USB 3.0 Ethernet Adaptor

[Max-E]

Hello everyone,

I have an older laptop (asus n56vz, 8GB RAM, i7) that I'd like to use for FreeNas. However the ethernetport is damaged. So I'm thinking of buying a USB -> Ethernet adaptor (pref 1Gigabit). After reading to forums I ended up on FREEBSD support page and read the following line.

ASIX Electronics AX88178A/AX88179 USB Gigabit Ethernet adapters (axge(4) driver)

If I understand correctly any USB ethernet adaptor using the AX88179 chipset is supported in freebsd therefore also supported in freenas?

Does anyone know an adaptor that uses this chipset? Because this very often isn't mentioned on any site I'm trying to buy an adaptor from...

TL;DNR: Can anyone recommend an USB 3.0 Ethernet network adaptor supported by freenas.

Many thanks :)

PS: I'm sorry if this isn't the right section to ask this question.

EDIT: After some additional researching it seems my ethernetport isn't damanged but the chipset (QUALCOMM ATHEROS AR8161 isn't supported, can't find it one the freebsd hardware support page)

Anything I can do about that? Or is an usb->ethernet adaptor the only way to go here?

 

[tvsjr]

I'd suggest reconsidering your choice of hardware. FreeNAS is built to run on server-class hardware... not an old throwdown laptop. It also only supports one drive internally, so how are you going to attach your storage? Please don't say USB drives.

 

[Max-E]

I'd suggest reconsidering your choice of hardware. FreeNAS is built to run on server-class hardware... not an old throwdown laptop. It also only supports one drive internally, so how are you going to attach your storage? Please don't say USB drives.

It actually supports 2 (removed the cd drive ). And yes i'm very well aware that this setup isn't ideal. But this is just for testing purposes / practice. Once I got the hang of everything I will consider buying a more decent setup.

Off topic, but can you explain to me why USB drives aren't recommended? I mean I understand why you would prefer internal drives connect by s-ata . But what is the actual downside of USB drives.

 

[hugovsky]

But what is the actual downside of USB drives.

Everything. Try some links on my sig for initial guidance, please.

 

[jgreco]

But what is the actual downside of USB drives.

Universally Sucky Bus drives can be inadvertently powered down or disconnected separately from the system, usually hide error recovery from the host and present mysterious timeouts and bus resets instead, usually do not allow for management of SMART, and are usually in enclosures that double as toasters. Moving on to user issues, people like to build arrays out of these using USB hubs, because "they don't have enough ports."

You want to learn about FreeNAS that way? Fine. But don't put any valuable data on the system unless you have a good backup.

 

[Max-E]

Everything. Try some links on my sig for initial guidance, please.

Thanks, I'll do my best to read it in the next couple of days :)

Universally Sucky Bus drives can be inadvertently powered down or disconnected separately from the system, usually hide error recovery from the host and present mysterious timeouts and bus resets instead, usually do not allow for management of SMART, and are usually in enclosures that double as toasters. Moving on to user issues, people like to build arrays out of these using USB hubs, because "they don't have enough ports."

You want to learn about FreeNAS that way? Fine. But don't put any valuable data on the system unless you have a good backup.

Thank you, that's very interesting information.

I'd just want to learn how to setup CIFS, FTP, Plex Media Server, configure back-ups, maybe setup a torrent downloader,.. But i'm just an IT student so obviously i'm interested in this but paying for it is an whole other story. :) Anyhow once I'm sure on how to do all this stuff I'll open up my piggy bank. Just don't want to end up with hardware that has no use because I can't configure the software :D

But if anyone can recommend me an adaptor for my problem, that would be really appreciated. If it doesn't exist or doesn't perform on a acceptable level I'll search for some second hand pc.

 

[jgreco]

I don't think anyone's aware of any specific USB adapter that works because basically no one does this. I would expect that most of the ones supported by FreeBSD will "work", for varying values of that word. In general, we find that FreeNAS is very demanding on the network, and things other than the recommended Intel PCIe based cards tend to exhibit various problems, ranging from poor performance to mysterious drops to plain ol' no-workee.

 

[Mirfster]

TL;DNR: Can anyone recommend an USB 3.0 Ethernet network adaptor supported by freenas.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but aren't there already going to be issues just with USB 3.0 aside from the Ethernet portion? Guess that if in the BIOS the USB port can be set to 2.0, then that may work..

 

[Mirfster]

Meh, for giggles I connected a USB 3.0 hub with 10/100/1000 LAN to a test box in a USB 2.0 port.

Device looks likes this (pic from Amazon) and the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OKRH5RK/?tag=ozlp-20

(Don't ask me why I have it... )

Device was detected; however the driver for the Realtek NIC doesn't appear to be loaded; but it did pickup the 32 GB USB stick I added...

dmesg | grep "usbus7"
usbus7: EHCI version 1.0
usbus7 on ehci1
usbus7: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
ugen7.1: <Intel> at usbus7
uhub7: <Intel EHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus7
ugen7.2: <VIA Labs, Inc.> at usbus7
uhub8: <VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub, class 9/0, rev 2.10/b.e0, addr 2> on usbus7
ugen7.3: <Realtek> at usbus7
ugen7.4: <PNY Technologies> at usbus7
umass0: <PNY Technologies USB 3.0 FD, class 0/0, rev 2.10/10.75, addr 4> on usbus7

So close... I coulda had it all... vdev of USB sticks AND a Gb NIC in one shot....

Edit: Just wanted to note that what I did is NOT at all suggested. Just was messing around seeing how many "no-nos" I can get in one swoop... :)

 

[nightshade00013]

Realtec has very spotty support in FreeNAS and FreeBSD since that is what it's based off of. https://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/9-STABLE/hardware/ may give you at least a little insight into what could work.

As far as the USB3.0 dilemma I doubt that the laptop being used will have USB3.0 support so a device plugged into it will default to a lower spec speed. On top of that I have seen a TON of devices that are "USB3.0" only because USB3.0 will support a USB2.0 device with backwards compatibility. Manufacturer's are using the "stickers make it go faster" scheme. Ever see the guy driving an old beat up ford taurus with a big V8 sticker on the side and flame stickers on the hood... That's what I am talking about.

 

[jgreco]

Ever see the guy driving an old beat up ford taurus with a big V8 sticker on the side and flame stickers on the hood... That's what I am talking about.

You must be a Midwesterner.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Device was detected; however the driver for the Realtek NIC doesn't appear to be loaded

USB + Realtek NIC... are you trying to end the whole universe? :D

 

[Mirfster]

USB + Realtek NIC... are you trying to end the whole universe? :D

Was thinking that I should get my entry in early for the "Worst FreeNas Build of 2016"..

 

[Sakuru]

If you just want to play around with FreeNAS, I suggest building a virtual machine with something like VirtualBox.