FreeBSD server - certified compatible hardware?

Question

I am looking for recommendations for hardware that is "certified" with FreeBSD (8+) I suspect I am looking for a small server manufacturer that will build me a server that "just works".

I have read http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.2R/hardware.html, but I miss the connection between a machine advertised by Dell and the specificity of that list.

I have to choose my components seeprately, check them against hardware list, buy them, build them and then find out I made a mistake. I dont have time for this.

So is there a good company out there who builds bsd boxen for a reasonable price?

I did once walk into PC world (UK version of CircuitCity) and reboot the display laptops onto a USB stick and boot into Freebsd. this tells me a lot, and I guess we could have a regular laptops that just work update but this does not seem right.

Answer 1

Pretty much any piece of server hardware will work fine with FreeBSD - I've used Dell hardware with no problem, as well as several SuperMicro variants (IronSystems is the one I deal with most frequently, though they don't "certify" hardware for compatibility).

If you must have "certified" hardware and don't want to wade through the HCL I would recommend IXSystems - Their equipment is specifically built & tested for compatibility with FreeBSD, and they're fairly substantial supporters of the FreeBSD Foundation so they're invested (in both the monetary and moral sense) in the success of the FreeBSD operating system.

Answer 2

FreeBSD doesn't have a certification program, so you wont find that specifically. There are system builders who build supported systems however; notably iXsystems.