10GB adaptor Choice?

[xnaron]

Looks like a lot of people here with hands on experience with both Chelsio and Intel cards. Can anyone here confirm whether the s310e-cr (chelsio) will talk to a x520-da1 (intel) over sfp/sfp+ passive twinax cable? If so what cable? I have a bunch of chelsio s310e-cr and s320e-cr cards but need to find a card that will work with vmware esxi 6u1. The x520-da1 is listed on the vmware compatibility list for esxi 6u1.

 

[Mlovelace]

Looks like a lot of people here with hands on experience with both Chelsio and Intel cards. Can anyone here confirm whether the s310e-cr (chelsio) will talk to a x520-da1 (intel) over sfp/sfp+ passive twinax cable? If so what cable? I have a bunch of chelsio s310e-cr and s320e-cr cards but need to find a card that will work with vmware esxi 6u1. The x520-da1 is listed on the vmware compatibility list for esxi 6u1.

Chelsio has a vmware esxi 5.X driver available on their site for all of the T3, T4 and T5 adapters. The 5.X driver version should be just fine for esxi 6U1.

Service.chelsio.com

 

[Darren Myers]

I use the Chelsio T420-CR's in my ESXi servers, i am running on 5.5U2.

 

[xnaron]

Chelsio has a vmware esxi 5.X driver available on their site for all of the T3, T4 and T5 adapters. The 5.X driver version should be just fine for esxi 6U1.

Service.chelsio.com

Thanks. I am unable to install the 5.x drive in esxi 6u1. The instructions for installing on the older version do not work and I have not been able to get it to work using esxcli or esxupdate. If you have experience installing it pointers would be appreciated. :)

 

[Mlovelace]

Thanks. I am unable to install the 5.x drive in esxi 6u1. The instructions for installing on the older version do not work and I have not been able to get it to work using esxcli or esxupdate. If you have experience installing it pointers would be appreciated. :)

1. Upload the offline bundle (zip file) to a datastore accessible to the vmware host.
2. Place the Host into maintenance mode and enable SSH in host security.
3. Connect to the Host command-line with your SSH client of choice.
4. Verify the offline bundle with the command "esxcli software sources vib list -d file:///path_offline_bundle.zip"
5. Install the offline bundle with the command "esxcli software vib install -n plugin_name -d file:///path_offline_bundle.zip"
6. Reboot the Host
7. Re-connect to Host command-line with your SSH client of choice.
8. Verify the vib was installed with the command "esxcli software vib list | more"

Hope this helps.

 

[xnaron]

1. Upload the offline bundle (zip file) to a datastore accessible to the vmware host.
2. Place the Host into maintenance mode and enable SSH in host security.
3. Connect to the Host command-line with your SSH client of choice.
4. Verify the offline bundle with the command "esxcli software sources vib list -d file:///path_offline_bundle.zip"
5. Install the offline bundle with the command "esxcli software vib install -n plugin_name -d file:///path_offline_bundle.zip"
6. Reboot the Host
7. Re-connect to Host command-line with your SSH client of choice.
8. Verify the vib was installed with the command "esxcli software vib list | more"

Hope this helps.

It worked! Thank you very much.

 

[Mlovelace]

It worked! Thank you very much.

Awesome, happy I could help!

 

[xnaron]

Awesome, happy I could help!

It installed but hung on reboot "Loading module cxgb3" I don't have anything plugged into the card and don't know if that has anything to do with the hang (I doubt it). I'll need to spend some time troubleshooting.

 

[jgreco]

Looks like a lot of people here with hands on experience with both Chelsio and Intel cards. Can anyone here confirm whether the s310e-cr (chelsio) will talk to a x520-da1 (intel) over sfp/sfp+ passive twinax cable? If so what cable? I have a bunch of chelsio s310e-cr and s320e-cr cards but need to find a card that will work with vmware esxi 6u1. The x520-da1 is listed on the vmware compatibility list for esxi 6u1.

The X520's work fine with all versions of ESXi from at least 4.1 to 6.

 

[Mirfster]

It installed but hung on reboot "Loading module cxgb3" I don't have anything plugged into the card and don't know if that has anything to do with the hang (I doubt it). I'll need to spend some time troubleshooting.

Had the same issue with a "Chelsio 110-1088-30 10GB" on ESXi (5.5 Update 3). Instead I used a "QLogic QLE8152" (paid $50.00 for it on eBay) for ESXi. Runs smooth and ESXi is very happy with that card. Card is certified with ESXi and Drivers are easily available (http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=13830)

For FreeNas, I use the "Chelsio 110-1088-30 10GB" (was ~ $70.00) on eBay. So far I am very happy with both cards for each system and will buy a couple more when I see them for a good deal on eBay.

 

[Mirfster]

The only cards I can vouch that work properly and completely are the Intel and Chelsio. The Chelsio cards will give you a true 10Gb throughput, but they are about $1k each... used. The Intel cards will only give you 8-9Gb/sec and can be purchased for $75-$150 used. Keep in mind that Intel's are often rebranded as other models, so buying from ebay (which is how I got my Intel 10Gb card) can require some searching if you are looking for the absolute cheapest price.

Out of curiosity, which Chelsio cards are ~$1K and are they that much better than ones like the "Chelsio 110-1088-30 10GB"?

 

[noobnas]

I know this post is kind of old, but I wanted to updat it for anyone looking in 2016. I am using the Mellanox connectx-2 SFP+. It works very well for me now that the drivers are integrated in freenas 9.10. I attached a screen clipping of my first SMB file transfer. It amazingly, just worked out of the box. I am using a cheap DAC cable and connected it to a windows 10 workstation. With manually assigned IPs and everything in a ram cache I was able to max out throughput without any configuration changes.

If anyone wants to play with 10 Gbe, and only spend $50 for cards and cable, here you go:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131634470127?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[JustinClift]

Awesome. I don't have any super fast storage to test sustained throughput with, so I've only been able to get ~350MB/s with mine. Glad to see the Mellanox adapters really can reach proper speeds. :D