Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 20:21:11 -0700 From: Marcel Moolenaar <xcllnt@mac.com> To: ross@grinz.com Cc: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Installation preparation questions Message-ID: <FD467207-DAAF-4BDB-A746-6DE6331D81DA@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <50085.74.170.92.99.1210646399.squirrel@grinzport.grinz.com> References: <4821C6AB.3080101@uchicago.edu> <4821C85A.7090605@freebsd.org> <4821C945.5030008@uchicago.edu> <4821C9DB.4080008@freebsd.org> <48221F56.5040900@uchicago.edu> <48262875.6020302@uchicago.edu> <50782.74.170.92.99.1210570005.squirrel@grinzport.grinz.com> <20AE25CE-43BF-4668-B8D5-EDDE16A66141@mac.com> <50757.74.170.92.99.1210609033.squirrel@grinzport.grinz.com> <3A5B0AA7-34C1-45EA-89BC-C1CD4C75380C@mac.com> <50085.74.170.92.99.1210646399.squirrel@grinzport.grinz.com>
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On May 12, 2008, at 7:39 PM, Ross Gohlke wrote: >>> If I log in via ssh and issue shutdown -r now, will the machine come >>> back >>> up without someone being physically at the machine's keyboard? >> >> Yes, it will. But if FreeBSD hangs hard or you have a power failure, >> someone will have to be on-site to press the power button. > > Great news! > My downtime will still be less with FreeBSD under the hood, even if > I have > to pay someone to visit the cage in person a handful of times a year. > I haven't had a power failure in years, and in my experience FreeBSD > will > not hang unless I do something wrong (maybe ppc will be different - we > shall see!) > > Just to clarify, if: > A) FreeBSD stops working (power is on but I can't log in via ssh) A serial console works on the Xserve. > B) Power is cut (cord unplugged, backup battery dies) > the only way to recover is to hit the power button. Yes. > Is OFW/single user login also required? No, you can configure it so that FreeBSD boots automatically. >> The problem with FreeBSD on Apple hardware is that we don't have a >> driver for the power management unit. The PMU needs to be programmed >> every time on reboot so that the machine will power-up after a power >> failure. We can't do this yet. I consider it a flaw in the hardware, >> but such is the state of affair. >> >> A hardware solution is called for... > > Any chance of Apple releasing such a driver, or any point in > lobbying them > to do so? I don't know if Apple will release or has released such a driver. There is code out there, but it needs to be ported and understood. Using the Linux driver may not be a good idea WRT licensing... In any case: I don't think it's an impossible task, just one of the many tasks we fail to have time for :-) > Plenty of Xserves are also destined for the garbage bin, which is a > pitty. > They run like tops. Yup. I'm using one for working on SMP support. I remember you have a dual cpu as well. SMP support is not in FreeBSD-stable yet and what we have in -CURRENT needs a little bit of work. >> Well, I started working on this but fail to have time. Others have >> done some work as well. Bottom line: I have no idea when this will >> be implemented. > > Understood. Put me down as a non-counting vote to prioritize this > functionality. Is it important for anyone else? Well, I hate it that I can't work in critical kernel code when I'm not at home. I would love to be able to power-cycle. For any kind of remote management, the functionality is critical I would say... > I will also research freebsd.org for information about offering > monetary > bounties for such requests. See also: http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/ Your donation is always appreciated. Since you have specific needs and you'd like your donation to be used to satisfy your needs, you may need to recruit individual developers... -- Marcel Moolenaar xcllnt@mac.com
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