Leopard & Apple SAN: no joy

[Leo Ticheli]

It's bad enough that Apple's new 8-core machines, which are only available with Leopard, cripple Shake, but what's much worse is that you can't use the new machines at all if you are running an Apple SAN!

We, like many much larger operations, run all our audio and edit suites to a common Apple SAN. We're in the middle of a facility expansion and we CANNOT add more rooms with current Macs!

Apple says that connecting a single Leopard suite will break the SAN and endanger all our audio and video resources. Yikes!

Apple will not sell the new machines with Tiger and they tell us that trying to load Tiger on the new machines can be problematical.

We spent six figures on our Apple SAN system and now we can't add rooms? What really hurts is that we went with Apple's SAN because we felt sure that whatever OS modifications Apple made, they were sure to work with the SAN.

What are we supposed to do? Buy used Macs until they get it sorted? Then spend thousands more to upgrade to the new Macs? Create stand-alone rooms and slowly push resources via Ethernet?

I've been an Apple evangelist since the SE30 (you kids just insert a long, long time) and it really pains me to have to post that Apple has really dropped the ball in a big way with this one.

Ever since OSX, Apple has been bullet-proof. Everything worked and it worked every time, all the time.

I've been urgently requesting resolution of this issue with Apple for a while now without success.

I promise to post here when/if Apple is able to fix this severe problem.

Best regards to all,

Leo

[Fergus Meiklejohn]

Somebody needs to be fired at Apple. There are just too many screw ups.

Imagine how we (MAC users) would all be laughing if this was a Vista problem..

[Mark Pedersen]

Leo,

That's interesting information. I share your Apple bigotry. I've been working with the company since the (ahem) Apple II days. You're right, this is not typical behavior. My guess is the will resolve it soon, at least by NAB, which is now the show that they target for all pro app updates and announcements.

Of course, that's a hundred years away in your situation. We have 4 rooms tied to a central machine room with pro towers and raids, but have stayed away from XSAN for now. We'll definitely wait until this gets sorted out.

Thanks for the post, best of luck. Don't loose the faith. You're still light years ahead of any Windows alternative.

M

[Leo Ticheli]

Hi Mark,

On balance, the Apple XSAN has performed flawlessly, it's a joy for everyone, audio & video suites, to work with the same resources at the same time. No fall-overs, no hitches. We have terrific tech support, but have really not needed it. On the monthly call from Apple, we just report that all is well. Except for this, of course.

I am a both "belt and suspenders" kind of fellow, so we have redundancy on absolutely everything and spares on the shelf. I can't overemphasize the importance of this.

We have Apple Enterprise working with us on this problem and are getting very conflicting information. Left hand unaware of the right. I've decided to take the gloves off and demand a solution.

Mark, you're welcome to contact me and I'll give you my contacts and full details of our experience. When you do go XSAN from Apple Enterprise, you can expect a 15% discount on the large purchase and then 10% on everything else you buy from Apple. It's really outstanding.

Just ring me up; area code 205, 930 0500.

Best regards,

Leo

[Gunleik Groven]

I am in semi-deep shit over all thesee subjects as well...

It's really too f***ing silly to believe!

Gunleik

[Lexicon]

I think Apple has screwed the pooch when they shacked up with Intel and decided to start shoving out new products without a proper development cycle and third-party input. It seems like the latest batch of the OS is fine for regular users but digital content professionals are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to application compatibility and functionality. I can only hope their next upgrade that is coming in the next MacPro with the revamped Intel CPUs will be a better product.

[Simon Blackledge]

have one macpro with 10.5 on in our studio and files are even then starting to do funny things :-/. Lucky its not an 8core. Back to 10.4 for now.

s

[J.D. Frey]

so what's the difference between the new 8 cores and a previous 8 core that prevents running tiger? I guess I didn't realize that the new 8-core macs were that different.

[Gunleik Groven]

New processors and motherboards
New RAM
New GPU's
Needing new drivers?
Sorta?

Gunleik

[Leo Ticheli]

OK, here's an incomplete update:

Apple is stepping up to the plate with offers of loaner equipment while this thing is sorted out. I don't have full details yet, perhaps tomorrow.

According to Apple, my tiny little facility would be the very first to try to connect a Leopard seat with XSAN! Stunning. And terrifying.

I'm not that bold.

I'll post more details as soon as I get them.

Best regards to all,

Leo