Mac OS Virtualisation

We are not people that work for Apple, are not lawyers (or not your lawyers), and are not legal advice.

ivasankarm wrote:

How many virtual machines are allowed to run legally for commercial purposes?

That varies.

Read the software licensing agreement (SLA) for the version(s) of interest.

Legal - Software License Agreements - Apple

Is it possible to run Mac OS guest in a Linux host on Mac Hardware?

That’s more a question of the hypervisor involved, than of which of the many Linux distros involved. Try it.

Or run a “bare metal” hypervisor, and let that deal with the underlying host.

Can we form a Mac OS cluster for commercial purposes?

macOS doesn’t really cluster. Not past Xsan, and that’s fairly limited in its capabilities.

As for permissible usage, read the SLAs.

Is there any way to run Mac OS in a container?

Operating systems are rarely run within containers, regardless of platform. Apps, yes. OSes, no.

Containers typically share an operating system, variously for perceived efficiencies, or for licensing arbitrage, or otherwise.

Running an OS in a container would necessarily entail running running a hypervisor in the container, and that just adds more stuff and more complexity. Contrary to the usual usage of containers; just run it all as an additional guest of whatever hypervisor is underneath hosting the OS with the containers.

sivasankarm wrote:

Sorry for my repeated questions, Mac stadium is doing virtualisation/containerisation legally somehow. We also need that to do that. I can't find anything mentioned in their documentation. You can see that in the links.

We do not know what agreements any particular vendor might have (or not have) with Apple.

Those that do know these details usually don’t comment here.

You can choose to follow the standard licensing agreement, or can discuss changes with Apple Legal, or—all discussions of the associated risks aside—can ignore the agreement.

As some unfamiliarity with business practices, business negotiations, contracts, and contract law could be inferred here, and as your interest in virtualization past the Apple standard licensing agreement can also be inferred, I’d suggest discussing your idea or your plans with your own local legal advice. Then with Apple, as appropriate.

Most virtual machine vendors will not try to run macOS, as Apple only licenses macOS to run on Apple hardware. Apple has sued and won in the past.

You can run virtual machines on a Mac, parallels, VMware Fusion, UTM, VirtualBox (intel only, as they are not ready for Apple Silicon yet), etc…

sivasankarm wrote:

Sorry for my repeated questions, Mac stadium is doing virtualisation/containerisation legally somehow. We also need that to do that. I can't find anything mentioned in their documentation. You can see that in the links.

One of the rules of apologies is that, if the person continues to commit the offence while apologizing, then the apology is not sincere.

If you can’t find anything in Apple’s documentation on how to legally run macOS in a virtual machine regarding how to legally run macOS in a virtual machine, then what is the point of anyone repeating the same links to said documentation that you refuse to read?

I recommend you consult with an attorney. They are the experts in tracking down legal documentation.

Stop worrying about what other companies are doing. They could have a private agreement with Apple. They could simply be operating illegally. It is the internet, after all.

sivasankarm wrote:

I have read the SLAs before. They are supporting only one VM for one OS license. But How is Macstadium proving service legally since Apple doesn't support mac VM for commercial use? Is Mac Stadium an official partner of Apple?

Those that might or do know can’t or won’t answer. Those that don’t know don’t know.

sivasankarm wrote:

I have read the SLAs before. They are supporting only one VM for one OS license.

Is that a fact?

But How is Macstadium proving service legally since Apple doesn't support mac VM for commercial use?

They don't?

Is Mac Stadium an official partner of Apple?

Maybe you should ask them.

Macstatium rents you a Mac mini or a Mac Studio. Real hardware. If they are doing any virturlization, it is most likely on real Apple hardware.

If you go the MacStadium pricing you will see they are offering real Macs

https://www.macstadium.com/pricing

sivasankarm wrote:

But They are selling it.

And they make a lot of money selling it. People will spend more for a VM or container at MacStadium because that’s all they know. They could get real hardware elsewhere for less.

But how can we use Mac VM/Containers for commercial purpose like Mac stadium my question.

I guess you can’t.

We are volunteers. We do not know, as we do not work for Apple, and we do not work for MacStadium.