Next message: Daniel L. Schwartz: "[WinMac] Follow-up to using a Mac as a Web server"
Actually, Apple WAS using Solaris boxes for their sites, but I think at this
point they have finished the move over to OSX Server. Although not nearly as
nice as the IBM server hardware, or HP, (Dell and Compaq should jump into
the same lava pit!), Apple is, at least now offering redundant power
supplies on their servers. Not perfect, but a step forward.
john
--
There are no little events with the heart. It magnifies everything; it
places in the same scales the fall of an empire of fourteen years and the
dropping of a woman's glove, and almost always the glove weighs more than
the empire.
Balzac (1799-1850)
> From: "Daniel L. Schwartz" <expresso@snip.net>
> Reply-To: winmac@lists.best.com
> Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 15:31:08 -0500
> To: winmac@lists.best.com
> Subject: Re: [WinMac] Web Server; Greg J...
>
>
> There are a LOT of other "Pros & Cons" to running an Internet &/or
> Intranet web server on a Mac vs NT/2k vs unix.
>
> Speaking in *general terms* (with PLENTY of exceptions!), here are a few
> more reasons to consider one platform over another...
>
> 1) What content is actually being hosted on this given Web server? If it's
> just serving up "brochureware" static pages or streaming media, then
> actually Macs can be a reasonable choice due to it's pretty good security
> *over a network*
>
> 2) If you need to create pages on the fly, i.e. pulling up information
> from a database and then displaying it in HTML format, then look to CORBA
> (Common Object Request Brokering Architecture) or COM+ (M$) middleware...
> If any of you saw the MacWorld keynote address in January, you saw how
> humorous it was that Apple finally "discovered" CORBA for www.apple.com and
> www.mac.com
>
> 3) Clustering is another tricky area for Mac web servers, whether it's for
> load balancing or failover protection. Even Apple themselves uses unix
> (AIX, I believe) on their Apple Network Servers powering mirror.apple.com
> <http://www.mirror.apple.com> and <ftp://ftp.mirror.apple.com>.
>
> ...And if you think that NT/Win2k has decent clustering, better think
> again: It's *barely* ready for prime time -- And if you're managing a site
> where you need to consider clustering (such as BN.com or GAP.com) you
> wouldn't need to ask here on the WinMac list about using a Mac! :)
>
> It *is* worth noting that IP load balancing between Web servers can be
> "assisted" by the router; or in the case of Mac Web servers, actually
> "handled by" or "offloaded to" the router;
>
> 4) Actual physical hardware the server runs on: Sadly, the two real
> enterprise quality machines Apple built - The Network Server 500 and ANS
> 700 - were killed off when they only sold ~100 units per month... And they
> ran AIX 4, not MacOS. [Question: There was a "skunk works" project to get a
> CHRP MacOS 8.1 (*I think*) to run on the ANS 500 & ANS 700... Greg J, what
> do you know about this?!]. Unless you spend hundreds of dollars for a
> Marathon iRack, you don't really want to use those cheesey Sawtooth cases;
>
> All this being said, the Mac platform **does indeed** have its place as a
> Web server, especially where security is concerned... And if you are a
> high-profile site (such as DOJ.gov) that is the continual target of
> hackers, then this is *certainly* a major consideration.
>
> <soapbox>
> Unfortunately for "The Rest Of Us," when Steve Jobs brags about the 4 legs
> of the Apple product "matrix" (desktop and mobile, home and corporate), he
> conveniently omitted "Server" as the underpinnings of the whole thing...
> And without a firm server underpinning the Mac platform will never make it
> in the enterprise... Instead, it will be relegated to the workgroup &
> education markets (where >99% uptime is not required) as well as other
> "special needs" markets (such as government website hosting.
> </soapbox>
>
> Cheers!
> Dan
>
> At 10:34 AM 3/20/00 -0500, Curtis wrote:
>> At 01:26 PM 3/20/2000 +0000, Percy Mett wrote:
>>> We currently host a Web server on an NT4 platform.
>>>
>>> What are the pros & cons of hosting a Web server under a MacOS?
>>
>> I think choosing the right web server software for you is more important
>> than choosing the OS. Whether you go with Apache, IIS, WebStar, AppleShare
>> IP, or something else depends on what you're trying to do and what skills
>> you have.
>>
>> I'm going to assume you're talking about running MacOS 9. These are very
>> general comments.
>>
>> Pro: more secure "out of the box"
>> Mac clients can use AppleShare to add, remove, modify web documents
>>
>> Con: no protected memory (yet) so application crashes are more likely to
>> take down the whole machine
>> fewer options for remote administration
>> Windows clients can't use file sharing to add, remove, modify web
>> documents without additional software on the clients or server
>> --
>> Curtis Wilcox cwcx@ats.rochester.edu
>> ATS Desktop Systems Consultant 716/274-1160
>> Eastman School of Music Pager: x12-3290
>
>
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