apple stops xserve!!!

ogminlo · Xsan Master Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 149

One of the more tantalizing speculations I've read out there (and 99.999% sure to be crap) is that Steve and Larry could have done a deal to ship OS X Server on these.

Shocked

While they were at it, maybe they discussed Oracle taking over distributing for Java on OS X...

Rolling Eyes

mcal27 · partially protected Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 6

Imho u may have just nailed it!!! But I'm just not sure Apple feel that OSX Server has the legs for the high end... more accurately they don't wanna throw the staff at it to make it the product it could be.
My feeling is if they keep Server/Xsan etc going (and I hope 2 heck they do considering what Ive just spent..literally this past week!! ) they see it as a more user friendly 'everyman' server app, and it's pretty tough to build a hardcore high end server app that pretty much any half techie user can handle, which I feel is what Apple want it to be. Remember the marketing blurb for 10.5 server? The server you don't need an admin for... yeah right!! But I think it's their vision for the product.
So the question is. Do they a) Licence it to Oracle, or b) work with Oracle to help Solaris integrate with OSX?

Whatever the answer..my heads spinning since I heard the news and Apple have handled this (and us their loyal users) very badly regarding this....

Al.

ogminlo · Xsan Master Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 149

I'm not sure what OS X Server is missing to be considered "enterprise", but consider this:

- They seem to be continuing OS X Server, since they bothered to tell the world that a tower and a mini are their server hardware going forward.

- They haven't said much at all about Lion, so there is not yet any reason to doubt there will be an OS X Server 10.7.

- All a Sun box (or any other x86 box) needs to run OS X Server at whatever level Apple develops it to is a license from Apple and EFI on the mobo.

- Mac OS X Server doesn't need to be the baddest enterprise OS on the block, it just needs a credible rackmount box to live on.

So there could reasonably be a bidirectional agreement between Apple and Oracle; Oracle makes Solaris more Mac-client-friendly for the big enterprise that is accommodating more and more Macs and iOS devices, and Apple sells OS X Server on Sun Fires for the customer that needs a rack-mount server running OS X (Xsan, FCSvr, whatever). A lot like their arrangement with Promise for disk arrays.

Apple gets to continue offering a high end server product for the customers that want one without having to deal with the hardware themselves and it also gives Apple a deeper strategic relationship with a company they seem depend on for much of their own datacenters on both an OS and hardware level. Even better, Apple gets to make Macs and iOS devices easier for large enterprises to swallow without having to own the support obligations of the back end (which they have never wanted).

Don't forget, while Solaris has been noted as the platform for hosting MobileMe and the iTunes Store, Apple has also stated OS X will have a place in their datacenters among the other *nix platforms. In particular, they have in the past used their own Compressor and Qmaster software to encode content for the iTunes store and the movie trailers page at Apple.com.

While it may seem like shooting themselves in the foot to announce the end of the Xserve without a truly suitable replacement, Apple also likes to announce things on their own terms. Sometime between now and the end of January there could be an announcement for OS X Server 10.7 and a new arrangement with Oracle. Any animosity they've generated among our community will quickly evaporate if we hear Sun Fires are the new way to support Macs in the enterprise.

So there is some sound logic to the speculation, but I dare not get my hopes up.

pnerum · RAID 5 Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 15

This is also something I thought about. I really like Sun hardware and the connection are available. Let's hope/wait...

TuberMagPico · Knows DNS is the answer Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 30

alessandro · partially protected Joined: 15 Sep 2009 Posts: 9

First, there is no more Sun hardware, there is ORACLE hardware. Now, guessing any Oracle strategy has always been a tough job..look at Opensolaris. Similarly, Oracle might focus on high-end hardware for database, and also abandon the low-end server market (where Dell and HP dominates).

And btw, XServe was an extremely competitive platform hardware-wise,, and not expensive at all compared to a matching offer from i.e. HP. I wonder how well they'll run Openindiana or CentOS...maybe I'll give it a spin next week!

das · JBOD Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 3

I'm sorry guys, but there isn't going to be any third-party partnership that provides hardware on which to run Mac OS X Server. The most we can hope for is virtualization of Mac OS X Server in virtualization environments on non-Apple hardware, and it appears even that is very unlikely.

