Servers Compatible With FreeBSD

mehdi

mehdi

What is your experience with HPE ProLiant vs Dell PowerEdge vs Lenovo servers when used primarily with FreeBSD (I mean bare-metal)?

What servers do you use in your environment and if you had the opportunity to buy the hardware for your company (mainly for FreeBSD), what brand would you buy?

Thank you
 
I've used a lot of SuperMicro servers. Good hardware, not too expensive. And good FreeBSD support on most models. Their compatibility matrix has a FreeBSD column, so it's easy to check in advance.
 
+1 for SuperMicro. Most of the servers I deal with are SuperMicro hardware.
I do have a two HPE ProLiant running FreeBSD too - no problems there either.
 
You can even get EPYC servers from SuperMicro.
If you look at the performance numbers Intel is lagging.
Single CPU or multiple is a valid question these days with CPU's sporting so many cores.

The range of models the SuperMicro offers is what makes them great.
I chose this for my virt rig. I wanted lots of PCIe slots.

I am not a proponent of Dell or HP servers. Too much proprietary equipment.
Heck LGA3647 and EPYC there are CPUs that will only work on HP/Dell boards. Locked to manufacturer.
Talk about staggering costs for these CPU as well might think you were dealing with a monopoly.

www.servethehome.com

AMD PSB Vendor Locks EPYC CPUs for Enhanced Security at a Cost

In this article, we discuss AMD PSB or Platform Secure Boot where AMD EPYC CPUs are vendor locked to server OEMs. Great for security. Bad for 2nd hand use
www.servethehome.com www.servethehome.com
 
if you want enterprise grade hw for desktop you can have a workstation from hp or dell
i had a hp xw8200 which i used as a server (dual xeon / ecc ram)
it was pretty quiet comapared with a server and very well built
 
I’ve had good experiences with both Supermicro and Dell but not used the newer Dells yet (and they have stopped supporting FreeBSD by changing MegaCLI/StorCLI into PERCCLI which is annoying.) But Dell Rx10 Rx20 Rx30 and Rx40 (where x is 3, 4 or 6) all been rock solid. Got an R450 to start checking next year.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
Would you guys equally recommend them for the desktop?
Click to expand...
Attributes you want in a server: Excellent cooling, noise is not an issue. Power efficient design (not just using a small CPU, but all the way through buses and power distribution). Sturdy mechanical build, with good connectors (even if large). Extra ethernet ports for the various networks (servers used to be on 3 networks with 3 plugs, today much of that is done with VLANs). Room for expansion cards (for IO and networking, such as SAS and Infiniband), using industry-standard slots. Cosmetics is completely unimportant, but compatible form factor (19" rack and standard depth) are.

Attributes you want in a desktop: Low noise. For gamers and some developers (electronics CAD, graphic design, people who run analytics or do development on their own machine) very high powered CPU and graphics; power efficiency is not important. Physically small and convenient. Networking and IO is typically not vital, nor is room for expansion cards. Some people insist on replaceable GPU / video card; other people are happier with a great video card that's built in. Cosmetics is very important for some users.

So what you want in a server is to a large extent the opposite of what you want in a client.

Really old story about HP, from the 80s and 90s: When HP started building computer servers, they built them like they had built their electronic instruments: insanely sturdy, and the mechanics and electrical was way overbuilt. I've seen an early HP minicomputer from the 70s, and it has 1/8" thick stainless plates for the case, with full-length hinges for movable doors. That mindset then persisted when HP started building desktop computers (still built on the HP3000 and PA-RISC architectures). They were not competitive, because way too much money was spent on the mechanical and quality. Why? Because a company such as HP can not do other than build the highest quality hardware. There is a famous story about Bill complaining about the front panel screws on a 50-year old electronic instrument being slightly rusty. And when someone said "But Bill, it was stored in a humid environment for a generation", his reply was: "My name is on the front panel, and it won't be rusty." To combat that mindset of "high quality at any cost, even if the customer wants something inexpensive", HP bought Apollo Computers, a maker of workstations. Not because of their architecture, PC boards, operating system, or customer base. Mostly because of their ability to bend sheet metal into appropriate and cost-effective boxes. And the corporate culture: First you find out what the customer wants (cheap but functional), then you build that; not the thing that you would be proud of building.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
I'm pretty sure they make desktop hardware.
Click to expand...
Indeed SuperMicro does.
You can also find thier serverboards with the one feature that defines the desktop/workstation market.
Audio Jacks.
They always have a line of workstation class boards.

