ozwaldca
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Virtualization of os x

I have a client that is looking to virtualize about 30-40 mac minis. Something similar to esxi for windows environments.

 

What are my options?

 

Can i simply purchase some big mac pro's and install esi/fusion?

 

Cheers

 

Ozwaldca

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 7:56 AM

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ozwaldca

Q: Virtualization of os x

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  • by John Lockwood,Helpful

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Oct 16, 2014 9:09 AM in response to ozwaldca
    Level 6 (9,384 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 16, 2014 9:09 AM in response to ozwaldca
    1. Apple's licensing terms only allow a real physical Mac to run OS X in a virtual machine, so you could run OS X in a virtual machine using a Mac Pro, Xserve or Mac mini but not as an example on a HP or Dell server
    2. Apple also only allow up to two virtual instances of OS X on a single physical Mac, you therefore could not run 30-40 virtual instances all on one Mac
    3. Apple also only allow you to use these virtual machines running OS X to be used for testing purposes and not as a live deployment,


    It sounds like you are trying to implement a VDI setup which is not possible under Apple's licensing terms due to all three of the above restrictions. So the answer is no you cannot do what you want. See http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX109.pdf

     

    You could look at running either AquaConnect or iRAPP as an alternative. These are not virtualisation solutions but instead are Mac Terminal Server solutions. They let you have multiple simultaneous user sessions running on a Mac server like a Windows Terminal server does for Windows applications.

     

    See http://www.aquaconnect.net/remote-desktop-services

    and http://www.coderebel.com/products/irapp-terminal-server

  • by ozwaldca,

    ozwaldca ozwaldca Oct 16, 2014 9:44 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2014 9:44 AM in response to John Lockwood

    It is for a client that builds mobile apps.

     

    so not sure being a mac pro for $$$$$  and then only running 2 os's on it would work.  nor would the terminal service solution work. ( for this environment)

    thanks for the great response!