Apple has redesigned the Mac Pro, so the new model may offer redundant power supplies, hot swappable drives, and easy accessibility. Rumor has it that when they discontinued the XServe, they quietly told customers not to worry, that they would not be forgotten. Not to mention that the AppleCare extended warranties for those machines expire in 2014, next year. So just in time for the warranty lapse, Apple is releasing new hardware. This could be very good news for customers large and small.
Do you mean that they have redesigned it in the past? Well of course that's the case - but I'm not so sure of this upcoming update. I do recall Tim Cook stating that they will be a slightly more server orientated company -- I really REALLY hope this means bringing in a dedicated line of server products (once again). I don't care if they call it "iServe" - as long as it's usable in enterprise...
What apple need to do server-wise is partner with Cisco (for example) and license OS X server to run on their UCS platform, and/or under VMware.
Until OS X can OFFICIALLY be virtualised in the server room in a supported manner (and no, under a copy of Fusion doesn't count - under something like ESXi or Hyper-V), OS X server will remain no more than a toy.
I'm not sure if you're aware, but it is legal (and fully supported) to install ESX onto an Apple based server, and then virtualise OSX. If Apple refuses to release some proper server based hardware, AT LEAST allow their OS to be virtualised on other vendors hardware, like Sun/Dell/IBM (I really don't care who!)..
Being able to say, upgrade RAM or number of CPUs allocated to an OS X server VM with no downtime is something I can currently do with my Windows 2008 server VMs on my vSphere cluster.
Settign up a test version of a server for example is a case of right-click, clone and fire up attached to a different virtual network for testing. Break it until you're heart's content before doing it in production. And in production, you can snapshot the entire machine and roll back a lot faster than you can roll back to a time machine backup.
Until OS X Server can be virtualised to enable that, it will remain a toy. Every other server OS can do this, and nerds like me have been running environments like this for about 5-10 years now. It's time apple got on board.
And while they're at it - let me officially run Snow Leopard in a VM, please.
Really, amen to this. There is no doubt that virtualisation is THE only way to move forward right now - it has been for 10 years already!
What I need from a new Mac is:
1- Very durable no matter if you use it at 100% CPU load 24/7, so this means well ventilated, not-too-thin, and far away from the risk of melting without the need of fans kicking at top speed.
2- Ultrasilent: No mechanical HDD. Just SSD. And with the minimum mechanical parts as possible in the box. The active cooling should be as silent as possible even at high CPU loads.
3- As powerful as possible for CPU demanding software (such as LuxRender and similar unbiased renderers).
4- Good GPU (I prefer NVIDIA, but it's just personal preference).
5- Price: More expensive than a PC with the same specs, but please don't make it double the price, a 40%-50% of overprice should be enough.
That's all I need in order to buy a new Mac. period.
So, you're basically after a pro-sumer (crossing into the professional) type of computer? Given recent trends from Apple, I think you're right in that style of thinking. The Mac Pro _still_ has demand in this type of market, where people would pay money for this type of bulk power.. As an administrator "behind the scenes", it's this type of computer that I do NOT want, because it's a consumer computer and not a computer suitable for server orientated work (this topic is important now, I feel, as Apple has blurred the lines by making the Mac Pro their "server" machine).
I am hoping for a Mac Pro that can easily be racked as well... without taking up so much space. For our relatively small school district of about 1300 students and a couple hundred staff, OS X Server does a fine job for our basic needs: DNS, DHCP, file sharing, basic print services with CUPS, Web hosting, etc. We have a pretty simple set up, and my tests with Mountain Lion Server so far have proven that an upgrade from our Xserves with Snow Leopard Server to new Mac Pros with Mountain Lion Server would be an easy transition. I, personally, like the latest version of Server.app and the features in Mountain Lion Server... Lion Server was weird to manage (switching between Server.app and WGM/SA. Of course, I could also use Mac minis, but I really want a more rugged machine with server-grade parts, multiple ethernet ports, and internal RAID storage, etc. So, bring on a somewhat smaller Mac Pro that we can rack easily, and I'll take three! lol
For school uses, Apple's OS and hardware is actually pretty damn good. I used to administer a smallish company (150 people) and we used about 7 xServes there, OSX worked a treat!! You're right though, the Mac Mini's are great, but again they're not very serviceable, powerful, or redundant...
Agree with everything you wrote. If they offered a range of processors, Xeon's for heavy lifting and iX for moderate use for those who need an upgradable, headless system, I'm certain it would do very well. How about the Ivy-Bridge EX processors?
Do you really think so? I mean, not many people need Xeon based CPUs - who here, in fact, would benefit from the power gain from using Xeon CPUs? (Nobody really needs ECC, and Xeon performance gains really only shine when you are dealing with number crunching and not general purpose computer serving).
), 2-3 SATA III bays, of course processor(s) and RAM. Even though I do use my LG Blu-Ray burner on my 5,1 12-Core, I could live with an external ODD.