I think when shopping Supermicro it helps to know what CPU you want to use and then shop boards.
Their SOC offerings are quite expensive so I prefer socketed systems.
Then you must descide E3 or E5 Xeon or Consumer CPU. PCIe lanes are a big factor in this decision.
i3 would be the cheapest solution and it goes up from there..

Supermicro makes tower systems too so it depends if you want barebones or build yourself.
 
You could use server grade hardware for a desktop, SuperMicro has "workstation" and "server" mainboards in ATX form factor. That will certainly reduce the noise issues as fits a "normal" ATX desktop case with nice, quiet fans. Power supply typically isn't an issue either, those boards also have ATX power connections.

Only single CPU boards in ATX, dual CPU boards are usually E-ATX. The SuperMicro E-ATX size might be an issue though, it's not exactly the same as the common EATX mainboards designed for desktop.
 
Another +1 for SuperMicro

Basically 'anything x64' should work fine as long as it doesn't contain any esoteric custom chipset variations or firmware that is tailored towards specific OSs.
SuperMicro also takes pretty much any 'off the shelf' hardware you throw at it, plus they offer various 'standard' addon cards (like e.g. the various LSI SAS HBAs or NICs) which either work in any other system, but also have additional SuperMicro IPMI capabilities (e.g. monitoring) as a bonus. Those are usually also very competitively priced. I'm using their dual 10G SFP+ NICs (AOC-STGN-i2s; the shorter 'rev. 2' version) almost everywhere.

Regarding pricing: at least in germany/europe (used) SuperMicro components on ebay etc are heavily overpriced - often you are asked more for used hardware than it would cost *new* from an authorized dealer. E.g. those dual M.2 NVMe carriers are often sold at prices near 100EUR, yet their list price is somewhere around 40-45EUR. Same goes for most risers, especially those with integrated NICs.
 
drhowarddrfine
Here is the matrix you want.

Desktop & Gaming Motherboards / Boards | Supermicro

Supermicro's Desktop and Gaming Motherboards offer the highest-quality design, components, and production expertise with Intel Xeon Scalable and Intel Core Processor support.
www.supermicro.com www.supermicro.com

I think Z390 is a good chipset to consider.
You can get CPU's a little cheaper beacause it is older.

Go Z490/590/790 chipset for the latest and greatest.

I just put my money where my mouth is and bought z390/c246 class server board.
To me a used processor in a new board is ideal. CPU's don't go bad from my experience.
I bought new ram. (ECC was costly)

So good place to start with your desktop board.
Do you want ZFS, ifso you want ECC RAM. This will change the calculus. Z390 has no ECC support.
All desktop Supermicro boards use NON-ECC chipsets.

So like I mentioned earlier. Look for workstation board with Audio. You may want Xeon chipset for ECC support.
 
Memory can have two properties that are different:
- ECC or non-ECC
- registered or unbuffered

DDR4 registered ECC is so cheap on ebay that it is worth going to a server board that supports it if you want a lot of memory. ECC unbuffered is the most expensive.

Supermicro also make W680 boards which use desktop CPUs and support ECC unbuffered.
 
Many times I would use the SuperMicro "Tested Memory List" for modules to buy.

Now they give you part number for SuperMicro eStore. There you can decode into Manufacturer Part Number.
That is an hurdle recently added.
 
mehdi said:
What is your experience with HPE ProLiant vs Dell PowerEdge vs Lenovo servers when used primarily with FreeBSD (I mean bare-metal)?
Click to expand...
Dell tends to build nonstandard hardware, you may end locked into their replacement parts.

mehdi said:
What servers do you use in your environment
Click to expand...
I'm running Asus boards for decades already, even before there was a difference server/desktop. And since used Supermicro was twice the price, I went with Asus for a server proper. Mainboard only, dual Xeon, standard ATX, can run any place, any case (but cooling is a challenge).

mehdi said:
and if you had the opportunity to buy the hardware for your company (mainly for FreeBSD), what brand would you buy?
Click to expand...
That would depend on the company, most have their own ideas about procurement and infra. (There are differences - at one customer the datacenter was the only smokers' lounge. I thought that cool and bought some of their shares. They went worthless in the 2001 new market crash, but I kept and added and nowadays they are nice profit. :) ) Probably I would try to keep my ass safe and just buy what everybody talks about, i.e. Supermicro.
 
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