From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Oct 10 13:28:51 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from mtiwmhc24.worldnet.att.net (mtiwmhc24.worldnet.att.net [204.127.131.49]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D8AA837B401 for ; Wed, 10 Oct 2001 13:28:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: from columbia ([12.93.208.3]) by mtiwmhc24.worldnet.att.net (InterMail vM.4.01.03.16 201-229-121-116-20010115) with SMTP id <20011010202841.YZAB21828.mtiwmhc24.worldnet.att.net@columbia>; Wed, 10 Oct 2001 20:28:41 +0000 From: "Andrew C. Hornback" To: "Lawrence Farr" , "'Edwin Culp'" , "'Paul Chvostek'" Cc: Subject: RE: Server recommendation for co-location. Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 16:27:09 -0400 Message-ID: <00e301c151c9$eff0da20$6600000a@columbia> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 In-Reply-To: <001b01c15198$b49b73d0$c806a8c0@lfarr> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Importance: Normal Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org They must be serious about not selling the Escalade series anymore... that link and any information about the Escalade is missing from their site. Wonder if this has anything to do with Cadillac using the name as well? *lost, and in the dark* --- Andy > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Lawrence Farr > Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 10:35 AM > To: 'Edwin Culp'; 'Paul Chvostek' > Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org > Subject: RE: Server recommendation for co-location. > > > 3ware have withdrawn sales of their controllers. see: > > http://www.3ware.com/products/EscaladeLetter.asp?Title=Product&subTitle= > 3&ImageNumber=2 > > Lawrence Farr > EPC Direct Limited mailto:lawrence@epcdirect.co.uk > T:01179666123 F:01179666111 M:07970780901 > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG] On Behalf Of Edwin Culp > Sent: 10 October 2001 14:35 > To: Paul Chvostek > Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Re: Server recommendation for co-location. > > > Paul, thank you for taking the time to make these suggestions. They are > excellent and I will certainly share the results with the list. > > I have purchased what I consider to be the best solution for our > company, > right now. I know many folks will have issues with 3ware, drives in the > > same box, etc. but it meets our specs and is within our budget of > "unlimited > cash":-) that you mention and seems solid good ventilation, adequete > power > in a 4u box. The server can be seen at: > http://www.fnordsystems.com/4U_fnord_430_product_page.shtmlServerworks > III HE-SL > > I have been thinking about vinum across the two controlers and would be > very > interested to hear of experiences, especially with 3ware raid and vinum. > The > bios issue is very important and I'll have a solution before deploying > in > Singapore. I plan to work these issues out here in the office before > sending > it to the co-location facility. RealWeasel looks really interesting. > Maybe > I can even get on their "asses saved" page (LOL) The FnordSystem has > Serverworks III HE-SL chipset. I've never used it but it does come well > recommended although I don't remember anything from the specs about the > ability to "spew" to the serial port,though.:-) > > Thanks again and I would appreciate any comments or suggestions, > especially > with vinum. > > ed > > > > Quoting Paul Chvostek : > > | > | Hi Edwin. > | > | On the basis of your specs, I infer that you have unlimited cash. :) > | > | I have three things to add to your equation. Since this box will be > | mostly inaccessible, you should probably allocate at least two drives > | as spares in your RAID. Having one spare is obvious, but you really > | don't want to have to do repairs to this unit even *after* a failure > | if you can help it, and one more drive is (relatively) cheap. > | > | Which brings us to the second point. I've just been probing the list > | regarding a problem I'm having with a Dell PowerEdge that has a > | MegaRAID controller in it. I can't find any way to have the RAID > | controller tell FreeBSD that there's a problem, without doing hardware > | mods that void the warranty on the unit. (I'm still looking.) If you > | plan to buy a brand-name box (Dell, IBM, whatever), MAKE SURE that the > | configuration you're using includes the ability to report drive (and > | fan and heat) problems to the operating system. The man page for > | ports/sysutils/healthd lists a number of monitoring chipsets for the > | basic stuff, but I don't know where you'd look for the RAID, unless > | you don't mind the performance hit and are comfortable running vinum. > | > | The third point ... is that you want remote access to this box at all > | times. The Dell PowerEdge server I installed yesterday has a BIOS > | setting that apparently lets the unit spew its CMOS config interface > | through the serial port. For a less vendor-specific solution, check > | out http://www.realweasel.com/. It's an awesome product. > | > | When you complete your research, please let the list know. I'm sure > | lots of us will be interested in your findings. > | > | p > | > | > | On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 07:16:23PM -0700, Edwin Culp wrote: > | > > | > I need to co-locate a server in Singapore so reliability is > | > important:-). I am thinking of something with a ServerWorks > | > LE-based board, multiprocessor, but with one P-III Xeon to > | > start, running at from 700 Mhz to 1,000 Mhz, 2Gb initial ram, > | > an extremely well ventilated box with multiple, hot swap, > | > power supplies 500-750 watts, each. I would like to have a > | > Raid 10 array with from .5 TB to 1 TB initially. > | > I find the 3ware escalade 64 bit, switched, 7000 series to be a a > | > very compelling solution but I remember seeing a thread not long > | > ago about it having pretty serious problems in one installation, > | > but I've also heard some very good things about it. Does anyone > | > know of a solid raid 10 SCSI solution for FreeBSD? > | > > | > All suggestions appreciated especially about 3ware, motherboard, > | > drives, etc. If I remember the drives that were having problems > | > in the 3ware thread were IBM, so they are out. I was thinking > | > about maxtor, I've used several (7500 rpm) for a couple > | > of years with no problems. > | > > | > Now for the hard part, our finance guy wants to lease the equipment > | > and would prefer to buy from a supplier rather than build it in > house.:-( > | > He obviously suggested, IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq, etc. etc. all of > which > | > have more trade-offs than I would like to make. Does anyone know of > a > | real > | > company that [could|would|does] build[s] something similar? > | > > | > Thanks, > | > > | > ed > | > > | > --- > | > > | > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > | > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message > | > | -- > | Paul Chvostek > > | Operations / Development / Abuse / Whatever vox: +1 416 > 598-0000 > | IT Canada > http://www.it.ca/ > | > | > > > > > --- > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message