From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 26 18:28:34 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 669E016A401 for ; Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:28:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xfb52@dial.pipex.com) Received: from smtp-out3.blueyonder.co.uk (smtp-out3.blueyonder.co.uk [195.188.213.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B4E294483B for ; Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:56:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from xfb52@dial.pipex.com) Received: from [172.23.170.139] (helo=anti-virus01-10) by smtp-out3.blueyonder.co.uk with smtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FurZq-0003fY-TM; Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:56:34 +0100 Received: from [82.41.34.175] (helo=[192.168.0.2]) by asmtp-out1.blueyonder.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FurZq-0007Z6-6e; Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:56:34 +0100 Message-ID: <449FE791.8000700@dial.pipex.com> Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:56:33 +0100 From: Alex Zbyslaw User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-GB; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060515 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org> <20060626133619.GA264@d-137-145-35.bootp.virginia.edu> In-Reply-To: <20060626133619.GA264@d-137-145-35.bootp.virginia.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Opinions Wanted: Dell PowerEdge Servers ... ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:28:34 -0000 Mike Galvez wrote: >No small thing you need to consider when choosing Dell is that they DO NOT support >FreeBSD. They support Windows and Red Hat Linux. If the machine is not lights-out >and the OS is not one of the above, they will not send parts or a technician. > >I found this out the hard way and had to load Linux on a spare drive just to prove >a piece of hardware was failing. They wasted a lot of my time. The cheaper cost of >their hardware was easily outweighed by the wasted hours of my time. > > Disclaimer: fingers crossed we have yet to have a hardware problem or need Dell's support. Also, my experience of their "technical support" as a private purchaser of a laptop, was absolutely lousy. My only consolation was that their being so atrocious cost them more money than they could possibly have made on the laptop. I have been told that they are better for business class customers but have no proof. The 2850 servers we purchased came with Dell diagnostics on slice 1 - running Windows 95 I think! It would seem especially prudent when running a non-supported OS in any production environment to keep those diagnostics intact. BSD will happily install on slices 2-4 and auto boot from whichever you last booted from, so the diags can stay invisible until you need them. --Alex