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.
Apple Rackmount Event
- Thread starter arn
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I find this amazing...
"...42 high-performance units in an industry-standard 8-foot-tall rack with up to 630 gigaflops of processing power..."
42! 42! This IS the answer to life, the universe, and everything! Seriously, these guys who do plasma research in Portugal (I posted a pic before on some other topic) use 16 DP 450 with 1.5 GB RAM each, and they were doing live renditions of plasma at super high temperature (well that last statement is a bit redundant, but whatever...🙂) now think about 42! That's such a HUGE amount of processing power, SETI anyone? Or how about some IDL or BLAST? I have to say, this is going to be a great thing for alot of people...
"...42 high-performance units in an industry-standard 8-foot-tall rack with up to 630 gigaflops of processing power..."
42! 42! This IS the answer to life, the universe, and everything! Seriously, these guys who do plasma research in Portugal (I posted a pic before on some other topic) use 16 DP 450 with 1.5 GB RAM each, and they were doing live renditions of plasma at super high temperature (well that last statement is a bit redundant, but whatever...🙂) now think about 42! That's such a HUGE amount of processing power, SETI anyone? Or how about some IDL or BLAST? I have to say, this is going to be a great thing for alot of people...
AlphaTech
macrumors 601
You don't want to mix up fibre and SCSI inside the same server, or attached to the same server. We have a server here that had fibre hard drives (in a RAID configuration) and a SCSI based backup system. Every backup lost resource forks... Of course those files were then useless to Mac people, since they then showed up as pc files, with corrupt names (converted to the 8.3 scheme).
I would much rather have what Apple is offering then one with mixed fibre/SCSI inside, or attached.
peterjhill
macrumors 65816
Stop comparing to old G4 Server!!!!!!
Wow, a month ago a spec'd out my wish list for an Apple Rack server, and Apple came through!
AlphaTech, looks like Apple agreed with me, and not only stuck a serial console port on the machine, but even made it a DB-9 so I don't need to carry a separate cable to console into the box. Awesome. I had guessed that it would be a USB thing, DB-9 is awesome.
People who are comparing this to the old Quicksilver server, this thing blows it out of the water for real Enterprise users. Sure the old server was fine for one-off machines, but this machine is seriously targetted for business users. It is awesome. Blows Dell out of the water for a company that wants to buy a server and not put Windows on it. We had been using mostly Sun machines and have started to use Dell rack servers and intalling Linux on them, but this machine could really make some inroads here (major University).
Look at what you get over the Quicksilver:
- Remote monitoring of hardware, including SNMP support (we use snmp to monitor everything)
- 4 independant ata controllers for RAID
- 2MB of L3 cache per processor
- 2.5 PCI cards (.5 being the half -length PCI/agp slot)
- serial console as mentioned above)
- 3 firewire buses
- Hot swap damn near everything
- FOUR HOUR ONSITE RESPONSE 5/8!!!! (optional i'm sure)
- 30 minute response to email queries!!!!
This is one freakin' awesome machine. This could truly turn apple into a serious player. The price is great. --Don't even compare the price to the Quicksilver, rack servers across the board cost way more than tower servers)
go apple!!!!!!
Wow, a month ago a spec'd out my wish list for an Apple Rack server, and Apple came through!
AlphaTech, looks like Apple agreed with me, and not only stuck a serial console port on the machine, but even made it a DB-9 so I don't need to carry a separate cable to console into the box. Awesome. I had guessed that it would be a USB thing, DB-9 is awesome.
People who are comparing this to the old Quicksilver server, this thing blows it out of the water for real Enterprise users. Sure the old server was fine for one-off machines, but this machine is seriously targetted for business users. It is awesome. Blows Dell out of the water for a company that wants to buy a server and not put Windows on it. We had been using mostly Sun machines and have started to use Dell rack servers and intalling Linux on them, but this machine could really make some inroads here (major University).
Look at what you get over the Quicksilver:
- Remote monitoring of hardware, including SNMP support (we use snmp to monitor everything)
- 4 independant ata controllers for RAID
- 2MB of L3 cache per processor
- 2.5 PCI cards (.5 being the half -length PCI/agp slot)
- serial console as mentioned above)
- 3 firewire buses
- Hot swap damn near everything
- FOUR HOUR ONSITE RESPONSE 5/8!!!! (optional i'm sure)
- 30 minute response to email queries!!!!
