PAE kernel problem on Dell PowerEdge 2950

[Michael Powell]

Olivier Nicole wrote:

[snip]
> 
> And I stick to RELENG, not STABLE, because I want to patch security
> bugs, but I most probably does not need all the new bells and whistles
> of STABLE: this is a production server, I prefer to modify the machine
> as least as possible, unless it is expressely needed by a secuity
> issue (I won't apply security patches if they are not pertinent to a
> specific server and the services running on that machine).
> 
> Bests,
> 
> Olivier

I am of the same bent. For many security issues that do not mandate a reboot 
I just apply the patches following the instructions in the security 
advisory.

32 bit drivers such as NVidia on a desktop box mean you're stuck with i386. 
These same drivers usually have problems with PAE kernels as well. In the 
server world you are better off not running a PAE kernel. PAE is kludge and 
a true 64 bit implementation will give you better performance.

The thing to watch out here would be a controller driver based on a binary 
blob. How it was originally built by the mfr can cause trouble in a mix-n-
match environment. I believe most controller drivers these days are OK on 64 
bit platforms, it is just a detail to keep an eye out on. But - PAE is 
something better done away with and relegated to history. Just my $.02

-Mike