Johann Schmitz wrote:
We use Dell servers exclusively and have for 15 years. I think we're up
to 400+ physical boxes now and the number of Linux-compatibility issues
in all that time is exactly zero :-)
That's good to hear.
If Dell sold server-class hardware that wasn't 100% supported in Linux,
their sales would suffer badly, they have a strong business model around
100% Linux support in the data center. So the odds are very much on your
side, but do your Google checks on the proposed hardware and verify.
You're right. But it's quite a difference to sell something which comes
with some Linux distribution installed and "works" and to have a system
in place which lacks a single but important feature just because it's
not one of the mainstream features.
1. Pick a server model that has an option to ship with RHEL
pre-installed, this indicates 100% Linux compatibility.
That was one of the reasons why we're thinking about Dell server. They
offer SLES and RHEL as operating systems.
But again, often the last 1% of the hardware's features (like hardware
sensors) are only available if you use some creepy vendor software (like
OpenManage).
That is not the case. I have some R720s and they expose no fewer than
151 distinct sensor readings through IPMI. Simply install freeipmi and
run ipmi-sensors. Other useful tools are ipmi-oem, whose Dell-specific
extensions can be used to configure DRAC cards, and ipmi-sel, which can
be used to read the System Event Log. I use a simple script to scrape
the SEL and dispatch new entries in the form of an email alert.
--Kerin
