RE: Where to find good/cheap tech support
I guess we are going with RedHat on this server. I would have preferred FreeBSD :( This was just meant to be a little question on where to get help that fits our budget, nothing more. For those that like to poke and hit I'm just a little employee doing what I can with what I'm given. At 4/26/2005 01:31 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You seem to be making assumptions and are looking into this to deeply my friend. But thanks for the feedback anyway :)- The $150 was only an arbitrary number thats common in the field. I could have chosen another number. It would not have mattered, the question would have been the same. That is baloney, when you titled the post good/CHEAP, quite obviously the number matters greatly. - The SCSI adapter is an Adaptec Ultra320 built into a $3000+ 1U web server and not a common inexpensive controller. Since it works fine for both RedHat and Windows we are probably going to go with another OS on this server other than FreeBSD. Um, that would be Windows, right? That is, your going to drop an additional $1200 on Windows OS and licensing for it just because you don't want to drop $150 into an hour of support? If that isn't true then why are you even listing Windows here? Windows isn't a UNIX OS, and has no relevance to anything. Is it because your thinking that if you tell us Windows runs on this server that we are all going to be real impressed? Aren't you forgetting a lot of us already run 1U webservers fine with FreeBSD with no problems? The fact RedHat runs on this is significant since the FreeBSD and RedHat Adaptec driver have a common ancestor. Why arm wrestle the situation when no one seems to know the solution to our issue.- Simple, because the OS is free. If you want to save the money on licensing fees then you spend your time arm wrestling problems when they come up. If you own a car and you want to save a lot of money on mechanics fees then you learn how to fix it, buy a lot of tools, and do the work yourself. Why is this any different with operating systems? And I am in a VERY small company that could barely pay for what we just purchased. We where lucky to get what we did and the idea of having a duplicate is wishful thinking and not realistic, so thats a risk we will have to take until we can afford better solutions. In short, you overreached yourself. So let me ask you, why should customers use you when your competition has actually spent the money for backup servers? I work for a small company too, lots of people do that is no excuse. But when I have a problem, such a fielding a mailserver, that really ought to have a backup server, if I have $3K to spend on it, I don't run out and buy a new server. I instead get creative and perhaps buy 2 used servers at $1500, or roll my own clones, or get a leasing company involved, etc. I don't shortchange my customers because I'm not willing to gamble with their livelihoods. Sure, I may not be out there saying to them that I have a brand new P4 3Ghz server for them like you are, but I am telling them that for what they need, a P4 3Ghz server won't be any different than a P3 1.5Ghz system, (which it isn't) and that I have redundancies in that P3 1.5Ghz network that allow me to guarentee to them that if my server blows chunks that I will have them back online within 20 minutes. Its not the perfect situation but its the best we can do with what we have. No, it isn't. I would love a new house but the cold numbers dictate what'sreally possible right now. - No, they don't. You are simply making up justfications for yourself to try to sleep better at night. You don't have the moral leg to stand on to sell server services to your customers, because when your customers buy services from you there is an implied understanding that they are buying server services that are done in a professional manner, better than they could do them. And if you aren't selling server services to customers, but instead using this server for your own business, the moral issues still remain because your customers depend on your product, and if you go offline a week because your all-the-eggs-in-one-basket solution blew chunks, then your still affecting your customers. I'm sure you can probably go on making excuses, but I'm not interested in them. You said you couldn't afford to have the server down for days at a time. Well, either that was a baldfaced lie and you were full of crap, or your abrogating your responsibility to provide solid IT services and infrastructure. Sites that cannot afford to have a server down for days at a time MUST have backup servers, it is simple as that, and no amount of whining and excuses justify anything different. Now if your interested in the problem, here is the support issue/question no one seems to have any clue about.- I am attempting to install FreeBSD 5.3 onto a new
RE: Where to find good/cheap tech support
You seem to be making assumptions and are looking into this to deeply my friend. But thanks for the feedback anyway :) - The $150 was only an arbitrary number thats common in the field. I could have chosen another number. It would not have mattered, the question would have been the same. - The SCSI adapter is an Adaptec Ultra320 built into a $3000+ 1U web server and not a common inexpensive controller. Since it works fine for both RedHat and Windows we are probably going to go with another OS on this server other than FreeBSD. Why arm wrestle the situation when no one seems to know the solution to our issue. - And I am in a VERY small company that could barely pay for what we just purchased. We where lucky to get what we did and the idea of having a duplicate is wishful thinking and not realistic, so thats a risk we will have to take until we can afford better solutions. Its not the perfect situation but its the best we can do with what we have. I would love a new house but the cold numbers dictate what's really possible right now. - Now if your interested in the problem, here is the support issue/question no one seems to have any clue about. - I am attempting to install FreeBSD 5.3 onto a new server, but during the initial bootup it fails / times out from what I think is it trying to initialize the SCSI adapter. The server has an Adaptec AIC-7902 dual-channel Ultra320 SCSI controller which the i386 ahd(4) driver has