# FreeBSD on IBM POWER/OpenPOWER architecture



## gofer_touch (May 15, 2017)

Hello!

I was wondering if there were perhaps users that read these forums that might be using FreeBSD on IBM's POWER/OpenPOWER platforms in production systems?

I did manage to find some short write-ups about some developers getting things going on POWER, but they are a few years old.


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## SirDice (May 15, 2017)

I can remember some old threads about this subject. But I can't seem to find them anymore.


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## ralphbsz (May 15, 2017)

Why do you want to do that?  If you explain the reason behind it, and your specific situation (what hardware, what vendor, are we talking bare metal or some type of VM/LPAR setup, what workload, ...), it might be possible to find more details.

I know that users exist that use FreeBSD on Power8 and on OpenPower.  The most publicly visible recent update I can find is on the wiki at https://wiki.freebsd.org/POWER8, but is already a few yours old.  

If you don't want to divulge the details here, then I would suggest starting by contacting support for your power machine, and ask them to get you in touch with the group that handles operating systems technical enablement for ISV (independent software vendors).


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## gofer_touch (May 15, 2017)

ralphbsz said:


> Why do you want to do that?  If you explain the reason behind it, and your specific situation (what hardware, what vendor, are we talking bare metal or some type of VM/LPAR setup, what workload, ...), it might be possible to find more details.
> .




Well as far as the why, POWER seems to be  a very interesting architecture. Its nice to have options outside of x86-64.


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## ralphbsz (May 15, 2017)

If it is a question of general interest, I would suggest contacting sales at those companies that sell Power hardware (IBM is obvious, but also try Tyan and SuperMicro), and asking them what is supported.  Observe that I'm using the word "supported" here, which has a different meaning from "it works".


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## Chmeee (Jun 9, 2017)

We do have FreeBSD running in PowerKVM on POWER8 hardware in the cluster, and it's pretty stable.

Judging by the lack of replies on most PowerPC related threads here, most Power(PC) users and developers (including me) are better found on the mailing list (freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org), so questions are probably better answered on there.


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