4 port Intel NIC

[Greg Keys]

Ok, I have searched the web, googled till my fingers are raw, and can not find what I need. I have found problems alluded to, places where people have stated I bought this or that....... but..... I just need to know what 4 port NICS work. Just Works....... I can not go spend $200-$500 just to find out that there is this bug or that bug, or oh BSD doesn't support that particular chipset very well.......

 

[dlavigne]

Have you checked the FreeBSD hardware list?

 

[Greg Keys]

Yes, dlavigne I have. Once I saw realtek NICs listed there I knew that particular list was beyond useless for anything other than to tell me that drivers exist.

 

[jgreco]

That's a clueful reply and as such deserves a response! ;-)

Definitely be on the lookout for Intel multiports. Older ones are best supported.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/product-brief/1000-pt-quad-port-server-adapter-brief.pdf

It is an older PCI-Express 1.0a 4-lane card that was introduced back around 2005. While I haven't tried one with a recent edition of FreeBSD, since we're mostly virtual these days, it has been supported by Intel's drivers since FreeBSD 4.* and would be THE card that I would be shocked if it didn't work.

It's based on the 82571 and Intel even re-jiggered it into a low profile variant because it was the dominant card for many years: http://www.intel.com/cd/network/connectivity/emea/eng/server_adapters/339255.htm

You can also find these cards as OEM versions from Dell and IBM, possibly for less money.

If you want to get a little more recent, the I340-T4 was released in 2010 and is a PCIe 2.0 option that should be completely stable by this point and has been supported by the FreeNAS igb driver since at least FreeNAS 8.3.

 

[Greg Keys]

I have been looking at the I340-T4 but have been unable to find conformation that it is supported. Thank-you for confirming this. I will be ordering one and will post the results.

 

[jgreco]

Feel free to look up the chipset in use on the I340-T4 and then check the FreeBSD manpage for the igb driver to find out for sure. Since it is your money and time I strongly encourage you to doublecheck my opinion, but I would expect it to be fine.

 

[cyberjock]

I know I had an i340-t4 and it worked with 8.3.1 and 9.1.1. So I'd assume it will work fine on FreeNAS' current builds.

 

[Ste]

I'd like to add 4 NIC ports to my new FreeNAS Mini. Would either of the cards mentioned above fit in it? I assume that would be the only consideration, since you've already declared them to work with the OS.

 

[cyberjock]

There are no 1/2 height 4-port NICs that I know of. So adding 4 ports is out of the question.

 

[vikingboy]

I use a intel i350-t4 in a 2u chassis under pfsense. Can't guarantee it in freenas but it's half height.
It's a solid fast card in pfsense and I'd expect It would work in freenas but watch out for Chinese knock off versions as I've read they can be iffy. I've been meaning to buy one just to bench / verify out of morbid curiosity vs the official intel. Here's the real deal....

 

[cyberjock]

Oh my! there are 1/2 height 4 port cards! Guess I learned something today. ;)

 

[jgreco]

Yes, they're nice cards too.

 

[Ste]

Thank you. My need is really for just 2 additional ports, but given there's only one slot in the Mini I figured "Get as many as I can". The sight of that heat sink has me concerned about the heat load I'd be adding in such a small case, however. I'm wondering if the i350-t2 might not be a wiser choice.

 

[vikingboy]

the i350 is pretty efficient, unlike the old PRO1000 which needed a decent amount of airflow over it. So long as you have some case air flow you'll probably be ok.