From owner-freebsd-sparc64@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 18 20:57:12 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-sparc64@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B567016A4CE for ; Thu, 18 Dec 2003 20:57:12 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail.seekingfire.com (coyote.seekingfire.com [24.72.10.212]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 161B043D31 for ; Thu, 18 Dec 2003 20:57:09 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tillman@seekingfire.com) Received: from blues.seekingfire.prv (blues.seekingfire.prv [192.168.23.211]) by mail.seekingfire.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2028C2C for ; Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:57:08 -0600 (CST) Received: (from tillman@localhost) by blues.seekingfire.prv (8.11.6/8.11.6) id hBJ4v8k08719 for sparc64@freebsd.org; Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:57:08 -0600 Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:57:07 -0600 From: Tillman Hodgson To: FreeBSD-Sparc64 Message-ID: <20031218225707.B8560@seekingfire.com> References: <92527552015.20031219053526@blue.calx.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i In-Reply-To: <92527552015.20031219053526@blue.calx.nl>; from freebsd@walter.transip.nl on Fri, Dec 19, 2003 at 05:35:26AM +0100 X-Habeas-SWE-1: winter into spring X-Habeas-SWE-2: brightly anticipated X-Habeas-SWE-3: like Habeas SWE (tm) X-Habeas-SWE-4: Copyright 2002 Habeas (tm) X-Habeas-SWE-5: Sender Warranted Email (SWE) (tm). The sender of this X-Habeas-SWE-6: email in exchange for a license for this Habeas X-Habeas-SWE-7: warrant mark warrants that this is a Habeas Compliant X-Habeas-SWE-8: Message (HCM) and not spam. Please report use of this X-Habeas-SWE-9: mark in spam to . X-GPG-Key-ID: 828AFC7B X-GPG-Fingerprint: 5584 14BA C9EB 1524 0E68 F543 0F0A 7FBC 828A FC7B X-GPG-Key: http://www.seekingfire.com/gpg_key.asc X-Urban-Legend: There is lots of hidden information in headers Subject: Re: Sun Netra T1 AC200 - practical questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-sparc64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the Sparc List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 04:57:12 -0000 On Fri, Dec 19, 2003 at 05:35:26AM +0100, Walter Hop wrote: > Hi, > > I have a practical question. I can get a used Sun Netra T1 AC200 for a > nice price and would like to know if it is realistic to run a FreeBSD > server on this hardware. I want to run just a few personal domains on it > for my family, so I won't not lose money when it has to be rebooted. > > I have browsed the -sparc64 archives, but have not found much recent real > world experiences about running FreeBSD on this hardware. Documentation > is sparse, so I hope you will forgive me for asking some newbie questions > as anything sparc is new to me. Some questions are pertaining to the > Netra hardware, some to FreeBSD/sparc64 general usage: The ROSPA user group (http://www.rospa.ca/) is run off of an Ultra 5. It's been exceedingly stable server assuming that one is comfortable running -CURRENT (and the typical issues that come from that). > 1. Is the Netra's serial port + FreeBSD's driver usable for getting FreeBSD > up and running through serial console? I have read some problem reports > on google getting serial to work, but those may be outdated. The serial console is better for installation than the "real" console on my Ultra 5, if that helps. > 2. Will it be reasonably safe to run 5.2-RELEASE on sparc64? An i386 5.1R > box with similar usage is now 62 days up without a glitch, are uptimes > such as these expected? Similar. I tend to reboot more often as I rebuild world to follow -CURRENT about once a month, but I've never had a lockup that wasn't my own fault (note to self: Read UPGRADING more often). > 3. Does userland and ports usually run well on sparc64, or can I expect to > have endian related issues? I haven't run across a port that works on i386 but doesn't on sparc64. Assuming you're doing typical apache-ish things, I think you'll be fine. I also do Postfix, mailman, HTML::Mason, php, Kerberos, NIS, firewall, Quagga for OSPF routing, OpenVPN tunneling and vlan'ing. It's been been great. > 4. What is the future plan for support of low-end sparc64 in FreeBSD? > Are there enough people interested in these setups to keep them on the > roadmap for the near future? I don't know this personally - it seems like a small community to me, but that might be just because it works well enough to not need a chatty mailing list. > 5. Is my plan a bad idea for any other reason that is not apparent? 8) Seems like a good idea to me. 'Course, I love interesting hardware ;-) -T -- Being generous is inborn; being altruistic is a learned perversity. No resemblance. - Robert Heinlein