vSphere 5 - support for Apple Mac OS X Server ???

[donmontalvo]

I know...Apple EULA forbids, but interesting info I found on Greg Neagle's page that points to this URL:

http://virtualization.info/en/news/2011/04/more-details-about-vsphere-5-appear-online.html

[taugust04]

That does look interesting. I know our server guys would be happy if we could virtualize OS X Server.

This is also something that popped up a little while ago:

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/21/next-generation-mac-pro-rumored-to-feature-rack-mount-stackable/

Next few months should be interesting as OS X Lion and new hardware is released.

-- Ted August
Salve Regina University

[jarednichols]

As much of a hardware fan boy as I am, a "slim" Mac Pro still wouldn't
meet Enterprise needs just because it's rack mountable. Unless you've got
hot swap components and redundant power supplies, it doesn't meet real
Enterprise needs. Anything else is a joke.

j
-- Jared F. Nichols
Desktop Engineer, Client Services
Information Services Department
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02420
781.981.5436

[donmontalvo]

I'll take VM over hardware anytime. Our firm is a heavy investor in virtualization...tons of RAM and bandwidth across all the board. Best part, we don't have to deal with the hardware (lots of staff working 24/7 behind the green datacenter curtain)... :)

If Apple adjusts their EULA to allow VM of Mac OS X Server, we'll be in heaven. Nothing concrete from Apple, but I highly doubt VMWare would post this info without first working out all the legal stuff with Apple.

Don

[jarednichols]

I also am a fan of VMs though in some instances, pure iron is the best
solution. We're penciling out our next Casper infrastructure and disk I/O
is something that's weighing heavy on our decision.
-- Jared F. Nichols
Desktop Engineer, Client Services
Information Services Department
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02420
781.981.5436

[stevewood]

As much of an Apple fan boy as I am (heck, I've got my Apple logo polo shirt
On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 8:19 AM, Nichols, Jared - 1170 - MITLL <jared.nichols at ll.mit.edu> wrote:
on today), I have to wonder what is compelling about staying on OS X Server. With products like ExteremeZ-IP to handle AFP file sharing, with Casper
providing MCX, and with Windows providing everything else, from DHCP to DNS
to Directory Services, what would be the compelling factor to stay?

I know in my environment, when I saw the writing on the wall, I began the
plan to move away from OS X Server and onto Windows for everything, and all
of that is going to be virtualized. The only hang up I have right now with
virtualization is in the size of share points I can create. The 2 TB LUN
maximum hurts, but it is not a show stopper.

So, I'm wondering why others on this list feel it necessary to stay with OS
X Server. Apple seems to be not taking it seriously anymore with how they
are developing Lion (of course this may change).

Curious....

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[Matt]

No need for the OSX server EXCEPT netboot. I haven't been able to get Netboot working reliably on a *nix box. However our switch to Windows VM's for our JSS and Distro's has been great!
--
Matt Lee
FNG Sr. IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group
matthew.lee at fox.com<mailto:matthew.lee at fox.com>

Need Help? Call the Help Desk at (310) 969-HELP (ext 24357) or online at http://itteam<http://itteam/>
Help Desk Hours: Mon-Fri, 6AM-6PM PST

[stevewood]

Okay, good point, I hadn't thought about that one. Again, I'm a bit spoiled
On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 9:17 AM, Matthew Lee <Matt.Lee at fox.com> wrote:
in that I'm the only IT person here, and I only need NetBoot to work when I
have to image machines. So I can put a MacMini in place to handle that, or
any other Mac I have, running one of the 10.6 server licenses I'll have left
over just for NetBoot. Or, I'll just hold on to that brand new XServe I
purchased in December and have a NetBoot server for the next 5 years. :-)

How many out there are using NetBoot for more than just imaging machines,
for actually running workstations off of?

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[Matt]

I have around 500 clients and we have 3 Mac Mini servers in LA, HOU, and CHA. Works perfectly fine. We also utilize our NB environment for doing troubleshooting. Works great.

--
Matt Lee
FNG Sr. IT Analyst / Desktop Architecture Team / Apple S.M.E / JAMF Casper Administrator
Fox Networks Group
matthew.lee at fox.com<mailto:matthew.lee at fox.com>

Need Help? Call the Help Desk at (310) 969-HELP (ext 24357) or online at http://itteam<http://itteam/>
Help Desk Hours: Mon-Fri, 6AM-6PM PST

[bentoms]

Yep. With the low cost of the mac mini I'll still be looking at using them for distributions points, sus & NetBoot.

I'll have them in London, Blackburn, Nottingham, Sunderland, New York, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangkok & some other locations!!!

I've love to vm, but only have the London data centre with a vsphere server.

Some of those more remote sites only have links of KB's (!!!) so I need to throttle replication etc & not sure if this would be possible from a master vm'd jss (Linux or windows). Virtualising osx server will sort that though.

But with mac mini's being cheap & max penetration on 1 site being maybe 100 clients the mac mini's will serve my needs.

Regards,

Ben.

[donmontalvo]

Two reasons...Apple SUS and NetBoot. I know, "there's a hack for that"...well, hacks don't cut it in enterprise (at least if liability is concern).

We've been migrating production environments to ExtremeZ-IP for years. SMB just doesn't cut it (no auto-reconnect, many other issues). It's TONS better than AFP on Apple hardware, especially when you you're talking clusters and NAS.

Apple SUS, I see Greg Neagle at Disney is releasing code to run on non-Apple hardware. That might work for some folks, but we can only look at it if we can buy enterprise support (doubt that's going to happen).

NetBoot, well, I've seen hacks, but same old issue...where is the enterprise support?

So we can't let go of Apple Xserve, until Apple stops supporting them. Hopefully that'll be soon, once VM is allowed....

Don