are already working with them, why do you have to use Mac Mini's, as opposed to, say, Apple giving you a special version of the OS that runs on "normal" hardware? Hackintoshs are real and there should be no reason for you to use Mac Mini's in the first place. Of course you can't use a Hackintosh, but the existence of this alternative suggests that this is a possible avenue to explore, especially when cooperating with Apple and keeping to a specific hardware that has the drivers or where drivers can be added easily.
      - sswaner 6y ago
        Because Apple is a hardware company. I wouldn't expect them to be supportive of a Hackintosh solution, to the point of making it difficult to operate.
      - fearface 6y ago

my123 6y ago

Not indefinite - there's a 24 hour minimum for macOS instances on the cloud...

mherrmann 6y ago
That's not what I meant. I want to deploy a new instance on the host which I have to rent for min 24. But I can't because the host is "pending".

ManishR 6y ago

Disclosure: I work for AWS and am part of the team that built EC2 Mac instances 1) After every stop/terminate of Mac instances, EC2 runs a scrubbing workflow on the underlying Dedicated Host to wipe the Mac mini's non-volatile storage and reset the NVRAM variables, to enable same security posture as any other EC2 instance. This workflow also upgrades the T2 chip on Mac mini to the latest BridgeOS version if needed. It may take 30-60 mins for this scrubbing workflow to complete, and up to 2-4 hours if BridgeOS update is required - during which the host shows up in "pending" state. We're actively working on lowering this scrubbing duration and really appreciate your feedback here. Important to note - You are not billed for any duration(s) during which the Mac1 Dedicated Host is in "pending" state (or any state other than "Available"). 2. Once you have increased the size of the EBS volume on your Mac1 instance, you can execute following commands within macOS guest to increase the size of your APFS container. 1. Copy and paste the first three lines PDISK=$(diskutil list physical external | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f1) APFSCONT=$(diskutil list physical external | grep "Apple_APFS" | tr -s " " | cut -d" " -f8) sudo diskutil repairDisk $PDISK 2. Accept the prompt with "y", then paste this command sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer $APFSCONT 0 Since the EBS volume was resized after boot, an instance reboot is required before the additional disk size is available for your use.

dolni 6y ago
How much concern is there on your team that Apple will make breaking changes to internals that you rely on? I've seen that happen multiple times in the past to JAMF, seemingly without any heads up.
- ManishR 6y ago
  We have worked closely and transparently with Apple over the past few months not only on the product definition and platform design, but also on multiple architectural decisions for this offering. Many a times - even though not apparent in those moments (but only in hindsight) - Apple has nudged us in right directions that aligned with their future plans. Granted - it's challenging to keep up with the pace of both Apple and AWS - inadvertent regressions do get introduced with certain releases, but we're building mechanisms to catch and jointly remediate them early. Ultimately, both Apple and AWS are excited about this offering, and share the vision of bringing AWS benefits to all Apple developers. We only expect this collaboration to further deepen going forward.
  - marta_weber 6y ago
    Question: If you are already working with them, why do you have to use Mac Mini's, as opposed to, say, Apple giving you a special version of the OS that runs on "normal" hardware? Hackintoshs are real and there should be no reason for you to use Mac Mini's in the first place. Of course you can't use a Hackintosh, but the existence of this alternative suggests that this is a possible avenue to explore, especially when cooperating with Apple and keeping to a specific hardware that has the drivers or where drivers can be added easily.
    - sswaner 6y ago
      Because Apple is a hardware company. I wouldn't expect them to be supportive of a Hackintosh solution, to the point of making it difficult to operate.
    - fearface 6y ago