I'm afraid that for folks with enterprise datacenters and the associated strict requirements that go along with them, we'll have no credible way to continue to run Mac OS X Server. Running Mac OS X Server on a racked Mac Pro or Mac mini is NOT an option for us for many reasons.

I'm left wondering what Apple expects the replacement for these services, most of which directly support users of their products, to be in any near term. Granted, we still will have supported hardware for three years, but what then? Enterprises can't farm everything out to a cloud.

ogminlo · Xsan Master Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 149

proton · Xsan Master Joined: 29 Nov 2007 Posts: 66

ACSA · Xsan Master Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 104

It appears that lacking of sales where the primary motive.....

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/08/steve-jobs-xserve-axed-over-poor-sales/

........... Totally without words...

das · JBOD Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 3

The Xserve announcement leaves us in a position of having no credible way to run Mac OS X Server in our enterprise datacenters. We hope that this "open letter" to Apple can help bring attention to this issue that many of us in academic and government sectors share:

http://AppleOpenLetter.com

Regards,

Dave Schroeder
Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE)
Apple University Executive Forum (UEF)
MacEnterprise
University of Wisconsin-Madison
das@doit.wisc.edu
http://das.doit.wisc.edu
+1 608 265-4737 (office)
+1 608 444-5672 (mobile)

ReidL · JBOD Joined: 22 Jul 2010 Posts: 1

Hello Xsanity.com Readers,

As you know, Apple announced that it will cease shipments of Xserve after January 31, 2011.

To learn how you will manage this transition, The Enterprise Desktop Alliance is conducting a survey of organizations like yours that have Xserves today. The survey seeks to determine what you will do for those Xserve-based services and applications, when you will do it, and how much you think it will cost?

You can help us capture this valuable and timely information by taking the survey here:
Xserve Transition Survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V8P68F8?c=Xsanity.com

Note that the EDA will award a $50 Amazon gift certificate to one of every 100 respondents.

We at the EDA will work to complete this survey this week and publish the results as soon as possible, ideally next week.

Best Regards,

- Reid

T. Reid Lewis
President
Enterprise Desktop Alliance
Web: http://www.enterprisedesktopalliance.com

President
Group Logic, Inc.
1100 N. Glebe Rd, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22201 USA
Tel: +1.703.528.1555 Fax: +1.703.528.3296
Web: http://www.grouplogic.com/xserve

Creators and publishers of:
ArchiveConnect: Macintosh integration for file archiving solutions http://www.grouplogic.com/archiveconnect
ExtremeZ-IP: Macintosh file & print server for Windows http://www.grouplogic.com/extremez-ip
MassTransit: automated file transfer solution for Windows & Macintosh http://www.grouplogic.com/masstransit
ShadowConnect: Macintosh self-service access to Volume Shadow Service snapshots http://www.grouplogic.com/shadowconnect/
Installation, integration and professional services for our products

carbon · JBOD Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 2

I've posted this is Apple's discussion forum and felt I would share here as well. We are all passionate about the work we do and the tools we use to get the job done. I am distraught over this announcement and this weeks experience shows why.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2645450&tstart=0

pnerum · RAID 5 Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 15

It's just another rumor....

http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/01/17/rumor-the-discontinuation-of-the-xserve-would-be-only-the-beginning?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hardmac+%28HardMac.com%29

mcal27 · partially protected Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Posts: 6

Yep just a rumour at the moment but I now believe its on Apple's roadmap. A gradual (if we're lucky) discontinuation of the pro apps (possibly apart from Logic and FC Studio)
The tech team @ a reseller has been informally told to focus on IOS over the next 2 years, and even though Im pretty happy with my ipad and phone it's not where my heart is and I'm not sure I'll be following down this path...
This is all just so stupid!! Why dont they spin it off into a Pro division and let it stand on its own??

Al.