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MAC-BASEDHOSTINGHistorically, when most individuals thought of Apple Macplatforms, they tended to think only in terms of Apple’s desktopand notebook computers, serving roles in a relatively limitednumber of homes, or as a multimedia, publishing or educationalmachine. As we all know, that role has shifted in recent memory– a stronger general consumer audience now purchases Macplatforms as an extension to their experiences with Apple’s iPodtechnologies, while business users now take advantage of theMac’s Intel-based architecture and dual-boot-with-Windowscapabilities. But, usually absent from most considerations is therole of the Mac in the server room.Perhaps surprising to some is that Apple actually doesmanufacture a quite traditional-looking server platform, availablein a 1U rackmount configuration, called the Xserve. In termsof hardware, this platform in virtually every way matcheswhat one would find from a traditional server manufacturer– the base Xserve configuration boasts dual Intel Xeondual core processors, 1GB of RAM (expandable to 32GB),Gigabit Ethernet, and even a few extras not always found withrackmount servers, such as Firewire ports. All of this is offeredwith an unlimited client edition of Mac OS X Server – Apple’sMach-kernel-based server OS equivalent of their consumer MacOS X operating system.The obvious question is if such a server has applications thatbring it outside of the corporate server rooms of organizationsheavily reliant on Mac technology, and into a conventionaldatacenter environment. Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly,it appears the answer is a definite yes. But, as I discovered– and in the stereotypical eccentric Apple fashion – it’s not justXserves being utilized for web hosting.An example of this is what at first may seem like a slightlybizarre approach to colocation – the Las Vegas, Nevadadatacenter of Macminicolo.net, which specializes in thecolocation of Macintosh platforms, primarily the Mac Mini.Indeed, there is in fact a very active and viable market ofhosting not simply Xserve platforms, but what would actuallybe considered consumer-grade technology: Mac Minis. And,surprisingly, in what very well makes up a whole new definitionfor the concept of “White Box” hosting, Mac Minis are apparentlyrobust machines, capable of performing impressively well in aserver environment.“People wonder about their ability to act as a server,”explained Brian Stucki, System Administrator at Macminicolo.net. “But surprisingly, they are quite capable,” he continued.“For instance, all of the FreeMac sites (www.freemacware.com)are hosted from one Mini. Granted, there are projects out therethat would need more power than a Mac Mini, but for the largemajority of sites, mail servers, databases, and DNS Servers, theMini does quite well,” he stated. “It’s an inexpensive way to haveyour own dedicated server.”Freddy Gonzalez, Account Manager at Arogo.net provideda similar view: “Mac minis are very powerful, and are able todeliver a lot of services reliably, at a very affordable price,” hesaid. Perhaps more interesting, though, is the role Mac miniscan play in compensating for a non-existent Mac-based VirtualPrivate Server (VPS) market: “For VPS, it seems more costeffective to offer low-end dedicated Mac mini plans than the costof setting up Mac VPS plans,” stated Gonzalez. “This is mainlydue to a lack of proper tools, but also the cost of licensing forsuch product offerings,” he explained. “In the end, a Mac basedVPS offering might be marginally less expensive to the customerthan a dedicated Mac mini, thus making this [VPS] option onethat would not make sense, both to the customer, and thehosting company offering such services,” he concluded.But Mac Mini and Xserve colocation isn’t the only type ofhosting widely available based off of Macintosh platforms.Although it does not appear Mac-based reseller hosting is at allcommon (due to a lack of MacOS being actively supported bymajor control panel manufacturers), shared hosting based off ofMac platforms is certainly available. And, although prices do nottend into the “bargain basement,” they do remain quite low forthose seeking good value in a shared solution.One very affordable and well-established entity in the Macshared hosting industry is Denver, Colorado-based MacHighway(www.machighway.com). Now in its tenth year of operation,the company provides a full range of shared hosting platforms,entirely based off of Apple Xserve platforms. Pricing andfeatures are almost precisely what you would expect from a highqualityshared hosting platform – starter hosting plans begin at alittle over $4/month (with annual payment), with more advancedplatforms ranging from $8.29 to $20.79/month. Features arealso quite typical, and include full PHP, MySQL, CGI/Perl,POP3/IMAP support, and so on. About all that isn’t available isa full-featured control panel (cPanel, SWSoft and other majorcontrol panel manufacturers do not offer products that supportMac platforms).What’s very interesting, not to mention possibly being apositive sign for Apple Inc., is that although the Mac-basedhosting user base is predictably dominated by those who useMac platforms at home or work, the overall numbers tendto show that many PC users choose to host on an Apple[continued]24 Ping! Zine Magazine