There are several organized responses brewing about the Xserve EOL. Here are those I know of. Please add more in the comments...

• Dave Schroeder of University of Wisconsin-Madison and MacEnterprise has created an Open Letter to Apple. Please share.
• Matthias Jakob has created www.xserve-petition.com.
• The Enterprise Desktop Alliance has put out a survey about the transition.

[Update] A commenter informed us of another petition at www.savethexserve.com.

IBC is the largest gathering of video pros in the world. I know there's always quite a few members of the Xsanity community who attend. I encourage you to post your observations here: what's new and exciting?

Please post to our forums.

Archiware has released PresSTORE 4, a major update to its suite of backup, archive, and synchronization software. The new software has a long list of features, including:

• An entirely new interface, reorganizing every menu for a much more intuitive experience
• An iPhone app for monitoring your PresSTORE server and receiving alerts (storage full, etc.)
• Desktop Notification Service to bring more information to users and administrators
• Global log searching
• A common schedule for Synchronize, Backup and Archive

In addition, individual modules have also been improved. Synchronize now has a many-to-one mode, a one-click snapshot function, and includes full support for Xsan FS Events. The Backup module includes support for progressive backups (to consolidate multiple incrementals into a new full), tape redundancy, and point-in-time snapshots. Backup2Go can throttle by network or CPU load and perform end-to-end encryption. Finally, Archive now uses an plugin architecture for external preview generators, so data of almost any type can be previewed.

Continue reading for an FAQ about upgrades...

The XRAID has a pretty GUI interface, but it's not much good for any more than the most basic setups. Thankfully, Active Storage provides a Command Line Interface that's much more powerful.

Unlike most hardware, this one isn't available from SSH or Telnet. Instead, you must download an application from their support web site. I couldn't find a permalink, but here is the current version.

The download unzips directly into the executable. No compiling, no installing. (This implies it's a Mac-only program!) You can leave the program in your Downloads folder, or move it to a more traditional location, such as /usr/local/bin.

Read more below to learn some commands!

Active Storage has posted an FAQ on Innerpool, their metadata-LUN-on-a-PCI-card product. You can find it in our forums.

For too many years, Macintosh enterprise backup software has been either far too weak or far too complicated. Today, as attentive Xsanity readers have discovered, there is a simple but serious alternative: Archiware PresSTORE.

Join us in New York City at Tekserve from 1 to 4 PM on Wednesday, April 28th, for a free introduction from Archiware's Ibrahim Tannir on the PresSTORE line of enterprise backup software. Registration is required.

And for those of you already using PresSTORE, we are hosting a free, day-long technical training from 9 AM to 5 PM on Tuesday, April 27. This event is open to all registered PresSTORE owners. Again, registration is required.