The Mac Pro Server - System Overview

The Mac Pro Server is Apple's top of the range server option. At the beginning of 2011 Apple stopped selling the XServe and started pushing the Mac Pro in a server configuration.

This move surprised the existing XServe user base and many started asking what the options would be. The solution proved to be in the shape of the Mac Pro configured to be a server and running Mac OS X Server edition.

Mac Pro Server - Front and Rear Views Image courtesy of Apple

There is no doubt that the Mac Pro is a more then capable computer, but servers tend to be rack mounting. It will be interesting to see if Apple ever decide to license Mac OS X Server for use on non-Apple hardware!

Powerful Server in a Tower Case

The picture above shows the front and rear of the Mac Pro Server. As you can see it is a bit different to the XServe. Some users might find it strange not having a rack server.

Mac Pro Server - With Open Side Panel Image courtesy of Apple

The Mac Pro server is easily accessible allowing hard disks and error correcting memory to be easily swapped out, if required. It also has standard PCI Express slots allowing off the shelf I/O cards to be fitted.

The Latest Intel "Nehalem" Xeon Processors

Image courtesy of Intel

If you have a look at the Apple store you will notice that Apple make the Server option available in the Apple store. It is off course configurable like any Mac Pro, but it comes with a standard server configuration.

The standard Server comes with a single 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 "Nehalem" processor.

The Mac Pro Server has Great Storage Options

One of the most important needs of a server is storage. By the very nature of a servers role it needs to store users data. This can be in the form of emails, or a website, or even files on a file server.

The standard configuration includes two 1TB SATA Hard Disks. This is an excellent amount of disk space. If this wasn't enough then you will still have two drive bays free allowing for a total of 8TB of storage.

If you have a need to use more professional storage options, such as RAID or an XSan network then further options are available.

A Wide Choice of Connectivity Options

You will be pleased to hear that the server comes with both WiFi and Gigabit ethernet for connection to a network.

You also get both USB and FireWire 800 ports which are both useful for connecting external back-up storage.

An option available through the Apple on-line store is the addition of a Fibre Channel PCI Express card. This allows your server to be connected to Fibre Channel-based storage or an XSan storage network.

At the moment the Mac Pro does not have the new Intel Thunderbolt technology. It is widely expected that Apple will update the Mac Pro sometime during 2011, at which time it could well get the Thunderbolt interface.

Includes Mac OS X Lion Server Edition

Mac Pro running Lion Server and Xsan Image courtesy of Apple

This is a full server operating system on which the following services can be configured;

Simple Administration
iCal Server 2
Address Book Server
Podcast Producer 2
Wiki Server 2
Mobile Access Server
iChat Server
File Sharing
Mail Services
Web Hosting
Spotlight Server
Client Management
Networking and VPN

For more information visit our dedicated Mac OS X Server software page.

Server Software

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Although the Mac Pro runs the powerful OS X Lion Server operating system, there are some serious computing tasks that just need to have specialist software.

Apple produce the Apple Remote Desktop for administering servers remotely, but they also develop the Xsan 2 software.

Apple Xsan 2

Apple Xsan Retail Box Image courtesy of Apple

Apple Xsan 2 is a powerful storage solution, where there are serious amounts of data being handled. This could be in video production, or a research establishment.

A Mac Pro server fitted with the Fibre Channel PCI Express card, would be an ideal solution for connecting to an Xsan network, and could be setup and controlled using the Xsan software.

The list below is a summary of the most useful features available with Apple Remote Desktop.