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Apple Deprecates More Services In OS X Server (apple.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the not-dying-just-fading-away dept.

Long-time Slashdot reader HEMI426 writes: Long ago, Apple used to produce rack servers, and a special flavor of OS X for that hardware with extra, server-friendly features. After Apple got out of the rack server game, OS X Server soldiered on, with the occasional change in cost or distribution method.

The next stop on the long, slow death march of OS X Server is here. With a recent post to their knowledgebase, Apple states that almost all of the services not necessary for the management of networked Macs and other iDevices are being deprecated. These services will be hidden for new installs, and dropped in the future.
Apple writes that "those depending on them should consider alternatives, including hosted services."

6 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. So... by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, let me get this straight: This is a server OS, with basic server functionalities removed? In what way is this still a server OS?

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    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re:So... by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a server app, with all the server functionality removed. Staring at this list, I'm struggling to think of anything that wasn't removed. Apparently, they kept the user and device management — the part that for 99% of Server.app users is the least useful, but admittedly also the only part that's at all Mac-specific.

      That said, Server.app sucks. Always has. The Apache functionality has been a constant struggle even to get it to do basic things like update certs programmatically (they bizarrely store them in the keychain, then require some weird custom commands to force the server to grab the new credentials, and they're basically undocumented as far as I can tell). And heaven help you if you try to import any existing Apache config. You're pretty much guaranteed to end up with something nonfunctional.

      The only reason I even install Server.app at all is so that the software updates for Apache and BIND happen without me having to pay attention to the CERT mailing lists. And even then, I don't let the app configure *anything*, using a separate launchd plist with a different identifier and a separate config file so that none of Apple's code has any effect on the actual operation of the server.

      I guess with this change, there's no reason to bother installing it ever again, since I don't manage a network of users. This, of course, also means I have one less reason to keep using Macs as servers, but I digress.

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  2. Most services on the list seem to be FOSS projects by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It should be easy enough to install them on your own, if for some reason you want to use a macOS box as a server.

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    #DeleteChrome
  3. Re:Most services on the list seem to be FOSS proje by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Because it worked out of the box... and it hid all the stupid config files...?
    You rather use a linux server with 300+ config files which only an expert-sadist-linux-fanboy knows how to configure... instead of 20 bucks and just flip the switch... and it just works..

    Spend a week becoming expert in linux-config hell. or spend 20 bucks and it runs in 5 minutes...

  4. Re: We saw this coming awhile ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Apple management just doesn't understand"

    Oh but they DO understand, they just don't give a single fuck about it when they can charge $1000 for a shitty fucking plastic phone at least at 2000% markup, and sell Billions of units to all the idiots who will gladly camp out in freezing weather in line to buy them no matter what.

    There is no way their status symbol can compete and translate over in the real server market and pretend like the computing resource power per $ to value is even reasonably close to almost anything else. I'm all for paying high dollar for damn good equipment, if it means better VALUE. We used to pay insane amounts for Sun, SGI, and IBM shit back in the 90s, and it was amazing good equiptment for it's time, but for the same reasons those old school Unix server markets died out, is the same damn reason why Apple can't do that kinda shit now today. They are more than welcome to try.

    The increased R&D and services that all come with "servers" is likely just seen by Apple as a cost center and extra liability, where they damn well know they can get away with +2000% markup, so why bother for lower profit margin, when people will STILL continue to purchase their shitty extremely overpriced novelty status symbol items and Apps!

  5. So what? by Yaztromo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    macOS on the Server side of things is so far behind what can be done with Linux, it isn't even funny. You can't run macOS in AWS. You can't containerize macOS apps (Docker on macOS uses macOS's hypervisor to run Linux in the background). If you want to run in the server space, and you aren't tied to Microsoft proprietary ways of doing things, Linux is the place to be. Apple knows this -- they're already too far behind, and are simply never going to be able to keep pace with what's going on in the Linux world.

    Apple needs to focus on continuing to ensure that macOS is a highly compatible client OS. Linux still falls flat in this area. Other than for some Apple proprietary stuff (like iOS provisioning), a macOS server is pointless. Use Linux on the server and macOS on the client.

    Yaz