Tiger Server due April 29

Apple also announced will be available on Friday, April 29--the same day as it will ship the desktop/client version. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Server integrates over 100 open-source projects and standards-based software applications along with easy-to-use management to deploy for Mac, Windows and Linux clients. The update brings over 200 new features including native support for 64-bit applications, iChat Server to deploy secure instant messaging within an organization, Weblog Server to publish and share weblogs (blogs); and Xgrid to turn a group of Macs into a virtual supercomputer. It will be available for a price of $500 (10-client license) or $1000 (unlimited clients).

"Tiger Server continues Apple's blazing pace of innovation and is the best release of Mac OS X Server yet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With no client access fees and over 100 open source projects combined with Apple's legendary ease of use, Tiger Server is the clear choice for all Mac and PC workgroups and an ideal alternative to Windows and Linux servers."

Mac OS X Tiger Server now supports 64-bit computing, allowing applications to leverage 64-bit performance when accessing memory through 64-bit addressing and higher precision math calculations with 64-bit optimized math libraries. Users will also run be able to run 32-bit applications simultaneously, according to the company.

The new server OS includes a new iChat Server designed for organizations that need to keep internal communication private. iChat Server integrates within an organization's existing directory services, uses SSL/TSL encryption to ensure privacy, works with Apple's iChat conferencing software in Tiger and is compatible with open-source Jabber clients available on Windows, Linux and popular PDAs.

Weblog Server allows non-technical individuals to publish and syndicate content using their existing web browsers. It supports calendar-based navigation, and user/group blogs as well as HTML, RSS, RSS2, RDF or ATOM protocols. Weblog Server can integrate with Open Directory, LDAP and access control lists for authentication and comes with several Apple-designed blog themes.

Apple also said that Tiger is 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 makes it easy to turn an ad hoc group of Macs into a virtual supercomputer by streamlining the process of assembling nodes, submitting jobs, and retrieving results. With Xgrid, scientists, animators and digital content creators can easily run a single job across multiple computers at once, dramatically improving 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 that provide a more flexible permissions model to give administrators better control over files, folders and network services in mixed platform environments;
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• Software Update Server that saves on network costs and avoids 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 helps protect all clients connected to the mail server from viruses and unwanted junk email;


• Gateway Setup Assistant to make it easier for small business and home office users to set up complex network services, including DHCP, NAT, DNS, port routing, firewall and VPN services; and


• 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.

by MacNN Staff