Apple’s Mac OS X Server version 10.4, also known as “Tiger,” is available today, April 29, along with the Tiger desktop version. This latest major release of Apple’s UNIX-based server operating system integrates more than 100 leading open-source projects and standards-based software applications with user-friendly management tools for Mac, Windows and Linux clients.
Tiger Server boasts more than 200 new features including native support for 64-bit applications; iChat Server for secure instant messaging within an organization; Weblog Server for publishing and sharing weblogs (blogs); and Xgrid for turning a group of Macs into a virtual supercomputer.
Bringing the power of 64-bit computing to mainstream servers, Tiger Server allows applications to utilize 64-bit performance when accessing massive amounts of memory through 64-bit addressing. Combined with Apple’s Power Mac G5 or Xserve G5, Tiger Server promises to be an affordable, easy-to-manage solution for the most demanding high-performance scientific, technical and creative computing needs.
Tiger is the first operating system to include a built-in distributed computing architecture for both the desktop and server versions. Both Tiger and Tiger Server include Xgrid, Apple’s solution for distributed computing. Xgrid streamlines the process of assembling nodes, submitting jobs and retrieving results. With Xgrid, animators, scientists, and digital content creators can run a single job across multiple computers at once to improve performance and responsiveness.
Other new features in Tiger Server include:
‘ Support for access control lists and native file permissions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 active directory environments to give administrators better control over files, folders and network services in mixed platform environments.
‘ Software update server designed to save network costs and avoid bandwidth bottlenecks by letting system administrators host their own proxy/cache server to control the availability of Apple’s software updates.
‘ Adaptive junk mail filtering with virus detection and quarantine.
‘ Gateway setup assistant to help small business and home office users set up complex network services, including DHCP, NAT, DNS, port routing, firewall and VPN services.
‘ Ethernet link aggregation and network interface failover that support the IEEE 802.3ad standard to increase potential I/O performance and eliminate single points of failure by allowing multiple network interfaces to appear as a single interface.
Mac OS X Server version 10.4 Tiger is now available at Apple’s retail stores and through authorized resellers for a suggested retail price of $499 for a 10-client edition and $999 for an unlimited-client edition. Current subscribers to the Apple Maintenance Program will receive Tiger Server as part of their service agreement, and the standard Mac OS upgrade package is available to all customers who purchase a new Xserve G5 system from Apple or an authorized reseller for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95. Tiger Server is included with Apple’s Xserve G5 rack-mount server hardware and can run on any Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G5, G4, or G3 processor; a minimum 256MB RAM; built-in FireWire and at least 4GB of available disk space. For more information, go to (www.apple.com).
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