Can't get intel 10gbe NICs on network w/9.10.1 or 10-beta

[seltz]

Hi, I have a board with the intel 10gbe nics ( X10SDV-4C-TLN2F-O ) and am having issues trying to get freenas 9.10.1 or 10-beta running for the first time. The issue occurs on either installation, but below are my notes from trying to install 9.10.1:

Right now, when I try booting up (and have both an ethernet cable plugged into the IPMI interface for console access, and another one plugged into one of the ports) I'm ending up with the "No configured interfaces found" error:

I've tried selecting option 1 from here and selecting either ix0 or ix1 as my interface, but both seem to just end up back at the above screen but with this error message:

Going into the shell and running ifconfig reveals the following:

Also, Both of the two ethernet ports (looking at the backside of the board) have the orange led just blinking constantly - with no link indicator showing on my router. Staring at the supermicro manual, this should just mean the link is operating at 1gb speed, though at the same time my router doesn't seem to show an activity led for either port.

Any ideas what I need to do to try and investigate further? Thanks in advance!

Also, just to confirm both ix0 and ix1 are the 10gbE ethernet ports - managed to capture this upon startup:

Basically after the ix0/ix1 are detected they just blink orange constantly (green led completely off)

 

[Mirfster]

Based on the "ifconfig" output, it shows "No Carrier" for the two 10Gb NICs. Does your switch/router support 10Gb NICs? Just plugging a 10Gb into a 1Gb switch won't usually work. If you have a 1Gb NIC (not the IPMI) one, plug that in and see if you get an IP Address.

I guess, you can also check your switch/router or even BIOS to see if the IPMI NIC did obtain an IP Address.

 

[seltz]

My router doesn't supports 10gb nics (using an old cisco rv042), though I thought that the nic will just go into the appropriate mode if the router only supports 1gb or 100mbp.

The IPMI NIC works fine on the same router, I'm using it to power on/off and view the console.

 

[Mirfster]

My router doesn't supports 10gb nics (using an old cisco rv042), though I thought that the nic will just go into the appropriate mode if the router only supports 1gb or 100mbp.

Therein lies the issue. Most 10Gb cards and routers don't work that way, it is all or nothing. While I am not a SuperMicro User, might want to check on the off-chance that there is some way (BIOS, Jumper) that this can be changed.

While I highly doubt it and think that you may need to just buy an Intel 1Gb NIC to slap in there, I can't say 100% for sure.

Hopefully, some of the Contributors who do use SuperMicro can chime in.

 

[seltz]

Holy eff, thanks for the jumper suggestion! Just noticed on the board there's a jumper for enabling 10gig ethernet and it's enabled by default. Will try removing it and report back.

 

[Mirfster]

Holy eff, thanks for the jumper suggestion! Just noticed on the board there's a jumper for enabling 10gig ethernet and it's enabled by default. Will try removing it and report back.

If it can switch between 1G and 10G that would be pretty cool. Hope it can do this.

 

[seltz]

Just tried, the jumper just disabled those ports entirely. I finally stared at the manual more closely and realized I arguably ordered the wrong model - this one TLN2F ONLY has the two 10gbe ethernet ports available - i should have ordered either the TLN4F or the even more elusive LN2F model. I'm probably going to see if I can use a usb3 to lan port for now, since it's what I have laying around and my case doesn't have room for an extra NIC pci board

 

[Mirfster]

That's a shame. Sorry things didn't go as planned. Might try contacting SuperMicro or whomever you purchased it from and see about possibly a trade-in? While the USB to NIC should work, it is more than likely going to be flaky.

 

[Ericloewe]

All 10Gb hardware I've heard of is compatible with 1G devices. 10/100 is another story, though...

In any case, the Xeon-D NIC is quite nice and quite advanced, I'm sure it works fine with 1G networks. Since nobody else has complained lately, I'd guess you have faulty hardware.

 

[Mirfster]

Interesting, I was unaware of that... Learn something new everyday.

 

[depasseg]

I thought the advantage of 10G-Base-T was that it would autonegotiate down to 1G. What ports is this connecting to? Are they 1Gbps ports or 100Mbps?

 

[depasseg]

I just saw Eric's post confirming my suspicion.

 

[Mirfster]

All I want to know is where were you two earlier when I mentioned:

Hopefully, some of the Contributors who do use SuperMicro can chime in.

Naw, nowhere to be seen... Left me hanging... :P

 

[Ericloewe]

All I want to know is where were you two earlier when I mentioned:


Naw, nowhere to be seen... Left me hanging... :p

New job title. Have to catch up with years of policy and suggestions and then help move a literal crapton of threads from that temporary section.

 

[depasseg]

Naw, nowhere to be seen... Left me hanging... :p

Sorry for those looooong, 5 hours.

 

[Mirfster]

Lol, no worries. Fault is all mine for not knowing 10G Base-T could auto-negotiate with 1G. Guess having old hardware is not keeping me up to date.

To OP, sorry for the confusion and hope you get it working.

 

[depasseg]

Well, the problem isn't solved yet. And you were close, since 10G Base-T can't go autonegotiate below 1G, so there is either a cabling issue, or a 100Mbps port.

 

[seltz]

Hey apologies for the delay. Interesting to hear if the ports can autonegotiate to 1G. I'm connecting the ports to a Cisco rv042 router which....holy eff is 10/100 according to the label! OMG thanks for making me realize this! Later tonight I'll try using the same board with pfsense directly to my cable modem ( Motorola SB6141 - should be gigabit ) and see if that works.

Just to clarify, the cheap-ish old stuff is because this is a personal server upgrade I've been scrapping together slowly - the rv042 is actually a borrowed router from a friend since I hadn't decided on a new one to buy yet after my old consumer-grade one died last month.

 

[depasseg]

Cisco rv042 router which....holy eff is 10/100 according to the label!

When I googled, that's what I found, but I thought it must have been an (much, much) older version.
Worst case, put a cheap 1G switch in between the rv042 and the Freenas. That way it will auto negotiate the 10G and the 100M connections.

 

[seltz]

Yeah, I just caved and ordered a ubiquiti er-x edgerouter (already using a ubiquiti AP) to replace the rv042, it does gigabit ethernet so that should resolve all this. Thanks again for the support! Saved me from pursuing some much wackier ideas (virtualizing a freebsd instance to copy .ko files for usb adapters, etc.) I was about to do this morning.