Originally announced in August , Apple ’s 5th - genesis Xserve began shipping to client in November . Now power by Intel processors and break open with present-day applied science , Apple ’s server straddles the disparate requirements of a data - center - well-disposed server while still being a substance abuser - favorable Mac . The solution is a eminent - performance Mac server that wreak a few compromise along for the ride .
The Xserve ’s base shape pop the question two dual - substance 2GHz Xeon mainframe , 1 GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory , and an 80 GB , 7200 - rpm SATA disk , all in a 1U natural enclosure for $ 2,999 . There are also two eight - lane PCI Express slot ( one can be configured for a PCI - X circuit board ) , dual onboard Gigabit Ethernet , and a combo drive . The Xserve also features dual FireWire 800 ports , one FireWire 400 port , two USB 2.0 ports , and a DB-9 nonparallel interface . Other usable choice include 2.66GHz or 3GHz processors , up to 32 GB of RAM in eight DIMM slot , a 2nd power supplying , and an miscellanea of video , Fibre Channel and SCSI controller . The Xserve accommodates three 3.5 - inch hard disks , and you now can mix and match either 7,200 - rpm SATA or 15,000 - rpm successive SCSI ( SAS ) disks . As before , an straight-out - node version of Mac OS X Server is also included with each Xserve . For this review , Apple provide an Xserve with 3GHz processors , four 1 GB FB - DIMMs , three 750 GB SATA disk , a SuperDrive , dual mightiness supplies , and a Fiber Channel lineup . The concluding price for this conformation is $ 8,571 .
Nuts and bolts
The raw Xserve installs easy into a wheel . Thankfully , Apple has replaced the honest-to-god ( and delicate ) lid - and - rail combining with a traditional rail assembly . There are separate runway kits for racks with square or pear-shaped holes — verify you ordinate the right one . ( Apple say it will swop the rail kit if you make a mistake , but well safe than sorry . ) If your rack has solid cakehole , you could fete and toss out those annoying servant ball . Apple ’s rails impound from behind the posts and mate with a front - mounting spacer ; the spacer ’s square dimple mate just with the single-foot ’s square golf hole . Just prop up the rails , slip on the spacer , and screw it down — everything aligns all at once . The server well notches into the track , and the Teflon coating ensures a legato , well-heeled slide into the rack .
The new Xserve retain the basic aspect and functionality of its predecessors . It boots from disc , CD , web , or into FireWire Target Mode , as bear . The conversant front panel has the same key lock , buttons , status lights , and FireWire 400 porthole . The very slick Apple Drive Modules remain the same , and the handles still pop out at the slim touch . The sixteen C.P.U. index ignitor now reflect activity in the Xserve ’s four processor cores , with four lights available to each core .
The waiter ’s default option configuration includes an optional ATI Radeon X1300 video controller with 64 MB of dedicated SDRAM . The TV batting order does not interest one of the two PCI - Express one-armed bandit , but instead mounts on a first balcony poster . The video jack is now a mini - DVI connector ; Apple include adapters for VGA and DVI display . The VGA adaptor worked with my Raritan KVM , but I buzz off a secure connection only after cautiously put the adaptor ; I would have preferred a traditional VGA connector on the waiter . ( ethnic music doing video or visualization will appreciate the DVI choice . )
The unexampled Xserve ’s cool down system are impressive . Variable - speed devotee beat back cool air to each of the power supplies , processors , and RAM , and Apple uses copper heat sinks on the processors . Computer internals wake up under incumbrance , and this tending to cooling ensures maximum performance despite the thermic output .
Alas , in keeping the previous Xserve ’s ocular aim , Apple miss a couple of opportunity to make workaday operation more convenient . For instance , many other vendors now include video and USB porthole on the front of their waiter — for booting off a USB keystone , or those occasions when only a real monitor and keyboard will suffice . Xserve has these ports only on the back , which have in mind you have to crop amidst the cables , noise , and hot exhaust of a rack ’s back . Similarly , it would have been nice if the new asset management tatter ( which lists the serial issue and MAC addresses ) were accessible from the front . The Xserve still must be removed from the rack before you’re able to get at its internals .
Unlike the Xserve G5 , this interpretation does not offer an option for hardware foray . give that RAID controllers are available from nearly any other server vendor — and are often place on the motherboard — this is a nous - blunt skip . Mac OS X ’s software maraud is notoriously finicky and slower , and the Xserve G5 ’s optional RAID card was a welcome addition to any deployment requiring data redundancy . I desire that a RAID option will be useable in the time to come , but until then customer must look to external storage alternatives .
