New Mac Server (xserve reborn?)

bgps · May 23rd, 2011, 08:46 AM

I was in San Jose last week and the rumour. I heard was that Apple is working on a new 3U server.
I suspect this will just be a MacPro repackaged to fit better into standard server racks. (Not that there is anything wrong with the MacPro).

I only hope this is the case.

Has anyone heard such rumour?

Dr_AL · May 23rd, 2011, 09:44 AM

I heard something to the same effect a month ago or so.

If they redesgn the mac pro I could see it being tweaked slightly so that it could be mounted in a rack. But Apple wouldn't make two versions of it, just one witha rack mounting option.

Sent from my iPhone

bgps · May 23rd, 2011, 10:34 AM

Yes this is what I suspect....a case that is capable of mounting in a rack.

ehMax · May 23rd, 2011, 10:39 AM

Makes sense. Thinking about it, Apple could really do some cool designing to make the Mac Pro serve dual purpose as a work station and 3u rack mountable server. Their neat pop-in and out drive trays that were on the Xserve could be used, and they could maybe put a few more in there. Make the power supply and blowers swappable and easily accessible. I'm sure they could come up with some neat ideas!

jagga · May 23rd, 2011, 03:23 PM

Along with that and the recent MacPro support for large SSD drives ... I'd LOVE for Apple to take advantage of the Intel partnership and get a significantly reduced discount for SSD introduction across the ENTIRE lineup before end of 2011.

Apple the first company to deliver SSD drives as a standard across the entire product lineup.

Dennis Nedry · May 23rd, 2011, 04:48 PM

[deleted]

keebler27 · May 23rd, 2011, 11:04 PM

linky:

Apple Developing Narrower, Rackmountable Mac Pro Prototypes? - MacRumors.com

Dennis Nedry · May 24th, 2011, 05:42 PM

[deleted]

macintosh doctor · May 24th, 2011, 07:10 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Dennis Nedry
	... Where on earth is that 3 inches coming from? There is no way you can lop off 3" from the side of a Mac Pro and still keep everything inside it the way it was. You wouldn't be able to fit the drive carriers in the machine for one, even without the slack on the aluminum caddy that serves as a pull handle. You could shave off an inch. Maybe a bit more. But 3 inches? That would require a radical redesign of the entire system. I don't doubt that Apple is going to replace the XServe somehow, but I would assume that whatever 3U system they come out with will be a new system in itself and not based on the Mac Pro. It's going to be really hard to push a rack mountable server without LOM. -DN

Dell makes 3 U servers and so does everyone else.. so I can image if you can make a mac mini - you can make a 3 U server

ehMax · May 24th, 2011, 07:35 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Dennis Nedry
	This all makes zero sense. The Mac Pro and Mac Mini are fine for server use where racks are not required. Cramming an ultra-quiet machine into a rack where the majority of the machine is dominated by massive heatsinks (just to increase the surface area and drive the noise down) is not logical. The server room is no place for "quiet" machines. It's a place for slim boxes with tiny fans running at 10K RPM blowing across heatsinks literally a tenth the size of what is in the Mac Pro. Jamming the MP in a rack is just plain inefficient. They should have kept the XServe. -DN

Hey, I'd like for them to have kept the Xserve to, but in the absence of that it does for sure make sense for businesses who've got one rack with rack-able UPS, storage, a need just 2 or 3 servers for something like Final Cut server, or large doctor's offices in Ontario running Practice Solutions, or an environment with some PC servers who need just one Mac server in their network closet.

Maybe they can get it down to a 2U space.