Dell workstation / server Freebsd's compatibility

[Steve Polyack]

On 6/26/2010 6:07 PM, Tim Judd wrote:
> On 6/26/10, Olivier GARNIER<ap1-10 at wanadoo.fr>  wrote:
>    
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> I've got an old workstation wich i use to have FreeBSD server on it
>> (http/samba/ 4 disk on RAID)
>> It's summer time and the old workstation will not work at the end the
>> summer time (too warm for it)
>>
>> So ii wish to change it.
>> I don't need a big server, a tiny workstation will be enough.
>> I wish a inter CPU and dell construction (i'm use to use there work)
>> So herre is the question :
>>
>> If you have dell computer (wich is still sold by dell) and if you're
>> working with FreeBSD on it with no more problem, can you tell me witch
>> computer you have ?
>> (it would be great to have the same list as laptop
>> (*laptop*.bsdgroup.de) For workstation and server ...)
>>      
>
>
> You have more people with success on generic hardware you buy at
> newegg.com for example than you will with Dell or any other OEM.
>
> Moreover, you won't get support from Dell or an OEM for support
> issues, including hardware replacements because they didn't sell the
> machine with BSD.
>    

This isn't true.  Dell won't give you any operating system support, but 
they will honor your hardware warranties just fine.  We've had various 
failures that were replaced with very little hassle from Dell.  The most 
trouble they will give you is if it's an obscure issue, in which case 
they'll ask you to boot Linux and run their DSET tool.
>
> If you want a company that supports BSD, use iXsystems.
>
> If you want general compatibility that generally works better than any
> OEM, use general parts from newegg, etc.  iXsystems is the exception
> because they test and support BSD on the parts they sell.
>    

iXsystems products look very solid.  We've had a good bit of luck with 
the various Dells we've had.  Mostly 8th and 9th gen PowerEdge servers, 
and then the new R710s.  They're all very solid systems and we've had 
very few driver issues.  They FreeBSD team has done a great job at 
patching the issues we have had.  We also have a handful of their 
Optiplex desktop workstations that run BSD quite well.