Hello, I'm interested in buying a used X-Serve as a seperate Network-Storage and Website-Server, but I would like to know first if the current upgrades of macOS are still compatible with the X-Serve-Family. They are not listed, but fulfill all requirements, so is there anybody that tested it already and can give me a feedback please?
Thanks a lot!
Regards
Actually, this was one of the Mac's that Apple dropped support on when macOS Sierra came out, but there is a way that you can get it to work.
There is an (unofficial) patch that allows these computers to run macOS 10.12 Sierra. Since you have an Xserve 2,1 hen your computer will run perfectly fine with this patch. Please watch this video and use the guide if you do want to upgrade to macOS Sierra. I have not been able to do this test with any of my macs so I do not know entirely how to do it if something goes wrong. But give it a shot.
The thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-unsupported-macs-thread.1 977128/
The patch tool: http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.htm
FWIW and not sure how much you've worked with these old Xserve boxes, but a Mac mini with a Thunderbolt storage array is probably as fast as that old Xserve if not faster given the newer I/O speeds, is less complex to manage and with much newer hardware, and is far less loud than those Xserve boxes get. At middling to full fan speeds — and you will get there under load and as the dust builds up in the cooling air passages and as the Xeon processors warm up — an Xserve is a noisy box at 7+ bels IIRC, and not at all suited for use in an office or home office environment short of acquiring and installing it into an acoustical enclosure or a server closet. A Mac mini can also easily push a typical network connection about as fast as most folks have bandwidth for, too. Also runs cooler. This from experience: ran an Xserve for some complex web content management systems and hosting some years ago, and replaced all that with a Mac Mini. Again, entirely FWIW.
macOS Sierra on X-Serve 2,1 or newer?
