Hi,

I have a long history of using NetBSD very successfully on various
Intel based no-brand-name servers (and desktops) which have been
custom built from standard PC components by a local shop who knows
which devices/controllers are well supported on NetBSD.

Recently my focus has shifted more towards servers built by big
brand name companies (HP/Dell/IBM/etc) due to hardware reliability
requirements. I need to look for things like:
 - on-site 24x7 support/repair/disaster recovery h/w contracts with
   guaranteed response times
 - redundant fans, power supplies etc.
 - high quality of parts and the overall system

At least where I live (in Finland), the above requirements do not
match well with the systems built by local shops. So I am stuck
with servers from big brands. Having a full set of spares on-site
is not economical.

Because NetBSD's device driver availability tends to always lag
behind the hardware that is currently available, I am a little bit
sceptical...  maybe I am looking for something which will not work?
Linux would not be a problem because all big brands support it
themselves nowadays, but I am not such a great fan of Linux. :)

I would be very happy to hear any success/failure stories/comments
from people who have installed, used or tried to install NetBSD on
recently purchased brand name servers.

Some potentially interesting systems would be:
 - Dell PowerEdge 1650/2600/2650
 - HP/Compaq DL320/DL360/DL380/ML310/ML330/ML350/ML370
 - IBM xSeries 335/345/225/235
 - Fujitsu-Siemens Primergy P200/P250/C150/C200/F200/F250

I am especially worried about the following potential issues:

 - on-board/add-on RAID controller device driver support

 - on-board/add-on SCSI controller device driver support

 - on-board gigabit NIC device driver support

 - support service personnel attitude when h/w is failing (will
   I need to install some M$ operating system before they will
   believe that a component is failing?)

Feel free to send me any comments off-list. I can summarize & post
the answers if there is any interest. I hope my question is
appropriate on port-i386... I didn't figure out any better list :).


PS. I know how to compare manufacturer's specs to the list of NetBSD
supported h/w... but matching these is always not so obvious due
to various naming differences, version differences, in-accurate
specs etc. I am more interested on hands-on experience...

Regards,
-- 
Janne Snabb
snabb@iki.fi