10G NIC options for Dell PowerEdge R720

[Probably Bob]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about my first TrueNAS (Scale) server and am looking at buying a refurbished Dell PowerEdge R720. The issue I'm running into is how to go about 10GbE (fibre) networking. If possible, I would like to achieve this using one of Dell's own daughter cards - partly for cost reasons, but mainly because (as I understand it) adding a PCIe card causes the system fans to work harder making more noise(?)

The best available option appears to be Dell's MT09V daughter card based on Broadcom 57800S. What information I have been able to find regarding TrueNAS support does not look promising, but it is from old posts (here and elsewhere), and refers to FreeNAS or TrueNAS Core. I'm assuming that one of the benefits of a Linux based OS is better hardware support, so... does anyone have any experience with this NIC? Should I forget it and look for a suitable PCIe card?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ericloewe]

The best available option appears to be Dell's MT09V daughter card based on Broadcom 57800S.

By what criterion? That was always the El-Cheapo option.

There's the 0C63DV, which is an X520 plus an I350, for the same combination of ports, without the Broadcom driver stink. 06VDPG may also be compatible (do check for artificial whitelists that limit it to Gen 13/14 systems), it upgrades the X520 to an X710.

 

[Probably Bob]

By what criterion? That was always the El-Cheapo option.

There's the 0C63DV, which is an X520 plus an I350, for the same combination of ports, without the Broadcom driver stink. 06VDPG may also be compatible (do check for artificial whitelists that limit it to Gen 13/14 systems), it upgrades the X520 to an X710.

Thankyou! As you can probably tell, I'm a complete noob when it comes to server grade hardware.

I take it there's no issues using the Intel cards with TrueNAS Scale then?

 

[Ericloewe]

They are pretty much expected to work fine on both Linux and FreeBSD (and Windows).