Apple Depreciating Many Essential Services in macOS Server

Apple is preparing to depreciate a large number of essential network services in macOS Server. The changes are outlined in an Apple support statement entitled: “Prepare for changes to macOS Server“.

macOS Server is changing to focus more on management of computers, devices, and storage on your network. As a result, some changes are coming in how Server works. A number of services will be deprecated, and will be hidden on new installations of an update to macOS Server coming in spring 2018. If you’ve already configured one of these services, you’ll still be able to use it in the spring 2018 macOS Server update.

Apple says users who have the services configured will still be able to use them following the spring 2018 macOS Server update. However, they also list alternative services for users to consider as a replacement for the depreciated services.

These deprecated services will be removed in a future release of macOS Server, so those depending on them should consider alternatives, including hosted services. Deprecated services are listed below. Links to potential replacements are provided underneath each deprecated service.

Calendar

• Calendar and Contacts Server
• DavMail
• Radicale

Contacts

• Calendar and Contacts Server
• DavMail
• Citadel

DHCP

• Kea
• Dnsmasq
• FreeRADIUS

DNS

• BIND
• Unbound
• KnotDNS

Mail

• KerioConnect
• dovecot/Postfix
• Courier

Messages

• ejabberd
• Openfire
• Prosody

NetInstall

• NetSUS
• BSDPy

VPN

• OpenVPN
• SoftEther VPN
• Tcpcrypt

Websites

• Apache HTTP Server
• Nginx
• Lighttpd

Wiki

• MediaWiki
• PmWiki
• XWiki

macOS Server version 5.5 is available for $19.99 in the App Store.

(Via MacRumors)