HP 533FLR-T 2-Port 10GbE PCI-Express x8 Network Adapter doesn't show up

[flashdrive]

Hello,


I have bought 2 x HP 533FLR-T 2-Port 10GbE PCI-Express x8 Network adapter cards


Both of them fail to show up in TrueNAS.


I have not connected a LAN cable to either of them.


How may I install this card?


What I have tried:


1. shell - ifconfig

em0 is the mainboard onboard NIC

@truenas[~]# ifconfig

em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500

description: em0

options=81249b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LRO,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER>

ether d0:XX

inet 192.XX netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.XXX

media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)

status: active

nd6 options=9<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED>

lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384

options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>

inet6 ::1 pr


2.

as per https://www.ixsystems.com/documentation/freenas/11.2/system.html#tunables

and here:

USB 3 - 5 GBit network connector e.g. QNAPs QNA-UC5G1T - recommendable ?

Hi, I do not need a 10 GBit connection. Client and host should be upgraded to 5 GBit. How does FreeBSD / TrueNAS operate with USB 3 - 5 GBit network connector e.g. QNAPs QNA-UC5G1T ? I was thinking of USB 3 connection for the host because of re-useability compared to a PCI E add in card. If...

www.truenas.com

(is this a typo: "...loadable bxnt..." )

> BNXT(4) FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual BNXT(4) NAME bnxt -- Broadcom NetXtreme-C/NetXtreme-E Family Ethernet driver


Is this setup wrong?

if_bxe_load > YES
if_bnxt_load > YES




/boot/loader.conf

shows

# Load some hardware modules that don't fit into kernel.
if_bnxt_load="YES"
if_qlxgbe_load="YES"

 

[flashdrive]

as per

FreeNAS 9.2.1.3 - Broadcom 10GB NIC

I have used FreeNAS in a number of different configurations but this is the first time I am trying 10GB networking. I have a single Broadcom 57810 dual port nic along with a set of intel nic's in the system. The intel nic's load without any problem and are seen by the OS and web GUI. The...

www.truenas.com

dmesg

and

pciconf -lv

do show the onboard NIC,

but not the 2 HPs...

 

[HoneyBadger]

if_bxe_load > YES

From my understanding that's the necessary driver for the Qlogic/Broadcom 57810S used by the 533FLR - add that as a loader tunable and reboot.

 

[flashdrive]

From my understanding that's the necessary driver for the Qlogic/Broadcom 57810S used by the 533FLR - add that as a loader tunable and reboot.

Hello @HoneyBadger,

thnx for your hint.

How exactly do I have to enter this loader tunable entry?

I did enter in TrueNAS tuneables:

line 1: if_bxe_load
line 2: YES

I have tried with 3 systems altogether:

PC 1 is the system mentioned in my signature. TrueNAS does start.

On PC 2 and 3 both HP cards prevent the system with Windows from booting - a startup loop occurs.
edit: all 3 are Asrock mainboards.

Are the cards possibly defective? How would I check?

As per label on the card it is a BCM957810A....

 

[HoneyBadger]

How exactly do I have to enter this loader tunable entry?

Documentation reference (11.3, but it's the same in 12)

7. System — FreeNAS®11.3-U5 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

You'll want to add it all as a single entry as below

Variable: if_bxe_load
Value: YES
Type: Loader

Ensure ENABLED is checked and then restart.

 

[flashdrive]

You'll want to add it all as a single entry as below

Variable: if_bxe_load
Value: YES
Type: Loader

Ensure ENABLED is checked and then restart.

Indeed this is what I have tried to do to no avail.


I have been trying both cards in a Windows setup unsuccessfully - no show, even the official HP driver is not recognizing them; UEFI did not present any changes other then the PCIE slot speed


Conclusion:

I will return both cards.

What is a good 2,5 - 5 GBit alternative NIC for TrueNAS, plug 'n play out of the box?

 

[HoneyBadger]

They might be expecting a HP EFI hook in order to start up properly. I know the FLB/CNA cards can be configured to split into multiple vNIC/vHBAs but you would think it would fire up and present whatever config was on the card previously.

What is a good 2,5 - 5 GBit alternative NIC for TrueNAS, plug 'n play out of the box?

General suggestion is to go straight to 10Gb. Chelsio cards are the best supported with (genuine) Intel in second place.

 

[flashdrive]

Interesting to hear about the EFI hook

But then the return rate for these cards would be even higher - at least I would have expected a hint in the description of the sale.

The more I look into this 10Gb thing I am more convinced of having to go optical fiber instead of the already existing copper cable / RJ45 at the premise.

 

[flashdrive]

Link Aggregation might also be an option host / TrueNAS side - well, I am going to have a good night's sleep about that given today's experiments

 

[flashdrive]

@HoneyBadger

I did some research:

It turns out that Plug and Play is not possible for this card in Non HP Systems, an adapter is required:

10 and 40 Gb networking on the cheap ($5 - $10)

Yes, with the adapter I got TrueNAS to recognize the 561FLR-T and collect an IP via DHCP. Unfortunately I'm still in the process of buying a 10GbE switch and new motherboards with 2 8x PCIe Slots to setup networking. Hence I could not test 10GB speeds and stability. Also the quality of the...

forums.servethehome.com

leads to

Modification required for Broadcom based FlexLOM cards (530/533FLR) · Issue #4 · TobleMiner/HPE-FlexibleLOM-adapter

The HPE 530FLR-SFP+ and 533FLR-T cards are based on the Broadcom BCM57810. These cards do not work with the adapter without modification. The KCORES FlexibleLOM Adapter appears to have a more accur...

github.com

Todo: Which revision is it?

HPE FlexibleLOM PCIEx8 adapter DIY kit | flexilom-pcie-kit

Tobias "TobleMiner" Schramm designed an open source hardware adapter to make use of HPE FlexibleLOM adapters in normal, standard PCIe x8 slots.This is a parts kit consisting of the HPE-FlexibleLOM-adapter PCB and the matching PCIe x8 edge launch connec…

shop.sysmocom.de

 

[flashdrive]

new question:

Is it possible to set up the NIC with 2,5 or 5 GBit mixed mode?

the NIC HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 533FLR-T does only offer 1 or 10 GBit speed, no 2,5 or 5 GBit inbetween in Windows 10. TrueNAS only shows a 1 GBit connection as of yet since I do not have another 10 GBit card atm.



I can report back:

the adapter is working - cutting the rear of the PC case was required, the adapter and NIC do align when removing the NIC slot bracket.

HPE drivers and firmware update have been applied:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Firmware Update Tool for Windows (5.2.3.0)
Copyright (c) 2011-2019 Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Development LP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrade library: LibQLGC_HpFwUpg.dll (ver 8.15.0.0)
Found 1 adapters

Examining NIC HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 533FLR-T Adapter at Ethernet 6
Update firmware MBI from version 7.10.33 to 7.18.80? [y]es/[n]o/[q]uit/[c]ontinue (y) y
Flash file name: C:\...FW\hp_mbi_7.18.80.bin
Updating HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 533FLR-T Adapter...please wait.

takes longer than 10 minutes, be patient

upon PC boot "CTRL+S" will enter the NIC setup

newer UEFI does have the config menu integrated into mainboards UEFI menu

 

[flashdrive]

[NAS-108091] - Realtek RTL8125/RTL 8111 support

However this is NOT working with RTL8156B for me (UBS adapter)

13.0 Release Notes

Highlights and change log for the current major version of TrueNAS CORE.

www.truenas.com