Wondering whether the brand of X520-DA2 matters

[dqlav]

I installed TrueNAS Scale just a week ago, so I am completely new to the environment. I run a fileserver on a Promise 8-bay 2U server (it's a Vess A3340d, intentionally a video management server). I will provide the specifications below. At the moment, the NAS runs off of its built in NIC, but I am planning on buying a 10Gbps NIC. I have my eyes on an Intel X520-DA2 from oracle, which is for sale on eBay including MMF transceivers.

Please don't laugh at me, but my question is whether the brand of the X520-DA2 matters. I come along a lot of brands ranging from Dell to Intel itself all the way to some Chinese 'Inspur' ones. I came across this Sun Oracle one available on eBay (which seems legit), and I wonder if this will work with TrueNAS Scale 22.12.3.
As I couldn't find anything on the forum about this card, and also just the simple question if the brand of a NIC matters, I thought why not ask it?

All help is welcome, if I missed something on the forum, please let me know as well!

 

[Ericloewe]

but my question is whether the brand of the X520-DA2 matter

Simple answer is "no", but beware of the path less-traveled. If you stick to reputable brands, things should work out well. If you go with Super China Happy Sun Awesome Networking-brand NICs, expect dodginess.

 

[jgreco]

As I couldn't find anything on the forum about this card, and also just the simple question if the brand of a NIC matters, I thought why not ask it?

The X520-DA2 is technically an Intel part, no one else makes it. Intel did make OEM cards for a number of vendors, and also sold Spring Fountain (Intel 82599 chipset) controllers to other manufacturers who then built 82599-based ethernet controllers which were sometimes referred to as X520-DA2 for convenience sake.

Brand does matter because various manufacturers implement vendor locking of their optics, such as Intel, where an Intel X520-DA2 requires an Intel branded optic, but a Dell 82599-based card will accept Dell optics. The Sun Oracle one you link, for example, looks to me (having seen hundreds of the X520's but not specifically that one under a microscope) like it rolled off an Intel assembly line; tells include the structural reinforcing bar and SFP+ cages. There are some high quality fakes out there but I haven't seen them try to mimic Oracle. Given the Oracle SFP+'s, I would expect that the card may be vendor locked to them. Optics lock WILL NOT be a problem for you if you use the supplied optics; it is a compelling reason not to screw around given that optics are just ten bucks each on the used market. Over here we generally insert optics "for life".

Avoid the Chinese cards.

 

[dqlav]

Optics lock WILL NOT be a problem for you if you use the supplied optics

Thank you so much for helping me out, you're helping me avoid a bad buy. I understand you cannot exactly know all details about this specific Oracle card. But can I safely assume that the Oracle NIC will work, provided I use the supplied Oracle transceivers? I intend to order two of these cards to connect a client PC directly to the TrueNAS.

 

[jgreco]

I understand you cannot exactly know all details about this specific Oracle card. But can I safely assume that the Oracle NIC will work, provided I use the supplied Oracle transceivers?

I would be shocked if it didn't work. Oracle is the heir to the corpse of Sun Microsystems, and so your Oracle branded card almost certainly came out of a Sun server or workstation. You can certainly give it a Google or two, to see if anyone's ever had any problems with an Oracle-branded X520-DA2, not a bad idea, but it really looks like an off-the-Intel-production-line Intel X520-DA2 to me.

 

[dqlav]

You can certainly give it a Google or two

Thanks again for your help, it's really appreciated. I found a thread from early 2022 in which the topic starter bought the same Oracle NIC and used it with a sfp+ to rj45 2.5Gbit switch connecting his TrueNas (with the Sun Oracle card) to the switch and to a client pc with a 2.5Gbit NIC. He stated that he reached speeds above 1gbit, so I assume the Oracle card in the TrueNAS system established a working 10Gbit connection and the Sun Oracle X520-DA2 thus is compatible with TrueNAS. This gave me a little more confidence it might work.

Anyways, I will order two of those cards from eBay and try them with the system. Shipping will take some time, but I will keep you updated as soon as I tested them!

 

[dqlav]

The Sun Oracle X520's NICs with Oracle Avago sfp+ transceivers came in today. I can confirm they work with Truenas Scale (22.12.3.1) and Windows 10 without the need of installing drivers or any other hassle, simply plug and play. They are recognised by MacOS, though I ran into trouble connecting to TrueNAS. I will open another thread for those problems, since I haven't seen other threads discussing it.

For now at least, the Sun Oracle Nics and transceivers work great on Truenas Scale.