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October 31, 2007

software

Virtualized OS X Server: coming soon to an Xserve near you

Posted Oct. 31, ’07, 9:19 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

Leopard ServerAre those pigs flying by the window? Wait, no—an easy mistake to make. They just happen to be your everyday common pigbird: birds that look like pigs. Our friends at TidBITS are reporting that Apple’s End User License Agreement for Leopard Server is different from previous versions of the OS X Server license in that it appears to allow for virtualization. Here’s the relevant portion of the new license:

This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Mac OS X Server software (the “Mac OS X Server Software”) on a single Apple-labeled computer. You may also install and use other copies of Mac OS X Server Software on the same Apple-labeled computer, provided that you acquire an individual and valid license from Apple for each of these other copies of Mac OS X Server Software.
This change would mark a major about face for Apple, which had previously been pretty adamant about not allowing any virtualization of OS X, even when using virtualization software on OS X. Of course, this change doesn’t apply to the desktop version of Leopard, merely the server.

If you’re curious as to why that change is important, or what it means for Leopard Server and the IT professionals who love it, I highly recommend Adam’s article above; as you’d expect from TidBITS, it’s thorough and informative.

If you’re hoping that this is a predictor of functionality to be possible with the client version of Leopard (or virtualizing OS X on other OSes), don’t get your hopes up. VMWare and Parallels are both working closely with Apple to make virtualization of OS X Server a possibility; as a result, it’s likely to be very tied to Apple’s rules and regulations.


5 Comments

krye said:

Are you sure this is virtualization? Maybe they are talking about dual-booting. Let's not start another round of rumor mongering. OK?

October 31, 2007 9:24 AM
Dan Moren Author Profile Page said:

@krye: Parallels says they're working with Apple on this, so I'm pretty confident that this isn't rumor-mongering.

October 31, 2007 9:38 AM
jason said:

In and of itself, this change in the license isn't really a change at all - it's just a clarification. If you compare the language of the 2 licenses, the first sentence remains the same, the new leopard license adds the second sentence - but even without that second sentence, the first sentence doesn't preclude you from installing a second licensed copy of the server software on the same computer. Looking at just that sentence from the old license agreement, it doesn't prohibit virualization, so long as you have multiple copies of the server software and you are running the virtual server on an "Apple-labeled computer".

October 31, 2007 10:26 AM
krye said:

Then good. Awesome!

I was so po'd when I bought parallels and found that I couldn't install a copy of Tiger on top of Tiger. What If you're working on some dev stuff and you don't want to blow up your OSX? Wouldn't it be nice to have Tiger or Leopard in a VM? What if you are developing an app for Leopard and you want to make sure it still runs OK on Tiger? Wouldn't it be nice to not have to keep around a spare Tiger machine, just so you can break it. A VM would be AWESOME!

October 31, 2007 11:16 AM
krye said:

Oh, and I wasn't accusing you of spreading rumors or anything. I was just like saying "let's not", as in like "we" as in like collectively, you know?

October 31, 2007 11:18 AM

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