HP ProLiant DL165 G5

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 08:12:16PM -0800, famd64 wrote:
> purchased noted rack mount server with the 'hope' it
> would function with FreeBSD 7.0 AMD
>
> 7.0 had an issue with spurious interrupts. I tried 7.1B2,
> and the interrupt storm disappeared.
>
> On a positive note, the dual-quad core AMD chips function
> great, and FreeBSD seems to handle all 8 processors and 8Gb ram
> just fine.
>
> I find that the BGE ethernet driver fails under prolonged use.
> Seems to me that the BGE driver hasn't been all that reliable
> for as many years as I've used it.
>
> As a test, I installed SuSe Linux and Debian on the server.
> The ethernet seemed to function fine with both OSes. Just dandy
> except I *want* and -need- to run FreeBSD.
>
> The computer has 1 half height and 1 full height card bay
> available which I can place an ethernet card in to bypass the
> built-in BGE ethernet. I would like recommendation as to the
> 'best'/most reliable ethernet card I can install in my machine.

Well, there's no guarantee the PCI card won't share IRQs or behave
properly with the other hardware on the mainboard, but I can vouch for
the cards and the FreeBSD driver being quite good.

Pick up an Intel Pro/1000 GT card, which uses em(4).  If you're in
the States, they're available on Amazon for ~US$27.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |