← Back to context

Comment by ricw

3 months ago

Is macOS up to scratch to be used as a server these days? Last I checked it would always run into trouble / randomly reboot / become unavailable whenever a new OS update became available. Admittedly this is about 2 years ago.

If so, this would be great. Particularly to repurpose older macs.

6 comments

ricw

Reply
hnlmorg  3 months ago

Personally I wouldn’t recommend macOS as a server OS unless you’re doing something that is specifically macOS dependent (like automated e2e testing of macOS / iOS software).

Everything server related that is easy to do on Linux or BSD is at least an order of magnitude more painful on macOS. And like Windows, you cannot run it headless. In fact Windows actually had better support for running headless than macOS despite macOS’s unix heritage.

Also if you need to run macOS on anything other than spare hardware, then expect to pay a premium. This is particularly true of hosting macOS instances in the cloud.

Every time I’ve needed to run macOS as a server, which is a depressingly large amount of times over the years — I’ve had to do that in every job bar one — it’s been a painful process and I’ve had to accept compromises to what would normally be best practices.

Stuff like Tart does make things a little easier. But given how locked down macOS and its hardware are, it really should be something Apple gave a lot more love to themselves. Instead they went the other way and discontinued Mac Server, albeit that was some number of years ago now. And things haven’t gotten any better since.

As a battle hardened unix greybeard, I’d still prefer to administrate enterprise Windows server over “enterprise macOS” servers.

That all said, for any hobby projects, anything is fair game. So if you have spare hardware then go for it. Just don’t expect it to be as “fun” as running Debian on a Rasberry Pi or similar other traditional hobby set ups

  • plagiarist  3 months ago

    Years ago I had to administer Jenkins on a MacOS build machine. It broke often. I would have to VNC in to accept license agreements and other trivial tasks. I am nowhere near your level but even what little I wanted was an unnecessary PITA to achieve and maintain.

  • CharlesW  3 months ago

    > And like Windows, you cannot run it headless.

    As an FYI for anyone who needs/wants to do this, the workaround is a headless display adapter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9W2HHM1