Looking for PCIe network card suggestions

M

mer

Just had a weird thing this afternoon.
Onboard re0 interface, on a GigaByte MB (probably approaching 10 yrs old), been working fine for a while, all of a sudden lost it's mind.
Been chugging along renewing dhcp every hour, then about 12:50pm EDT link went down. Physical connection was still there, re0 to a netgear gst108 switch, netgear switch to pfSense box. Other systems connected to the switch work fine.
Only indication I see is in /var/log/messages saying "re0: link down" and then subsequent DHCP renewals failing until I noticed and rebooted.
Reboot everything came up fine, but yes now I'm monitoring it.

So the question is:
What are your recommendations for a PCIe-X1 network card? Internal home network is basically 1Gb, not feeling like trying to upgrade everything to 10G.
Obviously it has to be something supported by FreeBSD, 13.2.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
A few years ago I bought a 5-pack Intel PRO/1000 cards (OEM). Relatively cheap, works great. But I see they're discontinued now.

Code: 
em0@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x020000 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x10d3 subvendor=0x8086 subdevice=0xa01f
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82574L Gigabit Network Connection'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

Edit: a "few" years. Launch date was 2008, AD/HD really screws with my sense of time. My cards are probably older than your mainboard 🤣
Anyway, Intel still sells Intel PRO/1000 cards. Just with a newer chipset. Should work fine with the em(4) driver as far as I know.
 
Any opinions on some of the StarTech products? I've used them in the past at work and they seemed reasonable, but haven't used anything recently.
 
mer said:
Any opinions on some of the StarTech products? I've used them in the past at work and they seemed reasonable, but haven't used anything recently.
Click to expand...

Startech is one of my trusted vendors, they make working stuff. As for FreeBSD compatibility, we'd have to look at a specific product.
 
I inherited a bunch of Intel cards that are compatible with VMware.
These are a step above the consumer grade cards.
I suspect they are supported by FBSD as they are main stream server cards.
 
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Intel and broadcom ethernet chipsets tend to be much better quality and performance than realtek (which are famous for "barely working" to spec). Have a look on ebay for server room pulls with an intel/broadcom chipset, eg HP, Dell, IBM, etc. You get a much better quality card for your money.

A couple of examples I just found on uk ebay, there are lots of them up there:-
www.ebay.co.uk

HP 331T Quad Port 1GbE RJ45 Full Height PCIe-x4 Ethernet Network Interface Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HP 331T Quad Port 1GbE RJ45 Full Height PCIe-x4 Ethernet Network Interface Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk
www.ebay.co.uk

Network Card Dell PCIe Ethernet Intel I350t2 | XP0NY for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Network Card Dell PCIe Ethernet Intel I350t2 | XP0NY at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk
www.ebay.co.uk

Dell Broadcom 5719 1gb Quad Port Network Card YGCV4 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Broadcom 5719 1gb Quad Port Network Card YGCV4 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk
 
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SirDice said:
A few years ago I bought a 5-pack Intel PRO/1000 cards (OEM). Relatively cheap, works great. But I see they're discontinued now.

Code: 
em0@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x020000 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x10d3 subvendor=0x8086 subdevice=0xa01f
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82574L Gigabit Network Connection'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

Edit: a "few" years. Launch date was 2008, AD/HD really screws with my sense of time. My cards are probably older than your mainboard 🤣
Anyway, Intel still sells Intel PRO/1000 cards. Just with a newer chipset. Should work fine with the em(4) driver as far as I know.
Click to expand...
I got some of those; good cards. Back in 100 Mbps days there used to be some good 3com cards too, although probably pci.

Here is a PRO/1000 for 11 UKP, probably ideal for OP

www.ebay.co.uk

Dell U3867 0U3867 PCI-E Intel PRO/1000 PT Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell U3867 0U3867 PCI-E Intel PRO/1000 PT Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk
 
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Well Amazon delivered a couple of the Startechs I mentioned earlier, put one in, it showed up as an "re" interface. We'll see how it works.
re1@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x020000 rev=0x15 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x10ec device=0x8168 subvendor=0x10ec subdevice=0x0123
vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.'
device = 'RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller'
class = network
subclass = ethernet
 
IME, RealTek's (any interface that shows up as reN) works well under normal load. Under heavy load I have seen spurious wathdog timeouts which results in an interface reset (automatic recovery) on some cards. YMMV.
 
2 or 3 years ago I had a thread opened here.
Bottomline: for 1GBit the Intel things just work and no problems. I got a 2-port and a 4-port, each for 3 or 4 euros on ebay.
The 4-port is a bit old and gets hot, the 2-port is also a bit older than those onboard (and thats Haswell-EP, so already 9 years old), but they seem very extensively supported by the driver, there is lots of stuff there:
Code: 
# sysctl dev.igb | wc
    1069    2273   37182
This is the dual card:
igb0: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 82576>
igb1: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 82576>
And these are the internal ones:
igb2: <Intel(R) I210 (Copper)>
igb3: <Intel(R) I210 (Copper)>

The only problem could be that many of these cards are x4.
 
The quad cards can get a bit warm. As SirDice said, the intel PRO/1000's are nice in the single-port version. I got a few of them off a pallet of server room disposals several years ago, good quality cards, rock solid. Put it in and forget it.
 
blackbird9 said:
www.ebay.co.uk

Dell U3867 0U3867 PCI-E Intel PRO/1000 PT Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell U3867 0U3867 PCI-E Intel PRO/1000 PT Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk
Click to expand...
That's probably 82572 and gets hot.
Get one without cooler, then its rather 82576, like this one:
www.ebay.co.uk

Intel EXPI9301CTBLK PRO 1000 CT Gigabit PCI-e x1 NIC Network Adapter | eBay

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Intel EXPI9301CTBLK PRO 1000 CT Gigabit PCI-e x1 NIC Network Adapter.</p> <p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Good condition, tested working</p>
www.ebay.co.uk
 
That second link, the intel one without the heatsink, those are the ones I've got. Yes I noticed that dell card had a heatsink on the chip. My ones look like that second link, like this. The card has 'intel' written on the PCB so I think they may actually be made by intel / OEM'd for intel.
s-l1600.jpg
 
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