new server setup questions

[Ray]

On Saturday 17 March 2007 9:24 pm, you wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:21:48 -0600
>
> Ray <ray at stilltech.net> wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I'm trying to setup a new server, and I'm having some problems mostly
> > with the network card. (machine specs follow) I can't get a driver to
> > work for the integrated network card.  I've spent a number of hours on
> > google / "the complete freeBSD" / "the freeBSD handbook". the handbook
> > (section 11.8
> > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-
> >setup.html) outlines using ndis (project evil) drivers. I tried using
> > this. I went through ndisgen, and everything seemed to work. I then tried
> > to use kldload and got the error message:
> > "kldload: can't load file.ko :operation not permitted"
> > of course I did all of this as root. I am using the amd64 version of
> > freeBSD (is this my first mistake?) and the 64 bit version of the
> > drivers. as a side note, the supplied driver disk includes a source
> > version of the linux driver. is there any way to use this?
> > Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.
> > Ray
> > machine specs
> > ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE mobo
> > 2GB ram
> > AMD 5200 x2 processor (sorry, the box isn't in front of me)
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> > To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> > "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>
> a friend of mine installed a 6.2-RELEASE system with an nforce network card
> in it a few weeks ago.  upon intial install, the nve adapter would not fire
> up.  he put in another card that was supported (a linksys), did his cvsup
> and buildworld, and the nve driver worked after that.
>
> however, the nve thru our freebsd router has had trouble several times,
> locking the system up over frames with larger than 1500 mtu (or something
> to that effect).  my friend had to dump the nve and just settle for the
> linksys, in the name of system system stability.
>
> cheers,
> jonathan

I didn't get anywhere with 7-current, (it's shortcomings or my lack of 
knowledge, I don't know.) but I think my good friend Google came through 
again. I found a site 
(http://www.se.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~shigeaki/software/freebsd-nfe.html) that 
provided a patch for phy1000 stuff (side note: can anybody point me to info 
on what this is all about?) and a new nforce driver source. This site 
includes a fairly detailed walk through. (oh yeah, don't try to use the 6.2 
stable patch on a 6.2 release system, it doesn't work :)    )
the only slight concern that I have is when I run 
sysinstall ->configure -> Networking -> interfaces
the network ports show up as 
nfe0 <unknown network interface type>
nfe1 <unknown network interface type>
is this anything to worry about?

I now have 2 new questions:
kldload still gave me the same error as mentioned earlier in this thread
does kldload not work, even for root when securelevel is set to secure, or 
does it fail when /boot/loader.conf is empty or ...?
the reason I ask is that manually editing loader.conf works, kldload doesn't.

How is the best way to test for stability? Just because it boots every time 
and pings google doesn't mean it's ready for production, especially in light 
of Jonathan's comment above.

Thanks, 
Ray