A Sad day.. Xserve discontinued...

Unbelievable. And so ends the ability for me to recommend Apple to anyone for anything. How can you recommend a company that does not offer a complete solution. How can I recommend over priced workstations without a viable server solution from the same company? The Pro and Mini as a servers? Are you kidding? Apple has solidified their role as a toy maker and only that.

James.

This is crap...so crappy. Just hoping that XSAN doesn't get discontinued or FCSvr or FCS.

A lot of investment and jobs from very large corporations all over the world has been in-trusted with Apple and to pull a large piece of a SAN environment with only 3 months notice is mental.

Really hoping that a 3rd party company picks up the server hardware. Like Promise did with XRAID when that was discontinued.

Sam.

I'm in the same boat after deploying $500,000 solution including Xsan. Now what? all those who fought me over this for two years are coming out of the wood work in the last hour!

Very sad day, as I have used XServes and XSan for years now for my own hosting company not to mention the countless ones we have installed for people (couldn't put a $$$ figure on it). This is truly a sad day but hopefully they have a trick up their sleeves as they need a rack mountable solution and no I don't mean 4 Mac Mini's in a 1U rack holder....

Message was edited by: Marshall Merritt

Oh wow - how great.

We run a couple racks in a datacenter stuffed with XServe/XSan deployments and build/host an enterprise solution exclusively designed for Mac OS X Server.

We spent a couple hundred k $ on Apples hardware last year.

There are also dozens of customers who we sold the solution with XServes to (they host themselves) + a lot of prospects just in their decision process or ready to invest.

Hopefully there will be a 3rd party hardware provider in near future or we're bust.

I already see all those IT guys coming back at us next week and telling us "we told you Apple is crap" after we've put a lot of work into convincing them.

Not fair treating some of your longest standing/believing customers like this. Thanks Apple.

Agreed – This seems like a bit of a Mad decision…

I can understand that perhaps Apple sells few Xserves, but a rack mounted solution is a REQUIREMENT

– One alternative might be if Apple Allows "Mac OSX Server" to be installed say on "IBM Blade servers" – or "Dell Servers" ??

Certainly while MacPros are certainly hardware capable, we are passed the era where many companies will allow non-rack mount servers in their server rooms

On the face of it – without an announcement about allowing Mac OS X Server running on some other hardware – then just MacPros and MacMinis then Apple have just shot themselves in the foot over this one…

Is this the case of "Accountants Rule ?"

–- Now what about the future of PodCast Producer ?, X-Grid ?, Apple Wiki ?

–– The whole Apple server eco-system is now cast into doubt…

-- We NOW await the announcement of "Mac OS X Server" running on 3rd party server hardware…

-- Or is Apple going to return back to day days of being considered a "Toy OS" ??
-- With no acceptable server hardware to run on…
-- Just as Apple systems were beginning to be more widely accepted…

Apple NOW needs to come up with a better answer then – "OS X Server on MacPRO AND MacMini"

The BEST that could come out of this now – would be for Apple to announce a tie up with a PC Server Manufacturer… IBM-Blade servers being one such possibility…

Apple Xserver was not fantastic value for money compared with other PC Manufacturers servers
– If Apple are now going to offer a cross-licensing agreement for OS X Server…

-- In a similar way to them dropping Xserve RAID for "Promise RAID"
-- Then that could be an interesting way forward

Otherwise… ???… We now have the have serious doubts about the long term future of "Mac OS X Server"…

Is Apple expecting us to move all Mac Server work up the new soon to be Apple Cloud ?
–– It's hard to see how that could be viable for many types of things…

-- Now waiting on more clarification from Apple about their Server Strategy…
-- But right now, -- without further announcements -- this seems like a bad move…

Really Apple, Really? I feel like I've just been kicked in the stomach. The Xserve is a fantastic product. I'm sorry it doesn't make enough money for you, but its a complementary business. Certainly you would have as many MacPro's, iPads, MacBookPro's etc in my office if we don't have a complete integrated solution. Its taken a generation for Apple Fans to move into the buying roles at large companies, and luckily their on your side. Now they have no other option. Please, please continue Xserve development, or pull some magic rabbit out of a hat

This is absolutely horrible. With all the obscene profit Apple is making, they can't afford to keep a server model with slightly less margin?

