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On 01/21/14 08:11, Johann Schmitz (ercpe) wrote: |
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> Hi all, |
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> |
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> we are planning to upgrade our virtualization infrastructure in the |
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> near future. We are currently looking at 2 Dell PowerEdge R720 or R715. |
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> |
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> The hardware (more or less): |
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> - Intel Xeon E5-2650v2 |
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> - 24+ GB RAM |
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> - H710/H710P RAID controller |
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> - Broadcom 5719 or Intel I350 network adapter (quad-port) |
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> |
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> We definitely want to use Gentoo as the host system with virtual |
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> machines running on either xen or kvm on top of it (on local storage) |
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> but i'm fine with running another, "better supported" distribution as |
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> the host system. |
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> |
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> Has someone this or a similar system running on linux (preferrable |
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> Gentoo) and can give me some infos about the hardware support? I think |
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> the most interesting part are the NICs and the RAID controller. |
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> |
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> * From a quick tour through google it seems that the both NICs are |
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> supported. What about the hardware features like VLAN and Bonding/Teaming? |
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> |
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> * The H710* RAID controllers seem to be supported (megaraid) too. Can |
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> someone confirm this? |
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> |
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> * What about hardware sensors? |
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We use Dell servers exclusively and have for 15 years. I think we're up |
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to 400+ physical boxes now and the number of Linux-compatibility issues |
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in all that time is exactly zero :-) |
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If Dell sold server-class hardware that wasn't 100% supported in Linux, |
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their sales would suffer badly, they have a strong business model around |
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100% Linux support in the data center. So the odds are very much on your |
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side, but do your Google checks on the proposed hardware and verify. |
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Two tips I can give you: |
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1. Pick a server model that has an option to ship with RHEL |
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pre-installed, this indicates 100% Linux compatibility. |
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2. For VM hosts, look into the -R variant. We found them by pure chance |
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end of last year, they are the same model but with some stupid large |
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number of front drive bays (16?) mounted vertically. It's built with VM |
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servers in mind. For some reason the price was cheaper than the regular |
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R720 even with 16 drives installed! Maybe we just got lucky but nobody |
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here was going to query a bargain like that :-) |
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-- |
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Alan McKinnon |
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alan.mckinnon@×××××.com |
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