FreeNAS 8.3.1 R2 x64 and Intel X540-T1 nic

[mwarne]

hello all:
I need a bit of help here, has anyone successfully been able to get a Intel X540-T1 10gb nic to work? A fresh install of FreeNAS recognizes the card using an intel drier and it apears as nic ix0 however the card won't accept any IP configuration nor will it communicate with a dhcp server. the link always appears down even when connected to a hub. This card is supposed to be backwards compatable to 1gb, 100mb and 10mb networks but nothing seems to work and I don't have a 10gb switch here to test with. any suggestions? I can compile the Intel driver xgbe downloadable from intel on a freebsd 8.3 workstation but can't copy to the flash drive on the free NAS box.

any and all help would be appreciated greatly.


mike

 

[jgreco]

We've got one on the bench here and it was working fine with FreeNAS on bare metal, currently running ESXi on the host though.

What do you mean by "card won't accept any IP configuration"?

I can see about throwing FreeNAS on a thumb drive later if you're still having problems.

 

[mwarne]

Thanks jgreco:

with regards to the intel card not accepting any IP configuration, is that I can see it inside freeNAS and it shows as device ix0 and there I can set configuration data for it, however the card just isn't activating and always responds as link down even when connected to a hub, I think the installed driver for the intel card is the wrong one. I am able to download and build a new driver but I can't get that to install into the flash drive the server is running on.

I believe your card is working as your hypervisor is presenting a virutual interface to the freeNAS vitural. I know there are linux drivers available and many repros have them built in for this card, just not in freebsd or freeNAS yet only earlier generation drivers at this point.

thanks

mike

 

[jgreco]

I said "was working fine with FreeNAS on bare metal." Which meant precisely those words.

I said "currently running ESXi" to explain why I couldn't instantaneously pull up more information; the 10gig card actually doesn't work on ESXi4 in any case (at least not without drivers that aren't on the install CD).

I am not aware that FreeBSD offers multiple driver options for Intel cards. FreeBSD has been using Intel-provided drivers for many years. The most likely case is that you did something wrong. The next most likely possibility is that your hub and/or switch is somehow incompatible with the X540, in which case it probably makes sense to look at whether maybe manually twiddling it to gigabit speed would help.