listed as a supported device. - I have been reading and searching this lists archives as well as the bsdforums.org site for possible solutions, but so far what I have found has not worked. I have tried disabling/enabling ACPI, removing all but one SCSI drive and re-checking the adapter settings comparing them to a different Adaptec controller on another server running FreeBSD 5.3 which works fine. The servers BIOS and firmware is all up to date and is mainly running on its default settings. - Here is a summary of what I am seeing during bootup: - Ata1-master : FAILURE ATAPI_IDENTIFY timed out Waiting 15 seconds for SCSI devices to settle ---Dump Card State Ends--- (probe29:ahd1:0:15:0) SCB0xe timed out ahd0: Issued Channel A Bus Reset 4 SCBs aborted - Any ideas? Thanks for what help you can give. At 4/25/2005 12:07 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Where would you all recommend that one can go to find good FreeBSD tech support that does not cost $150+ an hour? Why are you so hung up on the billing rate? Problems with Windows take much longer to fix than problems with FreeBSD, so your going to end up paying the same total amount. And if you rate your technical help solely by the amount of money they charge you are destined to get cheap but poor help that will cost more in the long run. And that is true whether your talking about fixing a computer or fixing a car. I am having a SCSI controller boot problem that no one seems to be able to help on It is economically foolish to pay for 3 hours at $20 for a SCSI controller that costs $60. If your having a booting problem then buy replacement hardware. but I am also thinking of the future if there is an emergency and I can't afford to have a server down for days at a time. If your business is that critical you should have a fully configured and ready to go duplicate of your server, switched off and sitting next to the production one. This is true no matter what the operating system in use. And I've seen plenty of Windows server that took days of time to fix. There is a saying champagne taste on beer budget perhaps you haven't heard of it? Ted ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Where to find good/cheap tech support
Where would you all recommend that one can go to find good FreeBSD tech support that does not cost $150+ an hour? If there are no places that are less expensive, then what places do you recommend that are expensive? I am having a SCSI controller boot problem that no one seems to be able to help on but I am also thinking of the future if there is an emergency and I can't afford to have a server down for days at a time. Thanks. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Where to find good/cheap tech support
Thanks for the reply. - I have tried posting the problem in the bsdforums.com as well as on this mailing list but no one seems to be able to help. - In my mind there is always the possibility of a problem being a pebkac but this problem only occurs with FreeBSD. The SCSI controller works fine when I load RedHat Fedora Core 3 or Windows 2000 Pro. Unfortunately I don't know much about FreeBSD to do much trouble shooting myself so I might just have to go with another OS on this specific server. - Here is a copy of my original email/problem. - I am attempting to install FreeBSD 5.3 onto a new server, but during the initial bootup it fails / times out from what I think is it trying to initialize the SCSI adapter. The server has an Adaptec AIC-7902 dual-channel Ultra320 SCSI controller which the i386 ahd(4) driver has listed as a supported device. - I have been reading and searching this lists archives as well as the bsdforums.org site for possible solutions, but so far what I have found has not worked. I have tried disabling/enabling ACPI, removing all but one SCSI drive and re-checking the adapter settings comparing them to a different Adaptec controller on another server running FreeBSD 5.3 which works fine. The servers BIOS and firmware is all up to date and is mainly running on its default settings. - Here is a summary of what I am seeing during bootup: - Ata1-master : FAILURE ATAPI_IDENTIFY timed out Waiting 15 seconds for SCSI devices to settle ---Dump Card State Ends--- (probe29:ahd1:0:15:0) SCB0xe timed out ahd0: Issued Channel A Bus Reset 4 SCBs aborted - Thanks again for taking time to reply. At 4/24/2005 02:56 PM, Chuck Swiger wrote: ChrisC wrote: Where would you all recommend that one can go to find good FreeBSD tech support that does not cost $150+ an hour? This mailing list usually does a pretty good job, considering, and it's free. However, someone located on-site or near to where-ever the machine is, is going to do a better job than someone located far away-- it's much easier to work on console than debug problems remotely via email. (This is true even when the problem isn't PEBKAC. :-) -- -Chuck PS: The acronym googles well, not that I mean to suggest *your* problem is a matter of user error. Are you sure the SCSI controller is still OK-- does it work in another machine? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list [1]http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] References 1. http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SCSI AIC7902 Boot Issue
I am attempting to install FreeBSD 5.3 onto a new server, but during the initial bootup it fails / times out from what I think is it trying to initialize the SCSI adapter. The server has an Adaptec AIC-7902 dual-channel Ultra320 SCSI controller which the i386 ahd(4) driver has listed as a supported device. I have been reading and searching this lists archives as well as the bsdforums.org site for possible solutions, but so far what I have found has not worked. I have tried disabling/enabling ACPI, removing all but one SCSI drive and re-checking the adapter settings comparing them to a different Adaptec controller on another server running FreeBSD 5.3 which works fine. The servers BIOS and firmware is all up to date and is mainly running on its default settings. Here is a summary of what I am seeing during bootup: Ata1-master : FAILURE ATAPI_IDENTIFY timed out Waiting 15 seconds for SCSI devices to settle ---Dump Card State Ends--- (probe29:ahd1:0:15:0) SCB0xe timed out ahd0: Issued Channel A Bus Reset 4 SCBs aborted Any ideas? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
