[Solved] Hardware assitisant about Dell Server

cesjr

Hi , I am looking for a new hardware to install pfsense , I'd like to choice Dell PowerEdge T130.

I found T130 was using Intel c236 , and choice below equipment

Intel Xeon E3 CPU
PERC H730 Controller
Broadcom 5720 Network Interface Card

Accroding to https://www.freebsd.org/releases/10.1R/hardware.html I think CPU and PERC H730 is OK.
But I am not sure Broadcom 5720 and Intel C236 , Does anyone install pfsense on this , any suggestion will be appreciated. thanks

k22

Did you find an answer? I am also looking to install pfSense on Dell T130.

Guest

Intel Xeon E3 CPU

Should be running with 4 cores for a faster system, perhaps on > 2,0GHz or above.

PERC H730 Controller

Use the Onboard SATA controller is better in that case if there are some of them soldered on the board,
and perhaps you will deactivate this controller in the BIOS.

Broadcom 5720 Network Interface Card

If this is a supported NIC you could be having luck and it runs out of the box, if not go with a
refurbished Intel i350, i354 or another Intel server grade one that will come with 2 or 4 quad ports.

cesjr

Hi guys , thanks reply , the Dell T130 is working fine with the above hardware .
Only one things need to do is convert disk to none raid disk , if you using dell raid disk , it means using virtual disk ,the install will be crashed.
So , using the pfsense software raid (gmirror) can conquer this question :)

dreamslacker

@cesjr:

Hi guys , thanks reply , the Dell T130 is working fine with the above hardware .
Only one things need to do is convert disk to none raid disk , if you using dell raid disk , it means using virtual disk ,the install will be crashed.
So , using the pfsense software raid (gmirror) can conquer this question :)

Even better to switch the controller to non-RAID (Initiator-Target) mode if you want to run software RAID (GEOM Mirror). The queue depth is almost always greatly increased when switching from IR to IT modes.

Off-topic: How did you get a T130 with a H730? They should come stock with the base model H300 series (H330) cards instead.

cesjr

WOW~ , I never thought about that , next time I will try to convert to non-RAID mode.

I get T130 with a H730 by my supplier ( NOT directly to Dell) , I told them my requirement , and they give me a hardware list.

Actually , I want to buy pfsense XG-2758 directly , it is more cheaper than T130 , but I can not convince my boss about how to fix machine when it is malfunction.