Remote management
The Xserve and Mac OS X Server have always been strong on remote management , but this clock time Apple up the ante with completeLights - Out Management ( LOM ) . This mean you could remotely monitor , manage , and power the server up or down — even if it has suffer a center panic or is hidden in a far - away data point middle . Apple has follow out adaptation 2.0 of theIntelligent Platform Management Interface ( IPMI ) specification ; so long as the host has index and a mesh cable ( and you could get at the correct IP subnet ) , you could get to the hardware ’s internal organization with IPMI - compliant tools . In fact , Apple ’s Server Monitor now command IPMI access to supervise Xeon Xserves .
Lights - Out Management sounds great , and works well once successfully configured , but Apple ’s implementation is problematic . While the Xserve has two Ethernet ports , it has four internet restrainer ; each embrasure answer to two controllers , one for LOM and one for the server ’s common Ethernet meshing . Best practices call for LOM to be on a private , impregnable information science connection , so you have to either dedicate one forcible interface to the LOM CPU or embed complicated ( and possibly unwanted ) IP subnetting and access ascendency into the connection layer . ( Other vendors typically expend a dedicated card with its own Ethernet interface . ) Where most LOM accountant come configured for DHCP or privateRFC1918 address outer space , Apple ’s ship completely unconfigured . ( Apple says it chose a more secure out - of - box form for the initial release . ) You must manually power up the host and expend Server Assistant to configure the LOM processor . Even then , however , I could n’t reliably enter the LOM CPU until I powered the server off ( another trip to the rack ) , removed the power cables and then restore mogul , as documented on Apple’sWeb internet site .
The Xserve ’s installation DVD includes unexampled versions of the server management utilities , and they are required for remote memory access via LOM . Apple also include the command lineIPMItool , a pop open - source utility . When reboot off the DVD , you may now remotely control the Xserve with a VNC ( Virtual web Computing ) watcher such as Apple Remote Desktop ( ) .
How fast, exactly?
Benchmarks and performance test are a tricky business , because the only carrying into action that matters to you is that of your software program . Apple offer a number of benchmark score to prove Xserve ’s performance claims – both on the product’sWeb pageand in a recentWebcastto university and IT customers . But like all benchmark , they should be carefully value .
For example , Apple ’s Web site touts the 3GHz Xeon Xserve as “ up to 5 times faster ” than a 2.3GHz Xserve G5 ; that number is establish on the ironware ’s score in the popularSPEC CPU2000test of integer public presentation . However , Apple cites only scores in the run that evaluate a system ’s use of multiple processors . ( The Xserve ’s score are in line with other systems using the 3GHz Xeon 5160 . ) With four cores against the G5 ’s two , a quicker clock speed and memory omnibus , and Intel ’s traditional strength in whole number calculations , the results are not surprising . Not all applications use multiple central processing unit efficaciously , however , and we notice that scores for the individual - central processor mental test are not provided . Moreover , scores for the Xserve G5 are based on Apple’sinternaltests , and are not published on the SPEC Web internet site . This is n’t to say that the Xeon Xserve is n’t degenerate ( it is ) , or that Apple ’s claims are spurious – only that Apple is being choosey about which benchmarks it publishes .
InMacworld ’s test , the new Xserve is undoubtedly faster than an Xserve G5 currently deployed as an FTP and AFP ( Apple Filing Protocol ) single file server . I compared the two on a private Gigabit Ethernet connectedness , using a Power Mac G5 as the client . The Xserve ran multiple trials , with one disk and with three disks in a computer software maraud 0 array , while the Xserve G5 had three magnetic disk in a computer hardware RAID 5 array ; both system used SATA disks . download via FTP , the Xeon Xserve pushed data point at 110MBps , about doubled that of the Xserve G5 . The young Xserve also wins the AFP tests , in margins set out from 30 percent to 60 percent . In most AFP tests , the Xserve was less than 10 percent faster with striped record than with a individual disk , and in one case the software system RAID 0 was dumb than a single disk . In the file duplication test , the Xserve ’s stripy phonograph recording configuration finished in a third of the time as the others . When I install theWiresharkpacket sniffer withFink , the compile and induction were startlingly fast .
customer are already submittingXbench scores ; I urge you to visit the Xbench database and pass judgment with your app in mind .
Macworld’s buying advice
Apple ’s Xserve is the very mannikin of a modern Intel - base 1U server , with a few caveats . shape of the LOM need to be refined , and the lack of a hardware RAID is a blazing omission . Most chafe of past Xserves have been remedy , and the whole arrangement rank praiseworthily among the finest available today . Before upgrading , check that your lotion and third - party equipment are quick for an Intel - establish Mac server .
[ Andrew T. Laurence is a server decision maker and “ Mac guy ” at the University of California , Irvine . ]
