OS X Server & VMWare

Rendog · 16 Sep 2013 at 15:14

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some quick advice regarding installing OS X (Mountain Lion) as a VM or at least point me in the right direction.

My company are looking to do some Apple MAC device management and from what information I can gather this is best done via OS X Server. The problem is we don't have any physical Apple servers and would prefer to have the server as a VM.

Does anyone know if it is legally possible to install OS X Mountain Lion as a VM then once that is done add the OS X server add-on to that? Would I need to purchase physical media of OS X Mountain Lion?

Any information anyone can give would be fantastic.

Many thanks!

ubern00b · 16 Sep 2013 at 15:28

This may help you (or not as Apples licensing doesn't allow it to be run on non-Apple hardware and that includes virtual machines):

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2005793

visibleman · 16 Sep 2013 at 18:20

Is it doable? Yes it is (although it doesn't run particularly well). But as mentioned, unless it's running on top of Apple hardware then you legally can't virtualise OS X.

Your best bet is to either purchase (new/secondhand) the Mac Mini Server or a Mac Mini and purchase the OS X Server add-on separately.

Rendog · 16 Sep 2013 at 19:21

Many thanks for the responses, seems a bit of a tricky one.

I read the link ubern00b gave as well as this one: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1000131 - both seem to give reliable explanations.

I will look into the Mac Mini options.

Thanks once again.

Nikumba · 16 Sep 2013 at 20:06

The first link says you can create a OSX Server on VMWare platform, you just need a Mac OSX server disc that is OEM rather than what comes with a mac

visibleman · 16 Sep 2013 at 20:16

Nikumba said:
The first link says you can create a OSX Server on VMWare platform, you just need a Mac OSX server disc that is OEM rather than what comes with a mac

No, it needs to be running on Apple hardware, hence it stating -

...you may only create and run this virtual machine on Apple-labeled hardware.

And it also says the same within the T&C's/EULA.