I was looking at the Xserve today on the Apple site, and was wondering what its really all about. I know what they are used for but never really knew how. So out of curiousity I search all over the Apple site to dig a little further but only found stats and more stats. Can anyone explain or direct me to a site so I can inform my self.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Xserve explained please
- Thread starter Alte22a
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple's previous versions of their server software ran on regular desktops, with maybe some extra storage options. They saw that people wanted to run OS X Server in a more traditional server environment (i.e. racks), so they developed a rack-mountable server.
I see it as them easing their way into enterprise level computing, which gives them a shot at large corporate and educational networks.
I see it as them easing their way into enterprise level computing, which gives them a shot at large corporate and educational networks.
Sorry guys for not being so clear. I just wanted to know what servers actually do. I know its a dumb question, I thought I knew what servers do but the more and more I think about it, it doesnt seem to make sense and why would people want to spend extra bucks on an Apple server? When the Market is saturated by other servers already?
xserves run os x server...that's why they would buy the xserve over other servers. i know many universities bought loads of os x xserves. they save so much space as compared to old "servers" from apple.
Apple also points out the licensing of OS X Server, compared to Windows Server, is quite a bit less. The 1U size and relative value makes the Xserve a good, dedicated server machine.
Hopefully G5s will help close the performance gap and give Apple a stronger offering in the server arena.
Hopefully G5s will help close the performance gap and give Apple a stronger offering in the server arena.
A big point of a 'proper' server, over a desktop running a server OS is the machine itself, and it's stability. For example, hot plug drives, RAID, many CPU's (in the Wintel world), redundent PSU, I could go on. They are designed so that for the most part they *should* never go down, and if setup properly, you *should* never loose data due to disk failure.
They are used for much more than storing files, eg. terminal servers, data processing, domian controllers, blah blah.
They are used for much more than storing files, eg. terminal servers, data processing, domian controllers, blah blah.
suppose we have this scenario.
A design company which deals with graphics(motion & static), DV video production, photography and web design.
Suppose they have a number of machines with designers working on them.
Suppose all machines are networked via an Xserve.
I would assume that it be possible to have high speed access to all the files.
Would all the applications be stored on the main server? i.e. Photoshop, FCP, Macromedia software.
Can devices like printers, scanners and external firewire drives be shared?
Since the Xserve is hosting the web site. (if possible) how secure is this?
A design company which deals with graphics(motion & static), DV video production, photography and web design.
Suppose they have a number of machines with designers working on them.
Suppose all machines are networked via an Xserve.
I would assume that it be possible to have high speed access to all the files.
Would all the applications be stored on the main server? i.e. Photoshop, FCP, Macromedia software.
Can devices like printers, scanners and external firewire drives be shared?
Since the Xserve is hosting the web site. (if possible) how secure is this?
OK let me give you a couple of examples of where you'd want these...
First off, you'd want a rackmount server because you can store them 23u high, really conserving space (you should see my company's data faucility, even with rackmounts it's huge).
-A company has a large database of customer information-- Everything from credit card billing info, to personal info, to past customer service issues, to past purchases, results of surveys, etc. You'd store it on an xServe, for dedicated access- that way you're not competing with other department's servers for bandwidth.
-A research lab has teraquads... oops, um, hundreds of gigabytes of data... And they need to be able to search and access it quickly, from many locations. So they pair up 10 xServes with 10 xServe RAIDs, providing a fast, secure, and safe data storage solution.
-A school has network booting on their iMacs, and students have their own profiles on the network that they can access from any of hundreds of computers. Since they have a lot of stuff, and need many connections at once, they get two xServes, and spread their accounts across the two. They don't even need monitors to run-- Just to be left alone in a closet. Which is good, because schools don't have the manpower needed to maintain large IT bases.
Hope this gives you a better feel for things...
pnw
First off, you'd want a rackmount server because you can store them 23u high, really conserving space (you should see my company's data faucility, even with rackmounts it's huge).
-A company has a large database of customer information-- Everything from credit card billing info, to personal info, to past customer service issues, to past purchases, results of surveys, etc. You'd store it on an xServe, for dedicated access- that way you're not competing with other department's servers for bandwidth.
-A research lab has teraquads... oops, um, hundreds of gigabytes of data... And they need to be able to search and access it quickly, from many locations. So they pair up 10 xServes with 10 xServe RAIDs, providing a fast, secure, and safe data storage solution.
-A school has network booting on their iMacs, and students have their own profiles on the network that they can access from any of hundreds of computers. Since they have a lot of stuff, and need many connections at once, they get two xServes, and spread their accounts across the two. They don't even need monitors to run-- Just to be left alone in a closet. Which is good, because schools don't have the manpower needed to maintain large IT bases.
Hope this gives you a better feel for things...
pnw
So media people have not need to touch these Xserves? Either for hosting Video streaming sites and Video editing?
Am actually considering it at the moment. I understand about clustering for to get extra power in rendering, just wondering if it would be possible to Host websites of it as well. just a thought that I was chucking around while I am here figuring out to what to buy for the office.
OK, here's what we use the Xserve for at my work:
-web serving
-file serving
-email serving
Printer sharing and external storage sharing is also possible. I can't really comment on application sharing, since I've never done it, but something similar can be done with NetBoot.
Xserves come with 10/100/1000 ethernet built-in, so they will serve files as fast as the network they're on.
-web serving
-file serving
-email serving
Printer sharing and external storage sharing is also possible. I can't really comment on application sharing, since I've never done it, but something similar can be done with NetBoot.
Xserves come with 10/100/1000 ethernet built-in, so they will serve files as fast as the network they're on.