SOLVED Looking for a 10g nic for freenas that actually works!

[TheRaptor77]

Building a computer for nas. I purchased a Intel 10g X520 Nic, installed freenas and it gave me an ip of 0.0.0.0, after assigning an ip I couldn't connect to it with my computer.
Someone then told me the Intel nic I was using was a Chinese fake and to buy a new one from a link.

With the new one I then kept getting the same issue, I thought maybe it was something else, however I tried installing freenas on a different computer and it connected to the network just fine with the Intel Ethernet port on the mobo. I then tried that computer with the Intel nic and of course it didn't work.
I then tried the Intel nic on my windows computer, downloaded the driver and somehow it works just fineon windows.

So seriously what nic 10g card do I need to buy to get this thing to actually work? Send me a link.

 

[NugentS]

Top Picks for FreeNAS NICs (Networking)

We have 1GbE, 10GbE (SFP+ and 10Gbase-T) and 40GbE networking options for the top FreeNAS NICs as storage performance is network dependent.

www.servethehome.com

 

[Redcoat]

SolarFlare SFN6122F cards. Dual-port SFP+ PCIe v2.0, and they're supported out-of-the-box by both FreeNAS/TrueNAS and VMware ESXi (v6.7, anyway). Can be had on fleabay for <$50:

 

[c77dk]

I'm quite happy with my Chelsio T520-CR cards - both in TrueNAS (CORE and also in SCALE when I tested) and my workstation (Windows/OSX/Linux)

 

[jgreco]

Building a computer for nas. I purchased a Intel 10g X520 Nic, installed freenas and it gave me an ip of 0.0.0.0, after assigning an ip I couldn't connect to it with my computer.
Someone then told me the Intel nic I was using was a Chinese fake and to buy a new one from a link.

The X520's work fine, but there's a large number of fakes out there of varying quality, some of which are nearly identical visually to the real thing.

The following bit might help.

You might look for forum posts from me on "Shenzhen" or "back-alley" if you're interested in other instances of this.

Basically the way this works is that a lot of electronics are produced in Shenzhen, ranging from top-of-the-line to bottom-of-the-barrel. The stuff that is not produced there might still be cloned there. :^)

For stuff that is produced there, not every product is perfectly produced. PCB's can contain errors. Assembled boards can fail testing. Chips can be rejects. These things should technically be destroyed, but sometimes they aren't. So if someone runs off with a pocket full of Intel ethernet controllers, maybe real ones that really work, or failed ones that don't, you can find someplace to make a passable version of the PCB and some child slave labor to solder the bits together, bang it into a box, and sell it to some naive computer parts distributor in North America like NewEgg (I've got knockoff examples sold by NewEgg so I get to use them as a poster child). Worse are all the things "from China" on eBay.

So a few rules to live by.

1) Highly popular profitable devices like Intel X520's, LSI HBA's, etc., are common targets. During their peak sales period, these devices are insanely profitable for their legitimate manufacturers. So they're also profitable to the counterfeiters.

2) Unusual devices like Chelsio cards are UNlikely to be cloned, because the kind of companies buying them are buying direct from major integrators who got their devices direct from Chelsio, not via the channel.

3) Used devices are a crap shoot. Best luck is to be had buying from a company that is clearly and obviously de-racking servers from data centers. That eBay seller with twenty different kinds of server chassis and a hundred of each of them, who's also selling cards and CPU's and memory, that's legit basically 100% of the time. On the other hand, the eBay seller with a hundred X520's but other listings including bulk tennis shoes and children's toys, RUN LIKE HELL.

 

[TheRaptor77]

Thanks guys, I'll buy the Chelsio T520-CR the only problem is it seems to be mostly sold on ebay and ships from china. On the chelsio website itself they're pretty wildly expensive.

T520-CR: 2-port Low Profile 1/10GbE Unified Wire Adapter with PCIe 3.0 x8 Interface, 32K connections, SFP+ connector

Chelsio’s T520-CR is a dual-port,low latency 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet Unified Wire adapter with a PCI Express 3.0 x8 host bus interface, optimized for financial services and HPC applications. Click here for more information regarding this product.

store.chelsio.com

I mean if that's my best bet of getting this thing to work I'll buy it

 

[NugentS]

Intel 520's are fine and can be cheaper.
If UK based - go to Bargain Hardware (I am a customer) and get some second hand ones there. I am sure you can find somewhere appropriate in the US or wherever as well.
Its strange that both cards don't work - seems a little unlucky

 

[danb35]

I have a Chelsio T420 in my TrueNAS box and it's been working well for a number of years now. Considerably less expensive than the 520 too.

 

[kherr]

On the chelsio website itself they're pretty wildly expensive.