This is one freakin' awesome machine. This could truly turn apple into a serious player. The price is great. --Don't even compare the price to the Quicksilver, rack servers across the board cost way more than tower servers)
go apple!!!!!!
mc68k
macrumors 68000
Me too. Don't get me wrong, but ATA drives are so much cheaper than SCSI. Even if they have less lifespan/quality, in the new XServe you would know when they are going bad and just do a simple swap. Imagine a XServe with SCSI drives. It would be hotter, noisier, thicker, more expensive, etc.
SCSI really is getting to be at the end of it's life. Now fibre-channel in the new 3U XServes will really be exciting. Rack 'n Roll, baby!!!!
mc68k
macrumors 68000
Re: Stop comparing to old G4 Server!!!!!!
Enlighten me. Last time I saw a serial port was on an old AIO Classic Mac.
What is the function of this serial port? What can you do through a serial port? Doesn't seem like it would be very high bandwith, or support more than simple input.
Enlighten me. Last time I saw a serial port was on an old AIO Classic Mac.
All I have to say is: HOW the HELL can someone complain about this price??? Before anyone else feels the need to complain, ACTUALLY TAKE THE TIME to see the specs, and realize that what it offers is totally different from someone who wants a machine for playing Quake or tooling around on the internet...
eric_n_dfw
macrumors 68000
I'm not so sure the bus itself is that much faster. The Ram will be twice as fast as it is DDR, but the bus is still 133.
Don't get me wrong - I'm slobbering over this thing! DDR is way over-due and MUST get into the tower's soon! Like tomorrow!!!!!
Don't get me wrong - I'm slobbering over this thing! DDR is way over-due and MUST get into the tower's soon! Like tomorrow!!!!!
ftaok
macrumors 604
Does this mean that ...
I'm not interested in servers and such, but I am intrigue that this one is using DDR 266mhz RAM.
My question is this, does this mean that the system bus is running at 266mhz or what? I'm not a techie, so bear with me.
Plus, I thought that Motorola's G4 was unable to support DDR RAM and system bus speeds above 133mhz. What's the deal.
Another question. If I were inclined, could I buy one of these to use as a desktop? I wonder how fast regular OS X and games would run on it. Probably pretty damned fast with the optional Radeon 8500.
I'm not interested in servers and such, but I am intrigue that this one is using DDR 266mhz RAM.
My question is this, does this mean that the system bus is running at 266mhz or what? I'm not a techie, so bear with me.
Plus, I thought that Motorola's G4 was unable to support DDR RAM and system bus speeds above 133mhz. What's the deal.
Another question. If I were inclined, could I buy one of these to use as a desktop? I wonder how fast regular OS X and games would run on it. Probably pretty damned fast with the optional Radeon 8500.
eric_n_dfw
macrumors 68000
Re: motherboard
Among other things, that one had 4 PCI slots in a row, this has 2 via riser cards.
--edit-- Er' I meant 3 pci --/edit--
No.
Among other things, that one had 4 PCI slots in a row, this has 2 via riser cards.
--edit-- Er' I meant 3 pci --/edit--
eric_n_dfw
macrumors 68000
Re: Re: Stop comparing to old G4 Server!!!!!!
There's probably automated tools out there that could use it for support and data gathering too.
From www.apple.com/xserve (lower right corner):
You can, however, telnet/ssh into the box via a term app or a dumb terminal. I'm no network/server guru but a lot of the tech's here will plug right into the Cisco switches and whatnot with a laptop via serial and log in to make quick config changes or check settings.
There's probably automated tools out there that could use it for support and data gathering too.
From www.apple.com/xserve (lower right corner):
No SCSI
SCSI is by no means a dying breed. Unlike, IDE/ATA, it is multithreaded, which makes it suitable for large numbers of transactions at a rapid rate. IDE/ATA is single threaded and relies upon the CPU for control. Whereas SCSI drives have onboard (hard drive) smarts, allowing peer to peer transactions too. IDE/ATA is cheap and provides pretty good performance.
I'm not sure how a software RAID of ATA100 drives compares with SCSI transaction capability.
So, my point here is not to 'dis' the Xserver but to point out to those, such as the slashdot geeks, that Xserver is not intended to target markets that require SCSI or hardwired RAID (but I believe the RAID drive coming out later this year is hard wired).
Its similar to the classic mistake, people bitch about a consumer product (Xserver not consumer, BTW) but do so in comparing it to non-consumer products.
