
Note: As per Apple’s Software License Agreement for macOS Sierra, Apple will permit you to virtualize up to two instances of macOS Server, so long as it is run on Apple-branded hardware. While there are other considerations and benefits associated in migrating your physical servers to VMs, the main focus of this article is on how to virtualize macOS so it is hosted on the VMware ESXi hypervisor installed on a Mac server. SEE: Virtualization policy (Tech Pro Research) Increased availability comes from being able to take snapshots of virtual machines (VMs) for up-to-date backups and being able to move VMs to other less congested hosts with the click of a button or script. In permitting IT to do more with less, this helps to keep performance and uptime high, as hosted servers benefit from the allocation of resources while being able to access more, if necessary, from the available pool. In addition to the potential savings, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is lowered as well through simplifying management of the converged systems. Virtualizing systems to be hosted on higher-density servers, with its robust resources and modern, more efficiently optimized hardware, offers most enterprises the ability to compartmentalize its physical server count while lowering its carbon footprint. Follow these steps to create a virtual machine for macOS to be hosted by VMware ESXi running on a bare-metal server.
