Discussion:
BSD support for latest hardware
C***@Dell.com
2010-05-28 04:18:35 UTC
Permalink
Hello all,

I'm interested in finding out if the latest version of freebsd supports the latest processors from AMD (Magny-Cours) & Intel Nehalem EP(Westmere) & EX?

How many cpu cores are supported in a single server? Max memory?

The release notes seem to reference old hardware (not a bad thing) but I'm focused on latest architectures.

Thanks for any input or pointers to where I can find this information.

Thanks,
Chip
Matthew Seaman
2010-05-28 08:29:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by C***@Dell.com
I'm interested in finding out if the latest version of freebsd
supports the latest processors from AMD (Magny-Cours) & Intel Nehalem
EP(Westmere) & EX?
Yes, sure it does.
Post by C***@Dell.com
How many cpu cores are supported in a single server? Max memory?
I think the formal limit is "more than you could sensibly expect to
use." Practically speaking, FreeBSD will perform well on a machine with
8 or 16 cores given an appropriate multi-threaded workload.

Maximum RAM is always determined by the capacity of the motherboard
(assuming a 64bit machine). You want 768GB RAM? No problem.
Post by C***@Dell.com
The release notes seem to reference old hardware (not a bad thing)
but I'm focused on latest architectures.
Thanks for any input or pointers to where I can find this
information.
Asking whether *processors* are supported is really the wrong question.
Processors are by their nature code-compatible with older models, so,
yes, the OS will run on those CPUs[*]. You want to look at the
motherboard chipsets and peripherals such as SAS/SATA controllers as the
limiting factors. Unfortunately in this case, you won't find a great
deal of information about what is supported at the leading edge --
motherboard manufacturers seem to think that testing against Windows and
Linux is sufficient. FreeBSD tends to list support by the model name
and number of the specific components in question, rather than the whole
hardware platform. See, for example the man pages for eg. amr(4)

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=amr&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+8.0-RELEASE&format=html

The FreeBSD project does target the hardware produced by big-name
vendors such as HP, Dell, Intel. Probably none of those will officially
support FreeBSD (not that hardware vendor support of an OS is really
that critical when making purchasing decisions) -- but find the right
bod in their support departments, and they will tell you off the record
if FreeBSD works or not. Commodity H/W manufacturers like Asus, Tyan,
Supermicro are a different matter -- there are more or less formal
arrangements for getting sample kit into the hands of FreeBSD developers
from some of these, but it's all a bit ad hoc.

If you can, try firing up a live CD on the hardware before you put your
money down. You will generally be pleasantly surprised: most server
grade kit is pretty well supported.

Cheers,

Matthew

[*] Support for the very latest code features and CPU specific
optimizations does take some time to percolate through to RELEASE
versions; exacerbated at the moment by the incompatibility of the GPLv3
license and hence the ongoing project to shift from gcc to llvm/clang as
the system compiler.

- --
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard
Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate
JID: ***@infracaninophile.co.uk Kent, CT11 9PW

Loading...