From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 26 14:41:20 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8A78316A400 for ; Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:41:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david.robillard@gmail.com) Received: from nz-out-0506.google.com (nz-out-0506.google.com [64.233.162.225]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 53F3013C487 for ; Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:41:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david.robillard@gmail.com) Received: by nz-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id i11so694842nzh for ; Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:41:19 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=Q7sggz7P9ziminGkTykPDjIyfIzHIqKxSJrZmhvB6oX7BvmBiL5/9TCJhxTYpO4b7q5Mf0/c2xva3K8Gfsk9X2TlgdFd5jsGvFsXVG9MjNi2ZhttFo31UQ+Pi5beqQrIcUgvqIqNcelSi/88L5TfOEoQJ2SUgDg4B0yaSLYVPNs= Received: by 10.65.54.9 with SMTP id g9mr4987662qbk.1169822479293; Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:41:19 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.64.210.7 with HTTP; Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:41:19 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <226ae0c60701260641x1419b19ck6a073c637d452423@mail.gmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:41:19 -0500 From: "David Robillard" To: "FreeBSD Questions" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Re: [Opinions Wanted] Dell PowerEdge 2950 Servers ... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:41:20 -0000 > Have a friend that swears by them, but ... he's in the Linux camp, so tends to > have a quasi-inside track ... > > What are ppls opinions on them as far as FreeBSD is concerned? > > Also, interested in what sort of specs ppl are running ... I'm interested in > going with an 8xSAS drive system, dual-dual-core, figuring 10 or 16G of RAM ... > redundant power and the Dell Remote Access Card ... My personal experience with Dell is that it's ok until you hit a problem. Then it's hell. So bad, in fact, that we don't purchase them anymore and have gone with IBM and HP systems for our FreeBSD, RedHat and Windows machines. IMHO, the problem with Dell is not their hardware, but their support (or lack of it). If you plan on running your Business on Dell, be prepared for Incredibly bad and horrible support. Be it consumer product support or Enterprise 24/7/365 type support. Dell "support" is a total waste of money and time, but a superb source of frustration. (so if you're looking to get frustrated, there's your chance :) I even had to way two complete days (!) to resolve a 24/7/365 type support call ! Pathetic, really. Not to say that the hardware is good, far from that. Place equivalent IBM, Dell, HP and Sun machines next to one another and you quickly see that Dell uses sub-quality parts. There is less precise documentation printed directly on the machine (a technique IBM and Sun have mastered). You often need two or three different screwdrivers to take the various pieces apart. While with the other Tier-1 vendors, most pieces don't even require any tool at all. Finally, the Documentation that is shipped with the Dell machines is of dubious quality compared with the other top vendors. So, to sum up, I strongly recommend going with either IBM or HP for FreeBSD systems. With them, you get quality hardware and real support. Of course it might be a bit more expensive. But it's worth it. Well, you get what you pay for don't you? YMMV of course. Cheers, David -- David Robillard UNIX systems administrator & Oracle DBA CISSP, RHCE & Sun Certified Security Administrator Montreal: +1 514 966 0122