....... on ANY manufactures web site their products will be full retail ..... wildly expensive .....

 

[NugentS]

@TheRaptor77 what country are you based in?
Also can we have a system spec please. The Intel 520 should work, unless both are really bad fakes

 

[TheRaptor77]

PC Specs:
MOBO: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3200g
RAM: OLOy DDR4 RAM 16GB (2x8GB) 3000 MHz
Power Supply: EVGA 500 BA, 80+ BRONZE 500W
Hard Drive: Inland Professional SSD 128GB
Network Card: Intel 10GB PCI-E x520

I'm in the US

 

[TheRaptor77]

SolarFlare SFN6122F card

Solarflare SFN6122F 2-Port 10 GBE Enterprise Adapter Control for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Solarflare SFN6122F 2-Port 10 GBE Enterprise Adapter Control at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Chelsio T520-CR

Chelsio T520-CR High Performance Dual Port 10GbE Unified Wire Adapter for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Chelsio T520-CR High Performance Dual Port 10GbE Unified Wire Adapter at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Like alot of these cards are just sold on questionable ebay, there's some intel 10g on amazon but that's where I got the one that didn't work.
There's a Microcenter near me but they only sell the Asus xg-c100c 10g card which freenas doesn't have drivers for.

Can someone please provide a link for a working 10g sfp+ card around $100 - $250

 

[jgreco]

Like alot of these cards are just sold on questionable ebay, there's some intel 10g on amazon but that's where I got the one that didn't work.
There's a Microcenter near me but they only sell the Asus xg-c100c 10g card which freenas doesn't have drivers for.

Can someone please provide a link for a working 10g sfp+ card around $100 - $250

Check out the point #3 I quoted in post #5 above. It's totally possible to find reputable vendors on eBay, but you have to do a little homework and use your brain a bit. Cards sold by companies registered on eBay for a year or more who are clearly partsing up old data center racks in volume here in the US, with thousands of sales and 99.9%+ reps, are not going to be a problem. Cards sold by kittyboo28314 registered last week in San Jose CA alongside other random non-data-center crap are going to be fakes. There's a slight spectrum in between.

 

[NugentS]

I had a poke around ebay:
1. Intel 520 - looks like it might be real
2. Chelsio 520 - also looks like it might be real

YMMV - both vendors looks like they sell stripped down stuff, Both cards above are SFP+ based. I then buy transceivers from fs.com as I use fibre rather than copper for 10Gb - but the vendors above may also sell the SFP+'s

Other people may use copper for 10Gb - but I don't like it and stick with fibre - I don't have to worry about cable length then or "special" cat 7 cables. But again YMMV - just be careful of copper type and length for 10Gb if you do use copper. But with fibre cables stick with OM3 or OM4 (I am assuming you don't need 100's of metres of cable run (OM3=300m, OM4=550m for 10Gb) and you will want the SX modules or use DAC (which I have never used). I don't use copper as they generate too much heat

 

[TheRaptor77]

Thanks, I went with the Chelsio one, I don't want to try my luck with intel again. I let you know when I receive it how it works.

Right now I'm using 3 Foot copper that directly plug in.

Amazon.com

 

[NugentS]

Ah, you are using DAC - never tried it. Always worried that if it didn't work then I had no way of figuring out why. With fiber I can change SFP+'s and the cable itself as part of diagnostics. More expensive than DAC though

 

[TheRaptor77]

I do have an Asus 10g nic in my windows computer with one of the DAC SFP+ Cables and seems to be working alright

 

[jgreco]

I had a poke around ebay:
1. Intel 520 - looks like it might be real
2. Chelsio 520 - also looks like it might be real

YMMV - both vendors looks like they sell stripped down stuff,

That's Garland Computer in both cases. I guarantee that they're legit, and my businesses have bought used gear from them for **many** years, like, as in, I remember them from the mid-2000's. One can never know for certain that used gear will work, but if I had to name three examples of the sort of recycler I'd expect few-to-no problems from, Garland would be on that list every time.

Ah, you are using DAC - never tried it. Always worried that if it didn't work then I had no way of figuring out why. With fiber I can change SFP+'s and the cable itself as part of diagnostics. More expensive than DAC though

DAC is more likely to be vendor-tolerant than SFP+, but SFP+ does have that awesome quality that if you've bought the proper vendor optics, it is absolutely supposed to work, which is why I recommend using SFP+ with the correct optics.

 

[Redcoat]

Garland would be on that list every time.

I second that. Very good folk to deal with!

 

[TheRaptor77]

Garland computer being legit is a good bet, I put in the Chelsio 520, turned it on my pc/nas, it displayed the ip and I was able to easily connect, thanks again!