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Date:      Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:29:48 -0500
From:      Manuel Rabade Garcia <mig@rabade.net>
To:        freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: building an older server
Message-ID:  <20050829222948.25b3993e@laptop.rabade.net>
In-Reply-To: <001e01c5ace5$f62c16e0$b47ba8c0@maximus>
References:  <000101c5ac82$66f25290$b47ba8c0@maximus> <20050829171305.GA70155@neptune.atopia.net> <001e01c5ace5$f62c16e0$b47ba8c0@maximus>

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On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:59:43 +0300
"ANdrei" <lists@hausro.de> wrote:

> > I personally use 802.11b for the server (Linksys WMP11 v2...it's an
> > old card, but wi(4) works with it).
> 
> I have no money to put into this server, the hardware mentioned is
> already in my workroom, lying around, but I can't afford to buy more.
> So I can use any hardware from like 15 motherboards, lots of NICs and
> so on (all old :), but this is just what I thought to be the most
> appropiate for building a server, mainly because I considered 2
> processors of 400MHz to be better then 1 of 800MHz, and because I
> considered that this motherboard is probably designed more carefully
> and for enduring more, being a board designed for servers, even if an
> old model... 

2x400 Mhz Celerons can have worst performance than a single 800 Mhz
processor (and I bet they will if the single processor is a P3 or
even another Celeron). But for your requirements 2 Celerons are enough,
and SMP is always better to rise your geeky level xDDDD

> The  wifi cards I have are both 802.11g, I would use
> 802.11b if I had one, but I don't :) And besides I thought that once
> u have a 802.11b in your 802.11g-only network, the data throughput
> will be a bit slowed down on all clients (not down to 11MBps, but not
> as good as without the 802.11b client in ur network) - can anyone
> confirm this (we had a review on this in our CHIP Magazine, a few
> months ago).
> 

For the wireless, most of the cheap 802.11g Access Points change their
mode (and of course all the clients also) to 802.11b if there is a
802.11b client. You can setup the Access Point to handle only 802.11b
or 802.11g clients, but that depends of the Model.

> > I can't comment here, as I only use WEP, and have only used 6 on a
> > workstation.
> 
> 
> well, any impressions appreciated: what did the 6 "feel" like?
> rock-stable or whacky? :)
> another big question: is WEP really that bad? I mean, how fast can
> you crack it? Is it just paranoia, or can any kid in my neighbourhood
> get into my network? I don't expect to have THE HACKER roaming around
> where my server is, but there are occasional kids and neighbours who
> might try their 2 words computer-science they know on my network...
> so should I relax and go for 5.4 with WEP and not be stressed to get
> the 6.x with PSK?
> 

WEP (64 and 128 bits) are very insecure against modern attacks
(some methods can broke 128 bits keys in ~10 minutes, even without
traffic). Check out an IP Sec or WPA-PSK to secure your wireless network
if you care :).

> 
> > You might want to check HARDWARE.txt if it's supported. An
> > apropos(1) here for "HighPoint" only yields results for hptmv(4),
> > which supports the RocketRAID 128x. You will most likely want to
> > recompile it into your kernel if such support exists; you should do
> > so anyway, to reduce the bloat and get rid of unnecessary drivers
> > in your kernel. By the way, my machine uses an Abit BH6 (single
> > CPU, pIII/500).
> 
> I'll check for support. I don't have access to a FreeBSD box at this
> moment, so I'm planning all theoretically. Once I'm close the FreeBSD
> box again I'll check, but that will also be the moment I have to
> quickly decide what to use :) and I try not to wait until then to get
> an idea of everything ;) I will recompile the kernel anyway, but the
> question is if I can install on disks on that controller from the
> beginning, or do I have to do it first on a normal controller and
> only after recompiling will I see my disks on the HighPoint?
> btw, this is same genration of motherboard: any stability issues?
> they are supposed to be rock solid, right?...
> 

I have a HighPoint HPT374 in a server and works very fine (with the
propietary drivers :-/). Look in the HighPoint page if they support
FreeBSD for that controller, or the HARDWARE.txt as somebody else
suggests.

Greetings.

-- 
Manuel Rabade Garcia
 PGP - 1024D/D27DE2F3 2005-03-18
 Fingerprint - 7965 0CCE B9F8 B96B 2E6F  0B88 278C 52F8 D27D E2F3



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