The Xserve is the perfect machine for my uses in a university art department. I've got two tucked away in a great little 12U rackmount box with two RAID storage devices and two UPSs and space to spare. With the Mac Pro, I'd only be able to fit two computers, and nothing else. Absolutely awful. The Mac Mini is okay for some things, but I don't see any fibre options ever appearing, and I need fast and large storage.

I am not looking forward to the day I have to replace them.

I just put 11 Xserves in my Q1 budget. Eleven Xserves! And I already have 22 Xserves. My whole system is now in jeopardy to be replaced.
And what is the alternative? Mac Mini? This is the worst thing Apple could have done to Apple admins. It doesn't make any sense to plan on any future as an Apple admin.

some guy wrote an email to Steve.
http://www.bsd-box.net/~mikeg/blog/index.php?/archives/107-Apple-is-killing-the- XServe.html

Let's see if he answers.

But even if I doubt that we will like the answer.

So with the announcement that the Xserve comes to an end comes the Mac Pro Server.

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC915LL/A?mco=MTk4Mjc2MDA

Where am I suppose to insert a 12U unit that isn't designed to be a server in the first place? So I can put two Mac Pro's side by side in that 12U space but two Mac Pro's do not make up for the 12 Xserves that would also fit in that same space.

I do not have a problem with switching over to the Mac Mini server but I find it hard to do given all of my current Xserve's connect to fibre storage systems. For the Xsan users and fibre users today is really a slap in the face.

There's a post in this discussion regarding Apple solidifying it's place in the toy market and I have to say I agree. Apple pulled the word Computer from it's name a while back and perhaps we should have seen the writing on the wall then. iOS does appear to be the future of Apple and today they made it very clear that OSX is not going to be a serious enterprise solution moving forward.

So for those of you like me that have read past stories about iOS showing up on Mac's but didn't want to believe it don't be surprised if that really becomes a reality. Apple appears to be moving forward with or without us. So for those of you, like me, that have spent time and money in building a serious infrastructure around the Mac all I can say is we should have seen this coming the day the Xraid went end of life with no Apple branded solution.

Is Software: "Mac OS X Server 10.7" Going to exist ? – Very Likely YES

Is "Mac OS X Server 10.7" going to be able to run under say ESX ?
– and so fully virtualizable ? – On 3rd Party Server Hardware ?

Will that be the future of Mac OS X Server ? – That would actually be quite a good solution…

Questions now – that we hope will be answered…

This is just unreal. Apple has been pushing one to one hard the past two years by quietly making products that don't support the client/server environment and today's announcement seems to indicated Apple's quick departure from the Enterprise. xServe may have been pricey, but it was one of Apple's best products, particularly in education where the client/server environment will continue despite Apple's abandonment stance. Some folk have said, yea, well iPad is a great tool, but in reality, it's not a productivity tool. It's a device of convenience. We have a pilot of these and guess what, we bought keyboards for them...then what next, stands and now you have what, a very small laptop?

Bottom line is that Apple has missed the mark by a wide margin here. Offering a 12U Mac Pro or the toy mini as an Enterprise replacement is nothing more that bad humor. About the only thing that will save Apple in education environments with the departure of xServe is to allow OSX to be run in a virtual environment.

Keep in mind though, that if they killed the xServe, who is to say ARD, OSX Server is not next. Apple has been and is becoming more and more every day a "gadget" company. Only real problem with that is Apple forgot who supported them all these years to get to this point....they'd rather sell you an iPhone or an iPad than build the products we all want. Case in point, 10.7 for the Mac is going to be nothing more than another iOS. Give me a VERY strong reason to just go straight Linux and worse yet, a number of education institutions I've spoken with are already considering the Apple platform DOA making a prime window for Windows to fill. What a completely tragic mistake.

Message was edited by: D36

Steve you have many loyal users that promote their products from the desktop to the server room and this is the thanks we get? Despicable! Thanks for f#%$ing my credibility over with our customers that we have sold new xServes too.