From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 22 06:06:10 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 73AD616A4CE for ; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:06:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (ns0.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05D9843D49 for ; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:06:09 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1])i3MD63IM029535 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:06:03 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i3MD63E9029534; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:06:03 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:06:03 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: ????????? ??????????? Message-ID: <20040422130603.GE26669@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , ????????? ??????????? , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <007e01c4282c$75899740$ba01a8c0@igrem.ru> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="+SfteS7bOf3dGlBC" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <007e01c4282c$75899740$ba01a8c0@igrem.ru> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040420, clamav-milter version 0.70k X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.6 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,DEAR_SOMETHING autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Compatible hardware X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:06:10 -0000 --+SfteS7bOf3dGlBC Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Apr 22, 2004 at 12:41:28PM +0700, ????????? ??????????? wrote: > Dear sirs! >=20 > Our company working in personal and server building market in > Tomsk, Russia over 12 years. In present time our customers more using > Free BSD based servers than Windows or other systems. We try to find > information about compability between Intel boards, RAID controllers and > Free BSD but nothing find. Is there is a way to construct 100% > compatible server with Free BSD system? Can you provide any > recomendations?=20 Most IA32 architecture kit will work under FreeBSD. The sort of stuff that tends to have the best support is generally the 'quality' end of the market -- server class motherboards, NICs with chipsets produced by well known manufacturers, SCSI controllers, various ATA RAID controllers and so forth. Things that tend to be more troublesome are the more 'consumer' oriented end of the market, particularly stuff that is really very new on the market, stuff that is intended for use only under Windows and so that plays fast and loose with standards. The components that are supported under FreeBSD are documented to some extent in the man pages for the various drivers: eg. the quite popular 3COM 3C940 gigabit ethernet adapotors are documented as working with the sk(4) driver. Often there will be other models using a similar chipset that also work, but which aren't listed. Knowing exactly what is and is not supported is really a matter of experience. As is knowing what works really well, and what is a bit so-so. These sort of things are discussed on many of the FreeBSD mailing lists quite regularly. As a systems integrator you should have ready access to components from any number of suppliers: experimentation will give you the best information about what does and does not work. =20 > We decide to use Intel 7501CW with dual xeon and Tecram TX2000 > card, but Intel techsupport says that this hardware didn't tested with > FreeBSD and we can use it at our own risk... Unfortunately almost all big manufacturers will say things like that. What they mean is that *they* didn't write any drivers (because they didn't think that FreeBSD was popular enough to justify the expense) so don't come crying to them if 3rd party stuff doesn't work. Some of the more pointy-haired management class use this as a justification for not using FreeBSD, ignoring the facts, which are that the drivers written by the 3rd parties (in this case various FreeBSD developers) are often more reliable and better performing than what the manufacturers turn out themselves. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --+SfteS7bOf3dGlBC Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFAh8M7dtESqEQa7a0RAknMAKCHEe1RQVA/xMA8v7SbjKRx+oymOwCeKbbs fCOgxAcXcVPifSfsiJ9Hjuo= =yBuC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --+SfteS7bOf3dGlBC--