>I never dreamed we'd need it either. The regular NAV doesn't require >OS X Server, but the new Corporate version of NAV for Macintosh >contains an Admin Console that allows you to monitor and update NAV >across the network to multiple machines. In the documentation it >says this must run on a machine running OS X server. Our servers are >all PC based and I use Apple's Remote Desktop to administer all our >Macs from my machine, so I haven't had any experience with OS X >Server. Glad to know it will run on our old machines. Just wondered >what the X Serve was and if we really needed it as it was a >requirement on Apple's site for using OS X Server. >-- >Thanks, >Beth
OS X Server should run just fine on pretty much any G4 tower. The Mach kernel (the Unix-based guts that OS X is layered on top of) is actually identical on both OS X client and server, so if you look at the OS X server technical specs you'll see it runs on the same hardware configs that the client version runs on - heck, I've got OS X server running on an ancient original iMac G3, and it runs fine. The differences between the client and server distributions are that Server is tuned slightly differently at startup, it supports server-specific hardware like Xserve and Xserve RAID storage systems, and the software bundled is different - no consumer-oriented stuff like iMovie on Server, but a lot more server software - management tools, Quicktime streaming server, stuff like that. But down at the operating system level way down deep, the client and server are identical, so they run on the same hardware. Xserve is Apple's entry into the server market, and it is actually a pretty impressive product on price, performance, and features. Apple's earlier efforts at building server hardware were kind of lame, but they really did a great job with Xserve. It is a rackmount 1U sized box - tiny - with excellent numbers for low power consumption and heat output, real important as you stack up a pile of servers in a rack. Large sites can save a ton of money just off the lower power consumption and air conditioning requirements compared to PC based servers. And they did a LOT of work to make it a serious server with attention to high availability - lots of hot swappable components like hard drives and fans, and extensive hardware monitoring capability - it can send you a page or email if a fan stops spinning, for example, so you can replace it on the fly before the system overheats and has to shut down. A pretty neat piece of hardware - for the first time, Apple server hardware that can be taken very seriously for any server application. Hope this helps, ask away if I failed to answer any questions..... Jerry -- Jerry W. Ethington 245 Hawkeegan Drive Frankfort, KY 40601-3912 (502)223-5489 (502)682-2607 cellular jethington at mac.com "Quando omni, flunkus moritati." (When all else fails, play dead.) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.math.louisville.edu/pipermail/macgroup/attachments/20050221/1d3f3884/attachment.html