Would some of you more geeky folk help us better understand the significance of Apple's hard drive selection and how this pertains to Apple's target market?
eirik
SCSI is by no means a dying breed. Unlike, IDE/ATA, it is multithreaded, which makes it suitable for large numbers of transactions at a rapid rate. IDE/ATA is single threaded and relies upon the CPU for control. Whereas SCSI drives have onboard (hard drive) smarts, allowing peer to peer transactions too. IDE/ATA is cheap and provides pretty good performance.
I'm not sure how a software RAID of ATA100 drives compares with SCSI transaction capability.
So, my point here is not to 'dis' the Xserver but to point out to those, such as the slashdot geeks, that Xserver is not intended to target markets that require SCSI or hardwired RAID (but I believe the RAID drive coming out later this year is hard wired).
Its similar to the classic mistake, people bitch about a consumer product (Xserver not consumer, BTW) but do so in comparing it to non-consumer products.
Would some of you more geeky folk help us better understand the significance of Apple's hard drive selection and how this pertains to Apple's target market?
eirik
Backtothemac
macrumors 601
Those of us, that are in lust right now....
We need towels.... Awww, there is a blue light special at K-Mart on towels....How many do we need?
Wait a second...
I've been longing for a replacement for my original iMac so I can play Bugdom faster and this is all Apple comes up with. It doesn't even have a screen and my iMac costed 1299 while this ugly thing is almost $3000! Can't it at least come with a round mouse like I'm used to? And what's all this stuff about a server? I don't want my iMac to serve anything, well maybe toast every once in a while would be nice. I just want to be able to get on AOL and free those poor ladybugs in Bugdom. Apple is ruining my life!
I've been longing for a replacement for my original iMac so I can play Bugdom faster and this is all Apple comes up with. It doesn't even have a screen and my iMac costed 1299 while this ugly thing is almost $3000! Can't it at least come with a round mouse like I'm used to? And what's all this stuff about a server? I don't want my iMac to serve anything, well maybe toast every once in a while would be nice. I just want to be able to get on AOL and free those poor ladybugs in Bugdom. Apple is ruining my life!
holy s*it dude
This is awesome. This is gonna set industry standards.
I was really convinced that they would be quad processors, but man, they have so much power already 😉 ...........
GOOD JOB APPLE!!😀 😀
This is awesome. This is gonna set industry standards.
I was really convinced that they would be quad processors, but man, they have so much power already 😉 ...........
GOOD JOB APPLE!!😀 😀
eric_n_dfw
macrumors 68000
Re: No SCSI
I, generally agree, but Apple is quick to point out that having 4 separate controllers provides more bandwitch than SCSI160. Also, I'd venture to guess that, even though SCSI is multi-threaded, having 4 controllers is kind-of-like have a 4-threaded controller. (Okay, I'm stretching my knowledge hardware now!)
Good point, I did not know about the peer-to-peer "smarts" either. However, with modern ATA aka UDMA controllers, less CPU is needed than most people think.
I was surprised (and am skeptical about) the fact that Apple went with software RAID - especially with hardware ATA RAID as cheap as it is.
peterjhill
macrumors 65816
Instead of mounting under desk...
I want to put the thing in my basement in a rack with a Cisco 3550-12T 10/100/1000 Multilayer Switch. Put it in a wall mounted rack, that way I won't have to hear the fans.
Put an access point in the basement and one on the top floor. Run copper around the house.
Yum!
I want to put the thing in my basement in a rack with a Cisco 3550-12T 10/100/1000 Multilayer Switch. Put it in a wall mounted rack, that way I won't have to hear the fans.
Put an access point in the basement and one on the top floor. Run copper around the house.
Yum!
Taft
macrumors 65816
Re: Re: Wait a second...
So are you being sarcastic or did you really not get the satire in the original post??
All I can say about this is that it is really good for Apple. This is the kind of thing Apple needs to do with its new OS. Having a great Unix at the core is really opening up whole new worlds to Apple. This machine is a powerful demonstration of what is capable with OS X.
Taft
So are you being sarcastic or did you really not get the satire in the original post??
All I can say about this is that it is really good for Apple. This is the kind of thing Apple needs to do with its new OS. Having a great Unix at the core is really opening up whole new worlds to Apple. This machine is a powerful demonstration of what is capable with OS X.
Taft