Apple Discontinues Xserve, Only Available Until January 31st

[shaunp]

That makes no sense, if they updated Xserve now with the same CPU as in the Mac Pro, the xserve would be just as fast.

And it's not about speed. It's about having the right form factor and being serious about the corporate world. The Apple rep is obviously clueless.

maybe they're releasing a new Mac Pro in a 1U case pretty soon!

Try standing it upright. It would take up too much desk space to be horizontal. 1U isn't wide enough to stand up, you need around 4U.

 

[jamesjweg]

someone posted this link:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/applepros/

over here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2637894&start=45&tstart=0

and it was promptly removed. Just fyi.

James.

 

[harry20larry]

Its a long shot, but do you think Apple could possibly code Lion Server to run on a select few 3rd party servers. Such as IBM or HP?

 

[wildmac]

What was your rationale for buying it in the first place - and what does this change?

The rationale was that it was the only "supported" RAID solution purchasable through Apple (like the Xserve it replace).

Since the Xserve is cancelled, and since the Promise RAID solution relies on custom Apple firmware, there is no way I'm going to spend $20k on a RAID that might be dropped by the vendor (or by Apple) at any time. Actually, I expect Apple to likely drop support for that firmware before the vendor does.

In any case, it's much safer for me to let the IT server team come up with a solution to support the video storage needs.

 

[kevgav]

end of OS X Server

This can only mean Apple will eventually discontinue OS X Server. There is no point in having a server OS without server hardware to run it.

The only alternative is if Apple is holding off announcing the licensing of OS X Server to Unisys until the current supply of Xserves runs out.

 

[KnightWRX]

Folks, this is the most whiny thread I've read on MR in a very long time.

Apple discontinued the Xserve because it didn't give the profits they needed. If it was such a useful platform, more people would have bought it. It may have been useful to some of you, but not to the same broad audience that buys Windows, Unix or Linux servers. I've always felt that OS X Server is a niche product, and this is an example.

Whiny ? That's because there's a lot more investment in an enterprise platform than a laptop purchase. Some of the people using X serve invested a lot in their infrastructure and Apple in one, unannounced fell swoop probably destroyed months of planning and created many more months of figuring out how to migrate the current infrastructure to some other platform.

And let's face it, people with large Mac deployments still need the Apple tools that OS X server offers, yet they've now been shown the finger as far as enterprise grade hardware they need.

Not to mention the people running FC Server that really have no migration path at all anymore.

This is a seriously bad move by Apple. You don't just "drop" enterprise products if you want to be taken seriously in the enterprise. This might change a few minds that were about to purchase a couple of iPhones/iPads for corporate deployment.

 

[shaunp]

The Cloud scares businesses. Security is a HUGE concern.

And for those organisations that are heavy on graphics (i.e. Mac) there wouldn't be enough bandwidth in most organisations to run in an external cloud. Just as Citrix admins about running lots of graphics apps over WAN connections. From what I have seen most organisations prefer to go down the Virtualisation route in their own data centre. Cloud makes sense for web applications, or where you need to cater for seasonal workload variations in applications, but not in areas were the Mac has been traditionally very strong. This is why Apple needs to be seen to keep at least a passing interest in the corporate world. Either by having physical tin, or the ability for users to virtualise it shows they have an interest in letting users run in the environment they choose, not the one Apple chooses for them. Corporates like to make their own decisions.

 

[MattBates]

Wtf!

WTF Apple? What about all the enterprises that actually run dedicated SOE environments, with integrated authentication and workgroup management. Our environment hums and the Xserves are an integral part in the design. FFS whats going on!

 

[wildmac]

a quote from another forum that sums up Apple's perspective nicely.

Apple has been very clear: they are a maker of mobile devices. Secondly, they are an entertainment distribution company. Thirdly, the sell personal computers. The software and servers that create this content have been part of this ecosystem. But it has never been central to it.

 

[calderone]

I saw some of this conversation earlier, but not the build up for this; so excuse me for stepping in somewhat blind...

Casper/JSS creates a ssh account while imaging and manages all administrative processes via said account through a bundle of apps installed for the purpose of administration.

Again, this doesn't answer the question of how this is done on a fresh box. Let me be more clear.

1. You pull a brand new machine out of the box
2. You put it in place and turn it on
3. Casper finds that machine and adds it to the management console
4. You are then able to force that machine to NetBoot for imaging

I want to know how they are doing number 4 on a fresh out of the box machine. Not how they are doing it after it is imaged.

