One of my servers is not compatible with Centos 4, so I want to replace the motherboard with a compatible one. I came across this site and would appreciate any comments on whether I can rely on selecting a board that is listed as compatible with Unix?
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-motherboards--asustek~V-rows
For instance, the ASUS P5P800 Motherboard?
Thank you....
Todd
On 12/10/05, Todd Cary todd@aristesoftware.com wrote:
One of my servers is not compatible with Centos 4, so I want to replace the motherboard with a compatible one. I came across this site and would appreciate any comments on whether I can rely on selecting a board that is listed as compatible with Unix?
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-motherboards--asustek~V-rows
For instance, the ASUS P5P800 Motherboard?
Thank you....
Todd
Just because the board is listed as Unix/Linux compatible doesn't always mean it'll work with your particular distribution. Their job is to sell, so if the drivers are in the latest kernel, even in beta it'll be listed as compatible. It may not necessarily be STABLE however, or even compatible with your particular distribution depending on what kernel version they're at, or what modules/drivers are enabled in the kernel. You'd be better off checking what you're looking at against the redhat hardware compatiblity list.
-- Jim Perrin System Architect - UIT Ft Gordon & US Army Signal Center
Jim -
I have not been able to find a listing of compatible motherboards; only systems. Am I missing the link?
Todd
Jim Perrin wrote:
On 12/10/05, Todd Cary todd@aristesoftware.com wrote:
One of my servers is not compatible with Centos 4, so I want to replace the motherboard with a compatible one. I came across this site and would appreciate any comments on whether I can rely on selecting a board that is listed as compatible with Unix?
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-motherboards--asustek~V-rows
For instance, the ASUS P5P800 Motherboard?
Thank you....
Todd
Just because the board is listed as Unix/Linux compatible doesn't always mean it'll work with your particular distribution. Their job is to sell, so if the drivers are in the latest kernel, even in beta it'll be listed as compatible. It may not necessarily be STABLE however, or even compatible with your particular distribution depending on what kernel version they're at, or what modules/drivers are enabled in the kernel. You'd be better off checking what you're looking at against the redhat hardware compatiblity list.
-- Jim Perrin System Architect - UIT Ft Gordon & US Army Signal Center _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Todd Cary wrote:
One of my servers is not compatible with Centos 4, so I want to replace the motherboard with a compatible one. I came across this site and would appreciate any comments on whether I can rely on selecting a board that is listed as compatible with Unix?
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-motherboards--asustek~V-rows
For instance, the ASUS P5P800 Motherboard?
Thank you....
Todd
Todd,
I went thru such a drill not too long ago, and started out with a Tyan board which wound up having problems of a hardware nature, but there were other things that did not work exactly right either. After doing more research, I found that the SuperMicro boards do maintain a compat list with various versions of Unix / Linux / RedHat. I wound up with a dual Xeon server board that works good. Altho not specifically stated to work with CentOS, it is certified to work with RH9, and that was enough for me to give it a try. Good board to boot. This one is the X6DAEG2, and there are several versions of the X6 board series, some with and without scsi controllers on board, some with and without video. This one happens to not have video or the SCSI controller, but does have a dual SATA controller.
Hope this helps some..
Sam
Sam Drinkard wrote:
After doing more research, I found that the SuperMicro boards do maintain a compat list with various versions of Unix / Linux / RedHat.
I can also recommend SuperMicro boards. They all worked well with Linux.
However, word of warning. Couple of SuperMicro boards (for example P4SCT+) have Marvell SATA chipset with Adaptec's fake-RAID BIOS. This chipset is not supported by Linux kernel. You can download device driver from Abit web site and compile it, however this is not supported. Abit's device driver also supports fake RAID feature of Marvell chipset. There is some work being done to develop open source version of this driver. This is relatively rare chipset, and it is uncertain when open source driver will be available.
The motherboards in question are developed for SuperMicro servers with four bays for SATA drives. All of them also have Intel chipset that supports two SATA drives. There is total of six SATA connectors on each of those motherboards (four connected to Marvell chip, and two connected to Intel chip). Well, at least those that I'm aware of have two additonal Intel ports. Linux can use two ports that are connected to Intel chip.
So, as long as you are OK that only two out of six SATA ports would work with Linux those motherboards are also good choice. Sooner or later, there'll also be open source device driver that'll enable you to use the four ports connected to Marvell controller. If you buy entire system from SuperMicro that has this motherboard, you'll have to move two cables from Marvell ports to Intel ports, and you won't be able to use third and fourth drive bay (unless you put additional SATA controller in PCI or PCI-X slot).
Aleksandar -
I greatly appreciate your advice as well as the advice of others on this topic. Though I understand the concepts of chip sets and motherboards, the specifics is not my forte; once I get a computer up and running as a server to handle my testing of php scripts and to provide a way for my client to FTP my work during the day, I just let it run :-) !
One of my servers (was my main one) has a board with Adaptec fake-RAID BIOS that works well with RH 9, but for the reasons you have stated, it does not work with RHE 4 - even if I use the 2 connectors that bypass the RAID. So, I want to replace the motherboard with a middle of the road board (I think I have a Pentium 3 on the current board).
Thank you....
Todd
Aleksandar Milivojevic wrote:
Sam Drinkard wrote:
After doing more research, I found that the SuperMicro boards do maintain a compat list with various versions of Unix / Linux / RedHat.
I can also recommend SuperMicro boards. They all worked well with Linux.
However, word of warning. Couple of SuperMicro boards (for example P4SCT+) have Marvell SATA chipset with Adaptec's fake-RAID BIOS. This chipset is not supported by Linux kernel. You can download device driver from Abit web site and compile it, however this is not supported. Abit's device driver also supports fake RAID feature of Marvell chipset. There is some work being done to develop open source version of this driver. This is relatively rare chipset, and it is uncertain when open source driver will be available.
The motherboards in question are developed for SuperMicro servers with four bays for SATA drives. All of them also have Intel chipset that supports two SATA drives. There is total of six SATA connectors on each of those motherboards (four connected to Marvell chip, and two connected to Intel chip). Well, at least those that I'm aware of have two additonal Intel ports. Linux can use two ports that are connected to Intel chip.
So, as long as you are OK that only two out of six SATA ports would work with Linux those motherboards are also good choice. Sooner or later, there'll also be open source device driver that'll enable you to use the four ports connected to Marvell controller. If you buy entire system from SuperMicro that has this motherboard, you'll have to move two cables from Marvell ports to Intel ports, and you won't be able to use third and fourth drive bay (unless you put additional SATA controller in PCI or PCI-X slot). _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
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Aleksandar Milivojevic -
Jim Perrin -
Sam Drinkard -
Todd Cary