Installation preparation questions

[Marcel Moolenaar]

On May 12, 2008, at 7:39 PM, Ross Gohlke wrote:

>>> If I log in via ssh and issue shutdown -r now, will the machine come
>>> back
>>> up without someone being physically at the machine's keyboard?
>>
>> Yes, it will. But if FreeBSD hangs hard or you have a power failure,
>> someone will have to be on-site to press the power button.
>
> Great news!
> My downtime will still be less with FreeBSD under the hood, even if  
> I have
> to pay someone to visit the cage in person a handful of times a year.
> I haven't had a power failure in years, and in my experience FreeBSD  
> will
> not hang unless I do something wrong (maybe ppc will be different - we
> shall see!)
>
> Just to clarify, if:
> A) FreeBSD stops working (power is on but I can't log in via ssh)

A serial console works on the Xserve.

> B) Power is cut (cord unplugged, backup battery dies)
> the only way to recover is to hit the power button.

Yes.

> Is OFW/single user login also required?

No, you can configure it so that FreeBSD boots automatically.

>> The problem with FreeBSD on Apple hardware is that we don't have a
>> driver for the power management unit. The PMU needs to be programmed
>> every time on reboot so that the machine will power-up after a power
>> failure. We can't do this yet. I consider it a flaw in the hardware,
>> but such is the state of affair.
>>
>> A hardware solution is called for...
>
> Any chance of Apple releasing such a driver, or any point in  
> lobbying them
> to do so?

I don't know if Apple will release or has released such a driver.
There is code out there, but it needs to be ported and understood.
Using the Linux driver may not be a good idea WRT licensing...

In any case: I don't think it's an impossible task, just one of the
many tasks we fail to have time for :-)

> Plenty of Xserves are also destined for the garbage bin, which is a  
> pitty.
> They run like tops.

Yup. I'm using one for working on SMP support. I remember you have a
dual cpu as well. SMP support is not in FreeBSD-stable yet and what
we have in -CURRENT needs a little bit of work.

>> Well, I started working on this but fail to have time. Others have
>> done some work as well. Bottom line: I have no idea when this will
>> be implemented.
>
> Understood. Put me down as a non-counting vote to prioritize this
> functionality. Is it important for anyone else?

Well, I hate it that I can't work in critical kernel code when I'm
not at home. I would love to be able to power-cycle. For any kind of
remote management, the functionality is critical I would say...

> I will also research freebsd.org for information about offering  
> monetary
> bounties for such requests.

See also:
	http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/

Your donation is always appreciated. Since you have specific needs
and you'd like your donation to be used to satisfy your needs, you
may need to recruit individual developers...

-- 
Marcel Moolenaar
xcllnt at mac.com