Apple previews Mac OS X Server Leopard
At its World Wide Developers Conference on Monday Apple Computer previewed Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard, the next major release of its award-winning UNIX server operating system.
Leopard Server, scheduled to ship in spring 2007, builds on Apple's ease of use with new Server Assistant and Server Preference features that make it easy for even non-technical users to setup and manage a server with just a few clicks of a mouse.
For the first time, Apple is delivering native 64-bit server applications that take advantage of the increased processing power of 64-bit computing. Other new features include iCal Server, the easiest way to share calendars, schedule meetings and plan events; a wiki server that makes it simple for teams to share and communicate; Spotlight Server, the fastest way to find content on servers; and Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automate Podcast production.
"Leopard Server brings a new level of 64-bit power together with Apple's legendary ease of use in one server operating system," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Leopard Server is our best Mac OS X Server release yet and includes many new innovative features, such as iCal Server, a wiki server and Spotlight Server, making it ideal for education, small businesses and large enterprises alike, and a great alternative to Windows and Linux servers."
Leopard Server will also enable small businesses and workgroups to take full advantage of the benefits of a server without an IT department. Leopard Server features a new setup interface with built-in Network Health Check, a new Server Preferences administration interface and automatic client setup support that automatically configures Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard clients to use the server for all essential services, including file and printer sharing, Mail, iCal, iChat, Address Book and backup.
The core services in Leopard Server, including Apache 2, MySQL 5, Postfix, Cyrus, iChat Server and QuickTime Streaming Server, are now 64-bit, allowing users to take full advantage of their 64-bit hardware's performance and processing power, and to work with larger data sets. Since Leopard Server is fully 32-bit compatible, users can run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively side-by-side.
Leopard Server features
For the first time, Mac OS X Server will include a calendar server for users and groups to coordinate events, schedule meetings, reserve resources and use time more effectively. iCal Server uses the open CalDAV standard for integration with leading calendar programs, including iCal 3 in Leopard, Mozilla's Sunbird, OSAF's Chandler and Microsoft Outlook.
Leopard Server also includes a wiki server to make it easy for teams to create and share information through their own shared website and provides web-based access to shared resources such as team calendars, weblogs and Podcasts.
Spotlight Server is the fastest way to search and find content on servers within a network. Designed for workgroups with shared documents, projects and file archives, Spotlight Server works with Leopard clients to deliver quick, lightning fast searches of content stored on mounted volumes across the entire network.
With Podcast Producer, anyone can record content, automatically upload it to the server and convert it into a Podcast. Using Xgrid, Podcast Producer can leverage any Mac on the network to encode the video. The Podcast can then be delivered over the Internet or even to multimedia enabled cell phones over high speed wireless networks using QuickTime Streaming Server.
Other new features in Leopard Server include:
Mail Clustering for higher availability and reliability when used with Xsan, Apple's clustered file system for storage area networks;
iChat Server 2 with instant message federation that lets users communicate with GoogleTalk and other XMPP instant messaging systems;
QuickTime Streaming Server 6 with support for 3GPP Release 6 bit rate adaptation for smooth streaming when delivering content to mobile phones regardless of network congestion;
new Adaptive Firewall technology to actively monitor for attacks and proactively block individual hosts from connecting to the server; and
Xgrid 2 featuring GridAnywhere for distributed computing in environments without dedicated controllers, and Scoreboard for prioritizing job distribution to the fastest available CPU.
Leopard Server, scheduled to ship in spring 2007, builds on Apple's ease of use with new Server Assistant and Server Preference features that make it easy for even non-technical users to setup and manage a server with just a few clicks of a mouse.
For the first time, Apple is delivering native 64-bit server applications that take advantage of the increased processing power of 64-bit computing. Other new features include iCal Server, the easiest way to share calendars, schedule meetings and plan events; a wiki server that makes it simple for teams to share and communicate; Spotlight Server, the fastest way to find content on servers; and Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automate Podcast production.
"Leopard Server brings a new level of 64-bit power together with Apple's legendary ease of use in one server operating system," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Leopard Server is our best Mac OS X Server release yet and includes many new innovative features, such as iCal Server, a wiki server and Spotlight Server, making it ideal for education, small businesses and large enterprises alike, and a great alternative to Windows and Linux servers."
Leopard Server will also enable small businesses and workgroups to take full advantage of the benefits of a server without an IT department. Leopard Server features a new setup interface with built-in Network Health Check, a new Server Preferences administration interface and automatic client setup support that automatically configures Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard clients to use the server for all essential services, including file and printer sharing, Mail, iCal, iChat, Address Book and backup.
The core services in Leopard Server, including Apache 2, MySQL 5, Postfix, Cyrus, iChat Server and QuickTime Streaming Server, are now 64-bit, allowing users to take full advantage of their 64-bit hardware's performance and processing power, and to work with larger data sets. Since Leopard Server is fully 32-bit compatible, users can run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively side-by-side.
Leopard Server features
For the first time, Mac OS X Server will include a calendar server for users and groups to coordinate events, schedule meetings, reserve resources and use time more effectively. iCal Server uses the open CalDAV standard for integration with leading calendar programs, including iCal 3 in Leopard, Mozilla's Sunbird, OSAF's Chandler and Microsoft Outlook.
Leopard Server also includes a wiki server to make it easy for teams to create and share information through their own shared website and provides web-based access to shared resources such as team calendars, weblogs and Podcasts.
Spotlight Server is the fastest way to search and find content on servers within a network. Designed for workgroups with shared documents, projects and file archives, Spotlight Server works with Leopard clients to deliver quick, lightning fast searches of content stored on mounted volumes across the entire network.
With Podcast Producer, anyone can record content, automatically upload it to the server and convert it into a Podcast. Using Xgrid, Podcast Producer can leverage any Mac on the network to encode the video. The Podcast can then be delivered over the Internet or even to multimedia enabled cell phones over high speed wireless networks using QuickTime Streaming Server.
Other new features in Leopard Server include:
Mail Clustering for higher availability and reliability when used with Xsan, Apple's clustered file system for storage area networks;
iChat Server 2 with instant message federation that lets users communicate with GoogleTalk and other XMPP instant messaging systems;
QuickTime Streaming Server 6 with support for 3GPP Release 6 bit rate adaptation for smooth streaming when delivering content to mobile phones regardless of network congestion;
new Adaptive Firewall technology to actively monitor for attacks and proactively block individual hosts from connecting to the server; and
Xgrid 2 featuring GridAnywhere for distributed computing in environments without dedicated controllers, and Scoreboard for prioritizing job distribution to the fastest available CPU.
Comments
Very excited about the Lights Out management. Very excited about SAS drive support. Red PS ...liking that as well. I'd love to see Apple develope an iSCSI initiator for OS X server so that client have the ability to run IP SAN and Fibre SAN.
Im using ATTOs iSCSI initiator for OS X server now. I agree, Apple needs to step up and provide this. Its a no-brainer!
Now that VMware is onboard Apple needs to work with then so that you can take Xserves and transparently move them into VM environments and back without downtime.
I could see how video editiors might want to juggle resources like this and plenty of other peoplle. Power on demand and Utility Computing Mac style.