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I consider the RAID option non-optional for commercial use. Its only downside in my testing was frequent complaining to the console whenever the battery's charge wasn't sufficient to hold data for 72 hours without power. It says something about the RAID controller that it considers 72 hours a low-water mark for cache retention after the plug is pulled, but I can do without the notices.
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Like all Xserves, the Harpertown model is self-aware to a fault (pun intended). It's loaded with thermal, fan rotation, current, and voltage sensors. Xserve reacts to trouble on its own, and it shares the statistics from these sensors with you in detail. That, in my opinion, is one of Xserve's best features. But sensor and system configuration data are also available out of band during operation and when the server is not running. Every Xserve ships with a baseboard management controller (BMC) of Apple's design that conforms to the IPMI 2.0 standard. Access to the BMC is protected by redundancy, with both of Xserve's onboard gigabit Ethernet ports wired into it. Apple's GUI-based Server Monitor taps the BMC from any Mac through IPMI, and from any POSIX-based system using an open source command line tool.
Virtually ideal
OS X Leopard supported hypervisor-based virtualization before Windows Server did. Despite the name, Parallels Desktop runs
multiple instances of any mix of 32-bit x86 OSes, including most Windows Server versions, along with commercial and free Linux
distributions, BSD variants, Solaris, and more esoteric choices. VMware Fusion does the same, with support for 64-bit operating
systems as well. Both Parallels and VMware are working on server-specific editions of their Mac products; Parallels Server
for Mac is in its fourth round of beta testing now, and has just taken on the ability to host OS X Leopard Server as a virtualized
guest. Only Leopard Server can host Leopard Server, but this capability will soon make Xserve the only box that can run all
commercial x86 operating systems in virtualization.
Stripped or loaded?
The least you can pay for Xserve is $2,999 for a four-core machine with 2GB of RAM. This is capable enough for small businesses,
but the empty CPU socket can't officially be filled post-purchase. Xserve's sweet spot for pricing is $3,999, which buys you
an eight-core machine with 2.8GHz CPUs and 4GB of RAM. Incremental improvements to the base config start to get pricey, which
is a reflection of component costs rather than Apple margineering. For example, Xserve with 8GB of RAM and two 3.0GHz quad-core
CPUs prices out at $5,799. You know that RAM and hard drives will get less expensive over time, and you can upgrade both of
these later. As for paying extra for higher CPU clock speed, you would need a stopwatch to measure any difference in application
performance from that extra 200MHz per CPU.
The pleasant surprise is the price of a fully loaded Xserve. Harpertown Xserve with eight 3GHz cores, 3TB of internal hardware RAID storage, and 32GB of RAM cruises in at under $10,000. There are 1U x86 rack servers with smaller price tags, to be sure, but none that can be taken so far in one chassis as Xserve for the money, and no PC server carries pervasive big iron design to the mainstream as Xserve does.
Additional resources
• Special report: IT's guide to the Macintosh
More people are using the Mac. And the compatibility and support barriers aren't at all what you may think. Businesses today
can bring the Mac in as an option. This special report examines the pros and cons.
• Analysis: Why 'no Macs' is no longer a defensible IT strategy
More users are demanding Macs in the enterprise. Thanks to key computing shifts, supporting their appetite for Apple is now
a straightforward option for IT
• Analysis: A new day for Macs in the enterprise?
iPhone-loving workers disenchanted with corporate IT might love to ditch their PCs for Macs, but are we really on the cusp of greater enterprise
adoption of Apple?
• Review: Mac OS X Leopard: A perfect 10
Apple's new operating system and its massive new feature set challenge users and developers to explore new and better ways
of working
• A developer's-eye view of Leopard, part I
Xray and Core Animation stand out among Apple's immense bag of new Leopard tricks
• A developer's-eye view of Leopard, part II
Leopard's Xcode3.0 integrated development environment and Objective-C 2.0 language help define the Mac platform
• A developer's-eye view of Leopard, part III
Cocoa and other sweet object-oriented frameworks magically make all Mac apps part of an integrated suite
• A developer's-eye view of Leopard, part IV
64-bit Darwin, Dashcode, Time Machine, and Ruby on Rails call on developers to trade out established skills for new ones
• Analysis: Leopard's Unix tricks
The changes to OS X 10.5 Leopard's Unix core include some totally new or substantially revised commands
• Review: MacBook Air is light as, well, air
Apple's new ultraportable may not be for everyone, but if you want thin, sexy, easy mobility, and decent performance -- and
can live without a swappable battery and built-in optical drive -- the Air is the answer
• Special report: IT's guide to the iPhone
From app dev to security, discover how to frame your iPhone strategy with this special report.
• Hands on: How to make the (new) iPhone work at work
Apple's new SDK and iPhone updates should make it even easier to add the popular device to your enterprise. Here's what you
need to know.
• Tom Yager: Enterprise Mac
