designing new freebsd server for amd64 arch

[Ken Gunderson]

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 16:24:19 -0400
"Ketrien I. Saihr-Kesenchedra" <ketrien at error404.nls.net> wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 04:02:47PM -0400, Vivek Khera wrote:
> > 
> > On Apr 19, 2005, at 5:19 AM, David Komanek wrote:
> > 
> > >Now I prefer:
> > >Tyan Thunder K8WE, S2895A2NRF
> > >2x AMD Opteron 250 Box
> > >Adaptec 2130SLP
> 
> I missed the start of this thread. Whoops!
> First of all, don't use the K8WE. Use either the K8SPro or K8SR. The K8SR is 
> very picky about risers, though, so I generally recommend the K8SPro. Honestly,
> Tyan is not my first choice either. The Iwill DK8S/DK8S2 is better on paper,
> but I've never been able to find one.
> 
> > No experience with these; the LSI 320-2X has been extremely reliable 
> > for us.
> 
> The Adaptec 2130SLP is a big no-no. The driver is not 64-bit clean last I 
> looked. Skip the onboard SCSI and spend the money on an LSI 320-2 or 320-2X.
>  
> > >4x Hitachi 3.5" 73.4 GB (SCSI Ultra 320),10 000 rpm
> > If you can push yourself to 15kRPM drives, you'll be happier...

I loved IBM drives years ago, but started having too many issues when
they started cutting a few too many coreners.  The things just started
dying prematurely.  Hitachi drives also have a fairly bad rep amongst
serveral consultants I know.  

> You'll also have heat concerns; case is going to be very important. Generico
> 4U is not going to cut it, nor will Chenbro. (Major SCSI backplane issues. 
> Not even remotely within specs.) Plus, I believe Hitachi's discontinued the
> 10K174 line. Definitely go for the 15K's. 
>  
> > Run away!!! Run away!!! Run from the onboard bge ethernet!  Buy a nice 
> > intel dual gigabit ethernet card use that.  turn off the bge via the 
> > bios.  They will lock your system or cause other problems under heavy 
> > disk+network load.
> 
> Because Tyan clogged the PCI-X bus, the bge can act up in certain situations.
> I haven't had time+resources to test complaints about bge+320-2X's locking up,
> but I would bet money that if you took PCIX A down to 100MHz by jumper, it'd
> at least happen far less frequently. The other complaints, well, I can't find
> any real merit in them. A K8SPro w/320-2 using the onboard bge has exhibited
> zero problems under extreme loads. If you're going to be subjecting the box
> to load with a 320-2X, you'll likely have to put the 320-2X on PCIX B at 66MHz
> to get it stable. Or get an Iwill. This isn't the first time Tyan's had PCI
> timing issues, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

To summarize, for the K8S Pro, it seems your suggestion would be to stay
away from the pci- x adapters all together??  Which leaves something
like the Adaptec 2120 or the LSI 320-1LP (for a 2U rackmount system).
Can anyone give me some guidance if either of these has advantages/
disadvantages under fbsd amd64?

Thanks for your insights.

-- 
Best regards,

Ken Gunderson
GPG Key-- 9F5179FD

"Freedom begins between the ears."	-- Edward Abbey