NIC Drivers needed for Intel Card?

[JBlujeans]

I have spent a few hours looking around and I didn't find a conclusive answer. I am using FreeNAS 9.1.1 and I installed the Intel Gigabit CT desktop card in an Asus motherboard. Ifconfig shows it as active and I am able to move data across it, but it didn't increase the speed at all. My assumption is that I need to install the em-7.3.8.tar.gz file which is the FreeBSD driver for this NIC card. If so, is there a tutorial for installing the file via shell commands? The txt file that accompanies the driver has instructions also, but I wasn't sure if there were accurate. Thanks.

 

[dlavigne]

Post the output of ifconfig within code tags.

 

[JBlujeans]

em0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500 options=42098<VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWTSO> ether 68:05:ca:1c:1e:74 inet 192.168.1.114 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255 nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL> media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>) status: active

Edit: Changed text to black and font to something legible.

 

[cyberjock]

That shows your networ speed is 100Mb. So you have hardware network problems somewhere. You should check out your cabling and network switches to figure out why you are limited to 100Mb versus 1Gb.

 

[DrKK]

We don't know that he has network switches, etc. Might just be a home network, and plenty of those with a standard gateway/router are only 100Mbps, like, for example, many Verizon FiOS installations using most of the hardware revisions of the Actiontec MI242-WR or whatever it's called. If that's the case, his whole LAN will top out at 100 Mbps.

What's your router/network/switches etc, sir?

 

[JBlujeans]

I would actually be happy if I had anywhere near 100 Mb. Unfortunately, I am only seeing between 10 and 12, so that's why I changed from the on-board NIC to the recommended Intel. I also changed to the Intel NIC on the Win client computer also. I am using Cisco/Linksys E3000 (dd-wrt) and an unmanaged 8 port Gigabit switch (Zyxel GS108B).

I believe I am limited to 100 because I don't have CAT6, but I'd like to improve my 10. Thanks!

 

[DrKK]

Sir. 100 mega***BIT*** which is like 10-12 mega*BYTE*.

What you're getting ***IS*** 100 Mbps.

 

[DrKK]

Both that router, and the switch, are definitely 1Gbps items. So, you ought to figure out why you're only running in 100 Mbps mode. Could be the cable, could be a setting somewhere in the hardware. You need at least Cat 5e cable to run 1Gbps (for short runs of cable), and Cat6 would be recommended. If you are using straight Cat5 cable, I don't expect you'll auto-negotiate more than 100 Mbps.

Since a 25ft Cat 6 cable is like from $2-$8 from any normal place or online, there's no excuse not to have it :)

 

[vegaman]

Cat5e has no problem running gigabit. I haven't tried it on runs over 100ft personally, but I wouldn't be surprised if it worked. Plus that's longer than most home networks would be using anyway.

Try running direct between your computer and NAS just to make sure the issue is elsewhere. If that gives you gigabit then check the cabling. Is the house already wired? Then check a single cable isn't being split for voice and data or anything like that. Gigabit needs all 4 pairs so you can't use the cable for anything else.

 

[JBlujeans]

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I was concentrating on getting the NIC card driver correct along with learning the shell commands that I didn't do the math to see that I am getting 100 Mbps. The latency is driving me nuts when I move large files, so I figured I would purchase the Intel NIC for a NAS and a couple of the clients. I will redo the wiring and check to see if any of the internal cabling is split for voice and data - that may be a possibility. I appreciate the link for cabling.

BTW, is there any advantage or possibility to use both the on-board NIC (Realtek) and the Intel NIC for better speed or is this a nightmare? Thanks.

 

[cyberjock]

BTW, is there any advantage or possibility to use both the on-board NIC (Realtek) and the Intel NIC for better speed or is this a nightmare? Thanks.

With LACP you can increase throughput, but unless you have 10+ clients its not really worth your troubles. It has alot of requirements for hardware and if you don't have a clear understanding of LACP you may spend quite some time trying to get it to work(if you can even get it to work).

I don't use it for those reasons.

 

[JBlujeans]

Thanks again for your help, LACP requires plenty of time and hardware so I'll get back to concentrating on figuring out where the issue lies in my network connections. BTW, I do want to confirm that with a card inserted into the motherboard and FreeNAS recognizing the card, there is no need to manually install the FreeBSD driver via shell for that particular card? If it is supported and recognized by FreeNAS, then all functionality is already built into the driver located in the OS? I appreciate the confirmation because I am also investigating a supported controller card addition.

 

[cyberjock]

You are correct. NICs should be plug-n-play. If not, then more than likely the card isn't compatible with FreeBSD. There are a few exceptions, but they are few and far between. If you want assured support and performance, you can't go wrong with Intel.

If you are wanting to do LACP, a dual port Intel NIC like http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Short-B...=US_Disk_Array_Components&hash=item4ac7109ef9 can be gotten for $30. Can't go wrong with that price. I've used several from ebay and never had a problem.