ClearFoundation

BCM5709 (onboard) and BM5716 (pci) NICs

This system has had latest stable build installed (5.2 SP1) and has now crashed 3 times in 2 months. Twice it was kernel panic (image attached) and one the firewall stopped (suspected DOS attack :Post in other forum .

I also have another backup Dell 2650 with Broadcom Nextreme BM5703x (on board) and Intel Corporation 82546EB (pci). This box was built with 5.1 and upgraded to 5.2

Newer Dell R210 system is the one which has crashed whereas the old one Dell 2650 runs fine. I want to shift to the new box but the three failures are preventing me to.

the kernel on new Dell R210 is same version but PAE.

I am wondering if the Broadcom chipset drivers are not compatible with PAE version kernel causing this to happen.

Any light on this issue from experts will be much appreciated.

Is there any conflict of ClearOS 5.2 with PAE kernel and software raid?

I have software RAID (1) on my server. The RAM is 4GB but still the kernel installed is PAE.

I am just trying to figure out what causes kernel panic on the server.

Hello everyone,

this system has been running well after my full fresh install of 5.2 since April now (with packet filter switched off) but in last two weeks it has gone in "kernel panic" again for about three times.

One thing I have noticed is that after a kernel panic when i reboot the firewall service would not start. I have to start in interactive mode, skip firewall, replace firewall config file with one without any NAT and bandwidth rules to get the firewall startup again. Once it has started I can replace the config file and restart firewall service fan.

Can I please ask your expert opinion if this seems to be hardware related or firewall related?

I am about to replace the Broadcom NIC with 4 port Intel NIC but not sure if that will fix the problem. It is a new server and not even one year old.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Regards
Muhammad

Search the net... for example see this long thread re. Dells and Broadcom...
lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-powere...February/041205.html (follow the thread)

same NIC on IBMs
bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=3832
more problems
bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=2791
lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-powere...2010-May/042280.html

Many thanks Tony. You confirmed my suspicion that it is NIC related which fails under load.

Which NIC manufacturer is recommended if i replace my broadcoms on this Dell box? Intel? any specific model range?

Thanks once again for confirming this.

Kind Regards
Muhammad

I prefer Intel myself and not had any problems with them. Stay away from Realtek as some models, such as the 8168, will require you to install drivers; not being natively supported by ClearOS...

many thanks once again Tony. I am going to procure some Intel NICs for this and will see how it goes after that.

Just a bit off topic, but VSphere 5 works a treat on this machine. So if you wanted to virtualise your ClearOS instance - that could be a possibility to remove the NIC problem. I haven't tried ClearOS under VSphere yet - but I might do in the future.

Hello Everyone.

wanted to update on this. Thanks to Tony's suggestion I installed VMware on this server and then installed ClearOS. Not having kernel panics anymore

recently seen another interesting issue which I am investigating now. Adding another post for it.

Thanks once again Tony.

Regards
Muhammad