From owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Mar 17 21:13:16 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43DC716A4CE for ; Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:13:16 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mh1.centtech.com (moat3.centtech.com [207.200.51.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3415143D5A for ; Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:13:15 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from anderson@centtech.com) Received: from [10.177.171.220] (neutrino.centtech.com [10.177.171.220]) by mh1.centtech.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id j2HLDE99018785; Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:13:14 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from anderson@centtech.com) Message-ID: <4239F2E0.6030908@centtech.com> Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:13:04 -0600 From: Eric Anderson User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050210 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Robert Blayzor References: <4239F1E4.3000007@inoc.net> In-Reply-To: <4239F1E4.3000007@inoc.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.82/768/Thu Mar 17 14:18:40 2005 on mh1.centtech.com X-Virus-Status: Clean cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Dell PowerEdge 1855 servers X-BeenThere: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Internet Services Providers List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:13:16 -0000 Robert Blayzor wrote: > I'd like to know if anyone has experience with the Dell PowerEdge 1855 > blade servers running on either FreeBSD_4 or FreeBSD_5. > > I'm looking to deploy several servers and I know that the 1850's will > run just fine. > > I have concerns over the PERC4/im and the ethernet controllers on the > 1855's. I assume since the 1855's have Intel Gig-E controllers they use > the em driver, which I've had good luck with in the past. > > Apparently the 1855's integrated RAID uses the LSI (mpt) driver. I've > heard mixed results on this with earlier versions of 4.x and 5.x, but > nothing in the latest releases, 4.10+ and 5.3. > > Can anyone share their experiences with performance and stability on > these machines? I can tell you that on my current 1850's, FreeBSD 5.3 is rock solid (with Perc 4's, which are LSI chips). I have used Perc's for a long time with FreeBSD, and have always liked them. I will warn you about Perc 4e/Di controllers - supposedly they are different, and are not completely compatible with the other Perc 4's (I know this because SLES8 does not support the 4e, but does support the 4). I can also tell you that a RAID disk from a Perc 4 won't work in a Perc 4e. As for specifically the 1855's, I can't comment. Eric -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Anderson Sr. Systems Administrator Centaur Technology I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------