Drakeredcrest

Q: Xserve/Mac Pro Connectivity?

I was wondering if I could use a Mac Pro as a part of an Xserve Setup. Im thinking that starting an Xserve setup would increase expandability far more than a Mac Pro and a NAS/SAS (Plus Im all about those Apple products)

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), (1,1)4-core 2ghz gtx960 8gb ram

Posted on May 27, 2016 3:50 AM

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Q: Xserve/Mac Pro Connectivity?

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  • by Drakeredcrest,

    Drakeredcrest Drakeredcrest May 27, 2016 12:05 PM in response to Drakeredcrest
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 27, 2016 12:05 PM in response to Drakeredcrest

    Maybe Something like one of these Apple Xserve RAID units and maybe a one of the 3-bay servers

    Xserve_raid.gif

  • by Camelot,

    Camelot Camelot May 28, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Drakeredcrest
    Level 8 (47,233 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 28, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Drakeredcrest

    What do you mean by '... an Xserve setup'?

     

    What are you hoping to do (and gain) by using the Xserve?

     

    You do realize the Xserves were discontinued in 2009, and the Xserve RAID discontinued a year earlier? It's rare when adding 8 year old equipment to current technology improves performance.

  • by beatle20359,

    beatle20359 beatle20359 Jun 1, 2016 5:23 AM in response to Camelot
    Level 2 (314 points)
    Jun 1, 2016 5:23 AM in response to Camelot

    Hi Drakeredcrest

    To be fair the Xserve was discontinued in 2011 and is still supported by OS X though how long that will last is another matter.

    The advantage of an xserve over a mac pro is redundancy, hot swappable parts and IPMI (lights out management).. They are a lot noisier than a mac pro and have less expansion slots. You'd also need a rack ideally as they'll pick up a lot of dust if left on the floor.

     

    You can still run current storage arrays (fibre/sas) with them but not Thunderbolt ones (same goes for the older tower Mac Pro's)

     

    If you can get one cheap they're great for a lot of things but really you can make yourself a far more impressive Mac Pro or make a decent server from a Mac Mini with a thunderbolt chassis. What are you hoping to achieve with your setup?

     

    Thanks

    Beatle