Ubuntu-Certification

Feedback on the Dell PowerEdge R730xd

Asked by FRANCISCO POO-HERNANDEZ

Dell PowerEdge R730xd can also have equipped with the following NIC adapters:

Intel Ethernet i350 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card (540-BBCB)
Intel X710 Dual Port 10Gb Direct Attach SFP+ Converged Network Adapter (540-BBHP)
Intel X710 Dual Port 10Gb Direct Attach SFP+ Converged Network Adapter, Low Profile (555-BCKN)

Are the following network adapters supported and/or are there any known issues?

Similar question when using RDIMM modules in this server, such as:

32GB RDIMM, 2133 MT/s, Dual Rank, x4 Data width (379-ABVW)

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Jeff Lane 
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Jeff Lane  (bladernr) said : 		#1

Hello,

The Intel i350 is a pretty common 1Gb adapter and has been certified in several different systems

The Intel X710, however, has not been tested via Certification in any models. I did a brief look online and it looks like others have been using this CNA with Ubuntu 14.04 but to varying degrees of success. This seems to have some good information on possible issues going to 14.04.3. 14.04.4 was recently released with a new 4.x kernel (14.04.3 has a 3.x kernel) so the driver may be better in the current LTS.

Also, 16.04 LTS will be released at the end of next month and will feature even newer versions of the kernel and drivers.

As for the server itself, the R730xd was certified but with a Broadcom NIC, not an Intel i350 onboard, but as I said, the i350 is a well known card and should work just fine.

Hope that helps.
Jeff

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FRANCISCO POO-HERNANDEZ (jfrancisco-poo) said : 		#2

Thank you Jeff for your prompt response

Would it be fair to say that the existing certification at 14.04 LTS for this server is automatically transferred to 16.04 ?

if the X710 has not been tested yet, Is there any other vendor/kind CNA tested with 14.04 or newer?
thinking of an alternative adapter instead of Intel X710

Best,
Francisco

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Best Jeff Lane  (bladernr) said : 		#3

No, Certification is valid for one LTS (and its point releases) only. If Dell decides to re-certify the R730xd for Xenial, it will then be considered certified for both.

However, it's usually a fairly safe assumption that if it's certified now, while possibly not certified on a future release, it should function on that future release.

I don't know of others off hand beyond the Emulex OneConnect stuff that has been tested though for cert we tend to only test the network functionality (it's the easiest to test of the various functions).

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FRANCISCO POO-HERNANDEZ (jfrancisco-poo) said : 		#4

Understood, many thanks for the feedback