Apple discontinues Xserve line, says Mac Mini is its most popular server

Xserve, Apple's eight-year old line of server modules will be discontinued on January 31, 2011, a note from the company said today. The company is moving away from the dedicated server business and pushing its non-portable Macs as servers.

"Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server has become Apple's most popular server system," Apple's Xserve Transition Guide says. "Perfect for small business and workgroups of up to 50 people, a single Mac mini can run the full suite of Mac OS X Server services. A single Mac mini can also be deployed as a single-task server for a larger number of users in a business or education environment. Depending on the workload and number of users, a single Xserve could be replaced with one or multiple Mac mini server systems."

Apple does acknowledge that this leaves some gaps in functionality, like the lack of LOM (Lights Out Management,) the ability to manage and configure systems when they're powered down, the lack of expandability within the Mac Mini profile, and the fact that neither the Pro nor the Mini are optimized for rack-mounted storage.

Orders for the remaining Xserve modules will be accepted until January 31, 2011.