Free up PCIe slot

[NasKar]

My backup Freenas has 6 SATA connectors all in use and one PCIe slot currently being used by a SATA card connected to a boot SSD. I would like to free up the slot to place a 10 Gig network card like SolarFlare SFN6122F NIC in it. Not sure what the correct cable to do a direct connect to another SolarFlare SFN6122F NIC in my main server. If someone has a ebay link that would be great.

This thread got me thinking. I was wondering if I can put the SSD into an old 2.5" SATA to USB 2.0 case and boot from that instead? Or would I need a new USB 3.0 to SATA ?

 

[Dan Tudora]

hello
USB2 to sata is "safe" solution
if you have USB3 to sata can use an USB2 port on motherboard and is safe too
success

 

[Spearfoot]

My backup Freenas has 6 SATA connectors all in use and one PCIe slot currently being used by a SATA card connected to a boot SSD. I would like to free up the slot to place a 10 Gig network card like SolarFlare SFN6122F NIC in it. Not sure what the correct cable to do a direct connect to another SolarFlare SFN6122F NIC in my main server. If someone has a ebay link that would be great.

To find DAC/twinax cables for connecting your NICs, search the well-known auction site for:

Code:

10g sfp dac twinax cable

 

[Asteroza]

Maybe something like the following? You get one 10G port and a means to expand as well.

https://www.qnap.com/en/product/qm2-m.2ssd-10gbe

but tear off the heatsink and substitute the M.2 SSD modules for M.2 SATA adapters? Depending on the host card, either a passive SATA M.2 to SATA port conversion module, or if PCIe/NVMe M.2 get one of those M.2 SATA multiport adapters (though many are low end SATA port multipliers so buyer beware)

 

[Dan Tudora]

hello
what about driver support in FreeBSD 11 and 12 for this chipsets ??

 

[Asteroza]

The 10G chip is listed as Aquantia AQC107 type. There's a user reporting TrueNAS compatibility at the bottom of the following bug report, but the bug report itself suggests it's not in FreeBSD 11 base, only in ports? Aquantia was acquired by Marvell relatively recently. Acquantia chips have gotten popular as an alternative for 10G NIC's, as they tend to cover 10G/5G/2.5G formats as well.

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=238324

As for the PCIe switch the card uses, assuming it isn't a cheap one that is dependent on PCIe bifurication support in the BIOS, then it should be seamless and transparent. As for what M.2 module to use, that's up to FreeBSD compatibility and you.

 

[Dan Tudora]

hello
I read bugzilla post now
for a production machine (not testing) is not enough
success