What is the practical purpose of Apple Servers?


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This is not meant to be trolling, it's meant to be a discussion on Apple Enterprise Systems (Hardware & Sofware).

A. How does Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server compete with Linux or Windows in terms of:

1. Collaboration Solution (For example Windows has Active Directory and Exchange Server)

2. Web Hosting (Apache, ASP.NET, etc.) (Even though Apple has Apache support, its cheaper to go with other hardware like Sun and software like linux).

3. SQL (I'm assuming Apple supports MySQL but again its cheaper with a linux box)

4. Virtualization (is it even supported on Apple?)

B. How does Apple hardware compete with linux and window-based hardware for Small Business?

Apple has the new Mac Mini Server (I kid you not "http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?mco=MTAyNTQwMjg") but you cannot customize the hardware and its base is $999. It does NOT include a dvd drive unless you drop an additional $99 for the USB super drive!

Annnnnnnnd begin!

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It is really silly how they made the mac mini into a server without dvd drive. I mean who in their right mind will spend a thousand dollar for a small server that does not even have a dvd drive?

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Cabron... Got a clue? A lot of servers have no need for optical drives.

so its something go wrong that you need to re-install the OS, how the **** you will do it?

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I installed Snow Leopard on my MacBook via USB (downloaded image from the Developer Connection and imaged it to a USB device - works fine). And holding N at boot will make it attempt to boot from a network server (providing you have one, that is).

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I installed Snow Leopard on my MacBook via USB (downloaded image from the Developer Connection and imaged it to a USB device - works fine). And holding N at boot will make it attempt to boot from a network server (providing you have one, that is).

I didn't know that you can boot other type of media, I need to start reading about it.

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All of the information you've asked about is available on the Mac OS X Server product page.

Active Directory and Exchange Server

LDAP, Calendar, address books, mail and chat

Web Hosting

web hosting

SQL

MySQL or Oracle. Sqlite3 is also available. ODBC/JDBC support for all the relevant languages is included.

Virtualization

Mac OS X Server allows for virtualization on Apple hardware. All of the major names have virtualization products available for Mac OS X.

Feel free to read the manuals

In terms of price: the price of a Mac Pro stuffed with ram and drives + and an unlimited CAL OS is miniscule compared to the salary of the person maintaining it. The hardware/software is worth considering, but only as part of a total-cost-of-ownership proposal. It's up to an individual business to make that assessment.

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Where I work, we used to use OSX servers almost exclusively. However we switched over to a Windows-only environment, and of course, Windows-Based servers. Some of our campuses still have Mac-based servers online, but now they only run as DHCP servers. In my experience, they don't offer anything too special - I found very few things that a Mac server can do that Windows servers don't have an equivalent of. However, they are less trouble than the Windows based servers, and are somewhat easier to maintain.

1) OSX Server has LDAP and OpenDirectory, which is like Active Directory. It also has an iCal Server, Mail Server, and Address Book Server - combined, these are similar in function to Exchange, but not as all-in-one.

2) It does have Apache, but ASP.NET is a Windows thing. Honestly, I've not played around with OSX web servers too much (we use Windows 2003 and IIS for our site), but I wasn't too impressed with what I did see.

3) It does have a MySQL server built in.

4) Parallels Server is available, and recent license changes does allow you to host OSX server in a Virtual Environment (as long as it's a OSX host on an XServe) I have no idea how well this works though.

B) For the hardware, the price is very high (if you look around, you can get more RAM and a better processor for less price), but when you include the unlimited-user license of OSX server that is included, you have a great deal compared to Windows ($1200 for just a 10-user license of 2008 server).

Edited by Joey H
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I didn't know that you can boot other type of media, I need to start reading about it.

A quick google (or bing or whatever) before posting is always useful...

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I didn't know that you can boot other type of media, I need to start reading about it.
You though the MacBook Air is booting from Air?
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I think its a good introduction into the mac server realm. I bought the first mac mini so i could have a look at apple products, and now i am hooked. The mac mini server is good for people that want to study for apple certification, and want a real box to play around with. I am thinking about buying one to have a look and to help me study, once i am done i am going to run my email and web pages from it. Either that or put snow leopard on it and use it on my tv!

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I have no idea why someone would purchase it, except for the size / weight. :/

You just made the selling point of the thing, way to go....

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Seems like a lot of those "server" features can be installed on non-server versions of Mac OS.

If you know what you're doing, you can set up almost all of the features of OS X Server on OS X. The administration tools and support from Apple are the selling points. Apple isn't going to give you support when you're trying to set up Postfix on OS X, but if you're setting it up on OS X Server, they're there for you.

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the only use for them is to suck your money from you and rip people off by charging high prices for barely anything, apple r greedy people.

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the only use for them is to suck your money from you and rip people off by charging high prices for barely anything, apple r greedy people.

And the only use for you is to troll around in places where people are trying to have an actual intelligent discussion.

FYI, servers in general aren't cheap. However, the whole Mac Mini Server with Unlimited Clients (the hardware and software for $999) will actually run you less than an installation of Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard with 5 users or devices (just the software for $1089). Each additional 5-pack of users or devices (they call them CALs) will run you $385. Windows Server 2008 R2 with 5 CALs runs $1029, not including Exchange or Sharepoint (mail, contacts, calendars, wiki, etc.)

And if we're doing a software comparison, Mac OS X Server alone costs just $500 for unlimited users. No licensing headaches or anything. Just one flat fee. It also includes all the features I listed above.

So, uh, who's greedy again? :p

Edited by Elliott
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