 

[KnightWRX]

a quote from another forum that sums up Apple's perspective nicely.

Except for the fact that after being left out in the cold like that, content producers who know have to migrate huge infrastructures based on Apple products might not be too keen on bringing content to the Apple ecosystem.

 

[Kenrik]

I'm an Art Director for an advertising agency. We have a G5 Xserve.. it sits on a table because it does not fit in our rack (Too Deep) and it sounds like a jet is taking off in the other room. So far it has been 100% reliable.

I was planing on swapping it out for a Linux Box as for what we need (a file server) Linux works great.

Seems Apple made the choice for us. Linux Server with Mac Pro Workstations

 

[NicoleRichie]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I have no need for one but kind of want to buy one.... Expensive keepsake.

 

[gglockner]

Seems Apple made the choice for us. Linux Server with Mac Pro Workstations

Exactly my point. Xserve is a niche product, and many of its features could be replaced by other products such as a Linux file server.

 

[fermat-au]

Now they can use Linux Servers in their new Data Center since they don't have a server of their own, makes perfect sense.

I do wonder of there is any connection in the time of Apple discontinuing the Xserve and opening the NC data center. I guest is it is just chance, although I can see Apple bring forward the announcement of the end of the Xserve, so that it occurred before it was publicly known that the NC data center is running Linux*. Despite the fact that Apple made the decision to go with Linux well before the Xserve was discontinued.

* I say Linux but it could be any non-Apple OS

 

[Kenrik]

I expect that Apple did not want to have the Xserve around when everyone finds out that the new data center does not run on Xserves..

I also think Apple will be redesigning the Mac Pro Case in a way that it can be mounted horizontal in 2U to 4U of space. The Mac Pro Case has not been redesigned since 2003 and while I love it I think they need to change it up just so people don't start seeing it as "Old"

 

[AidenShaw]

Right, not just Linux

I do wonder of there is any connection in the time of Apple discontinuing the Xserve and opening the NC data center. I guest is it is just chance, although I can see Apple bring forward the announcement of the end of the Xserve, so that it occurred before it was publicly known that the NC data center is running Linux*. Despite the fact that Apple made the decision to go with Linux well before the Xserve was discontinued.

* I sat Linux but it could be any non-Apple OS

•Apple says that its “data center environment consists of MacOS X, IBM/AIX, Linux and SUN/Solaris systems.”

•The Maiden facility will have a “heavy emphasis” on high availability technologies, including IBM’s HACMP and HAGEO solutions for high-availability clusters, Veritas Cluster Server, and Oracle’s DataGuard and Real Application Clusters.

•Job candidates are also asked to be familiar with storage systems using IBM, NetApp and Data Domain, and data warehousing systems from Teradata.

•Networking positions require a familiarity with Brocade and Qlogic switches.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/07/21/the-technology-inside-apples-new-idatacenter/

 

[alexkhan2000]

I never understood why Apple even bothered with the X-Serve and it makes perfect sense for Apple to shed a product line that doesn't add to the company's overall value chain. Apple is a provider of client products. Apple is a consumer electronics company that also provides content. That's where their focus needs to be.

Apple's internal IT and data center needs are provided by a hodge-podge of IBM/AIX, Sun/Solaris, Red Hat Linux, customized UNIX, Oracle, SAP, even Windows, etc. These are systems that would cost tens of millions of dollars. Just do a search of Apple's job listings that Apple is trying to fill on the IT side and there is hardly any mention of the X-Serve or the Mac OS X Server at all. It's mainly heavy duty enterprise backend stuff dominated by IBM, Linux, SAP and Oracle/Sun.

Apple's push into the enterprise is for the adoption of the iPhone, iPad and, to a degree, Macs, but it's mainly about mobile. Apple hired Unisys to help large enterprises integrate the mobile devices into their IT infrastructure. Again, it's about the client side, not the server backend. Apple is not going to compete with the likes IBM, HP, Fujitsu, NEC, Dell and Sun, etc on this end. What is the point? It's just not Apple's area of expertise.

What value would Apple add on the server side when cheap generic Wintel or Linux machines can do much more for much less? Industrial design, the look and feel, the user experience and the ecosystem mean nothing in this space. Let's remember what happened to Sun. The server machines have become commoditized. That's why the likes of IBM, HP and Dell are focusing on software, storage, networking equipment, and services like consultation and systems integration. They can't grow or rely on the increasingly thin margins of the server hardware. And unlike on the consumer client side of things, Apple has absolutely nothing to add to the value chain there.

