Having trouble finding drivers for Realtek 8168C

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BFTSystems

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Hello all,

I'm new to this forum as I'm setting up my first FreeNAS server for my ESXi lab environment. I have successfully installed the latest version of FreeNAS 9.2.1.5 on an Intel based system with an onboard NIC that is working successfully. However I'd like to separate iSCSI traffic on a separate NIC (to mimic a production setup as best as possible). I have installed the Syba NIC (SYBA SD-PEX24033) that uses the Realtek 8111C chipset. I used the 8168C driver to install these NICs properly on ESXi 5.5 with the SuperMicro servers that I have, so that's why I listed 8168 in the thread title.

Anyways. I've run into some issues while trying to run the command to load the kernel driver:
#kldload /mnt/usb/if_re.ko

The error I'm getting is module_register: module /re/miibus already exists!

I tried some other drivers and I had some issues that aren't up on my screen right now.

Some of my research showed that it may not be possible to load these drivers in the newest version of FreeNAS and that 8.2 will work with the particular driver in question. I would not mind using the previous version, but I always like using the most recent versions of software :)

Any help or expertise in this scenario would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks!
 

Ericloewe

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Realteks are generally considered a lost cause around here. If possible, get yourself an Intel GbE adapter (they typically sell for ~30$/30€), as the performance and stability will be much better and it's pretty much guaranteed to work.
 

BFTSystems

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I figured as much. I have another question then.

Is there much issue with having only one port used for iSCSI traffic? What I would like to do ideally is to have a team of two NIC ports serve as the primary iSCSI adapters. This of course is ideal and we all know as IT people that ideal doesn't always work or isn't always possible. :)
 

Ericloewe

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I figured as much. I have another question then.

Is there much issue with having only one port used for iSCSI traffic? What I would like to do ideally is to have a team of two NIC ports serve as the primary iSCSI adapters. This of course is ideal and we all know as IT people that ideal doesn't always work or isn't always possible. :)

I don't see why it would be a problem, assuming you're okay with the limits of a single GbE link. iSCSI also has a few quirks, but I'm not familiar with them. In any case, they probably wouldn't benefit from additional network capacity.
 

BFTSystems

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Thanks for your help Eric. Since this is a lab environment anyhow, I think I'll end up ponying up for a single Intel NIC. I may be able to fit two of them in the current case as well but I'll look into that.
 
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