Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: No. I assume that the HP Linux driver has this sort of functionality in it - but maybe not. Not even the Windows driver for the RAID card can do this. Ok. HP has used an agent/manager model with these systems. The drivers for the hardware in the system all talk to a HP management server that you run on a separate PC. THAT system is what sends the pages/notifications. And of course it's Windows-only. I would guess the Linux driver has been enhanced to talk to this but I don't know as I don't use Linux. Ok, maybe I'll set up such system. Probably I won't and instead use some other monitoring software. Unfortunately we can't go through a VAR. Why not? I know of no industry that is legally barred from purchasing from a VAR. Right, it's not we can't, it's we won't. Our company has a special relationship with HP that gives us quite a rebate (20-30% off reseller price). If we bought our equipment from a VAR we would lose this rebate. And which VAR would guarantee us FreeBSD will run perfectly? Any one of them that wanted to make a sale would do so. I doubt any would or could. You are wrong. But that doesn't matter anyway. In the situation I or my company are in, it doesn't matter. Yeah, right. OK, well then listen up. By not going through a VAR - which is HP's preferred channel for selling servers, by the way - you bear the ENTIRE responsibility for specing the Compaq server yourself - which also means if you buy it and it doesen't work, you are going to have to deal with wherever you get it from to return it and exchange for a different model. THAT is what the value of a VAR is. A HP VAR that sells a lot of servers isn't going to get flack from HP if they need to exchange a server for a different model. Like I said, you need to think long and carefully before dispensing with a VAR to save the couple hundred bucks by buying it off the website. Ok, I didn't know that. Thanks for explaining this to me. But to profit from the whole rebate, we will still shun the VAR and bear the risk of specing the server ourselves. I specified the server according our requirement of relatively high availability hardware (RAID5, 4 SCSI disks, iLO, redundant fan and power supply should provide this) high I/O and upgradeability (Opteron Dual CPU motherboard, Dual Core capabability should provide this). I chose the parts according to the HP website and asked the sales team whether I had all the right parts, I do. It fits in our rack and we have the electricity to run it. I have some time to give FreeBSD a test run on it, maybe a week, but then this machine will run Windows Server 2003, because of some silly software requirement. I reckon Windows Server 2003 will run fine. Most probably though, we will get a second one of this model, and on that one I'd like to run a Unix, preferrably FreeBSD, otherwise Solaris 10. I have booted FreeBSD on a DL360 but not extensively tested it. I have booted it on a ML360. I have run it and do run it on the older Proliant hardware which uses the older RAID driver and it works fine on that. And I run both Windows and Solaris x86 on the newer Proliants. The Proliant gear is top notch, there is no more reliable server gear available from anybody. That's reassuring to hear. Others who have posted to the list before do run it on the Proliant hardware, most with no problems, some with a few problems, some with lots of problems. I do not recall a post from anyone running it on a DL385 on this list. In any case, I'll post my experience with this combination to the [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list. The fact is that HP/Compaq in their server line is getting like General Motors where they have the same basic cars in every model line, just different brands on the nameplates and minor styling differences. I guess HP is not the only one, IBM, Sun and Dell probably do the same. I also must point out that I run it on clone gear, and on other manufacturers gear like HP Netservers, Gateway, Dell, Toshiba, NEC, etc. Most of the time it works, some times it doesen't. It would of course be nice if someone setup a system certification program for FreeBSD. The problem is that such a program is only useful if your certifying brand new gear. And there is too much of it and it's too expensive for anyone to do this. With the older gear, typically people get it very cheap, so if it doesen't run FreeBSD then they just move on to the next machine, thus a certification program is of little use to them. Ted Again, thanks for your reply, Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: Did you send them e-mail about that model? They track all those presales queries, it is what they use to determine new models to add into testdrive. No, I will, thx. The problem is there's more models of the DL385 and the DL360 than you can shake a stick at. While someone here may be running a DL385 it's a crapshoot if it is the same model of DL385 as you want. Ok. I meant the latest model with Opteron processor(s). Model number 373545-421. I doubt your going to get FreeBSD to run on a SATA-equipped DL385. But, the scsi controller in the DL360 and the DL385 are supported by the same FreeBSD device driver. We'll go with SCSI. The big thing is the FreeBSD driver for the RAID array doesen't support any kind of notification if a drive fails. You have to depend on the blinky lights on the front of the server. Ok, thanks for the info. Do you happen to know whether the iLO has a monitoring/reporting function that would notice this and notify me? This, by the way, is what VARs are for. Instead of trying to save a miserable hundred bucks by buying the server off the website, find a local Compaq/HP reseller and go through them, and get them to guarentee FreeBSD will run on the thing to get the sale. Unfortunately we can't go through a VAR. And which VAR would guarantee us FreeBSD will run perfectly? I doubt any would or could. But that doesn't matter anyway. Ted Thank yor for your replies, so far. I take you have some experience with ProLiants and FreeBSD. Are you pleased with this combination? Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of lars Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 8:39 AM Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385? Ok, thanks for the info. Do you happen to know whether the iLO has a monitoring/reporting function that would notice this and notify me? No. I assume that the HP Linux driver has this sort of functionality in it - but maybe not. Not even the Windows driver for the RAID card can do this. HP has used an agent/manager model with these systems. The drivers for the hardware in the system all talk to a HP management server that you run on a separate PC. THAT system is what sends the pages/notifications. And of course it's Windows-only. I would guess the Linux driver has been enhanced to talk to this but I don't know as I don't use Linux. Unfortunately we can't go through a VAR. Why not? I know of no industry that is legally barred from purchasing from a VAR. And which VAR would guarantee us FreeBSD will run perfectly? Any one of them that wanted to make a sale would do so. I doubt any would or could. You are wrong. But that doesn't matter anyway. Yeah, right. OK, well then listen up. By not going through a VAR - which is HP's preferred channel for selling servers, by the way - you bear the ENTIRE responsibility for specing the Compaq server yourself - which also means if you buy it and it doesen't work, you are going to have to deal with wherever you get it from to return it and exchange for a different model. THAT is what the value of a VAR is. A HP VAR that sells a lot of servers isn't going to get flack from HP if they need to exchange a server for a different model. Like I said, you need to think long and carefully before dispensing with a VAR to save the couple hundred bucks by buying it off the website. Ted Thank yor for your replies, so far. I take you have some experience with ProLiants and FreeBSD. Are you pleased with this combination? I have booted FreeBSD on a DL360 but not extensively tested it. I have booted it on a ML360. I have run it and do run it on the older Proliant hardware which uses the older RAID driver and it works fine on that. And I run both Windows and Solaris x86 on the newer Proliants. The Proliant gear is top notch, there is no more reliable server gear available from anybody. Others who have posted to the list before do run it on the Proliant hardware, most with no problems, some with a few problems, some with lots of problems. I do not recall a post from anyone running it on a DL385 on this list. The fact is that HP/Compaq in their server line is getting like General Motors where they have the same basic cars in every model line, just different brands on the nameplates and minor styling differences. I also must point out that I run it on clone gear, and on other manufacturers gear like HP Netservers, Gateway, Dell, Toshiba, NEC, etc. Most of the time it works, some times it doesen't. It would of course be nice if someone setup a system certification program for FreeBSD. The problem is that such a program is only useful if your certifying brand new gear. And there is too much of it and it's too expensive for anyone to do this. With the older gear, typically people get it very cheap, so if it doesen't run FreeBSD then they just move on to the next machine, thus a certification program is of little use to them. Ted -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.6/69 - Release Date: 8/11/2005 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
See http://www.testdrive.hp.com/ -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of lars Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 2:49 PM To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385? Hi all, I've just been to the FreeBSD Proliant website http://people.freebsd.org/~jcagle/ I also checked the [EMAIL PROTECTED] archive, apart from John Cagle's welcome message it's empty. Before I ask him I want to turn to this list. Judging by the variety of tools available on the site it doesn't look that bad for FreeBSD on these machines. But I'm still interested whether anyone's already running FreeBSD STABLE on a DL385, maybe even with ~3GB RAM, an Opteron CPU, ~4 SCSI disks in a RAID-5 array hosted by the onboard Smart Array 6i chip, a hot-swappable DAT72 tape drive, and iLO. Are all devices working well, are the HDDs and the tape drive hot-swappable, is the iLO working as it should? Any issues? I'd really like to drive this machine with FreeBSD, but I can't afford to waste more than 3 days testing functionality before it has to be productive. So I'd be really thankful for any information on this combination. Kind regards, Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: See http://www.testdrive.hp.com/ Ah, right. Should have thought about that. Thanks, I'll check it out. Kind regard, Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: See http://www.testdrive.hp.com/ Unfortunately only these machines are setup for FreeBSD: Integrity rx16202 Itanium II, 1.6 GHz spe150.testdrive.hp.com AlphaStation XP1000 1 EV67, 667 MHz spe149.testdrive.hp.com ProLiant DL360 G2 2 Pentium III, 1.4 GHz spe152.testdrive.hp.com And I can't really test much on them. So I'm still interested what experience people have had on a Proliant DL385. Kind regards, Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385?
Did you send them e-mail about that model? They track all those presales queries, it is what they use to determine new models to add into testdrive. The problem is there's more models of the DL385 and the DL360 than you can shake a stick at. While someone here may be running a DL385 it's a crapshoot if it is the same model of DL385 as you want. I doubt your going to get FreeBSD to run on a SATA-equipped DL385. But, the scsi controller in the DL360 and the DL385 are supported by the same FreeBSD device driver. The big thing is the FreeBSD driver for the RAID array doesen't support any kind of notification if a drive fails. You have to depend on the blinky lights on the front of the server. This, by the way, is what VARs are for. Instead of trying to save a miserable hundred bucks by buying the server off the website, find a local Compaq/HP reseller and go through them, and get them to guarentee FreeBSD will run on the thing to get the sale. Ted -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of lars Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 3:03 PM Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Anyone successfully running FreeBSD on a HP Proliant DL385? Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: See http://www.testdrive.hp.com/ Unfortunately only these machines are setup for FreeBSD: Integrity rx1620 2 Itanium II, 1.6 GHz spe150.testdrive.hp.com AlphaStation XP10001 EV67, 667 MHz spe149.testdrive.hp.com ProLiant DL360 G2 2 Pentium III, 1.4 GHz spe152.testdrive.hp.com And I can't really test much on them. So I'm still interested what experience people have had on a Proliant DL385. Kind regards, Lars. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.5/68 - Release Date: 8/10/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.5/68 - Release Date: 8/10/2005 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