•Apple says that its “data center environment consists of MacOS X, IBM/AIX, Linux and SUN/Solaris systems.”

•The Maiden facility will have a “heavy emphasis” on high availability technologies, including IBM’s HACMP and HAGEO solutions for high-availability clusters, Veritas Cluster Server, and Oracle’s DataGuard and Real Application Clusters.

•Job candidates are also asked to be familiar with storage systems using IBM, NetApp and Data Domain, and data warehousing systems from Teradata.

•Networking positions require a familiarity with Brocade and Qlogic switches.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/07/21/the-technology-inside-apples-new-idatacenter/

Here are some typical IT job listings at Apple's site for both their HQ and the data center in NC:

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=57374&CurrentPage=8

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=62314&CurrentPage=8

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=62312&CurrentPage=8

For SAP specialists:

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=60099&CurrentPage=6

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=62489&CurrentPage=6

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=52567&CurrentPage=7

Even a Windows specialist at the new NC data center:

http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=63053&CurrentPage=11

 

[MACRUS]

No Pro Apples for you. For ever. "Nazi Soup Guy from Seinfeld"

Well.... it shows that computers isn't Apple's priority.

although is has been awhile since they droped the Computer part of their name. it is not surprinsing so see them do this.First it was Shake, Xserve-RAID, Neglect of FCS, and now Xserve. what does that tell you? and to those doubters that apple will not ditch the Pro/enterprise user, Do you Want More evidence?
IMHO. Apple will again change its name to something like. iToyTown or iToyToo.Inc they should, it suits more to what they are doing. "Pro stuff nahh it does not pay"..

 

[jaykk]

i think iToy is where the money is, so they are just following the money. I guess at this rate, we can expect an iOS Server, a consumer server on MBA.

 

[MACRUS]

A Man to that.

I never understood why Apple even bothered with the X-Serve and it makes perfect sense for Apple to shed a product line that doesn't add to the company's overall value chain. Apple is a provider of client products. Apple is a consumer electronics company that also provides content. That's where their focus needs to be.

Apple's internal IT and data center needs are provided by a hodge-podge of IBM/AIX, Sun/Solaris, Red Hat Linux, customized UNIX, Oracle, SAP, even Windows, etc. These are systems that would cost tens of millions of dollars. Just do a search of Apple's job listings that Apple is trying to fill on the IT side and there is hardly any mention of the X-Serve or the Mac OS X Server at all. It's mainly heavy duty enterprise backend stuff dominated by IBM, Linux, SAP and Oracle/Sun.

Apple's push into the enterprise is for the adoption of the iPhone, iPad and, to a degree, Macs, but it's mainly about mobile. Apple hired Unisys to help large enterprises integrate the mobile devices into their IT infrastructure. Again, it's about the client side, not the server backend. Apple is not going to compete with the likes IBM, HP, Fujitsu, NEC, Dell and Sun, etc on this end. What is the point? It's just not Apple's area of expertise.

What value would Apple add on the server side when cheap generic Wintel or Linux machines can do much more for much less? Industrial design, the look and feel, the user experience and the ecosystem mean nothing in this space. Let's remember what happened to Sun. The server machines have become commoditized. That's why the likes of IBM, HP and Dell are focusing on software, storage, networking equipment, and services like consultation and systems integration. They can't grow or rely on the increasingly thin margins of the server hardware. And unlike on the consumer client side of things, Apple has absolutely nothing to add to the value chain there.

you could have not say it better.

 

[173080]

I have two Xserves. I've been using Xserves since 2004.

They're by far the best servers I've had.

I allocated a budget to purchase Xserves next year and now there won't be any Xserves to purchase.

A Mac Pro server is not an option. A Mac mini server would be laughable.

As a side note to those who say that paying a premium for Apple industrial design in the server room is wasted money, it isn't. It impresses potential customers.

 

[Snowy_River]

This can only mean Apple will eventually discontinue OS X Server. There is no point in having a server OS without server hardware to run it.

The only alternative is if Apple is holding off announcing the licensing of OS X Server to Unisys until the current supply of Xserves runs out.

Oh, yes, as Mac OS Server has only existed since the Xserves have been around.

Reality check: the first Xserve shipped in 2002, while Mac OS X Server has been around since 1999, to say nothing of server configurations of Mac OS 9 or earlier...

 

[MacTheSpoon]

Is this another sign of Apple's growing disinterest in the creative professional? Sigh.

 

[Snowshiro]

Clearly this is why they're doubling the size of their data center. They're going to have to make room for all those giant cases.