From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 26 21:00:02 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 158C5D6D; Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:00:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Received: from mail2.nber.org (mail2.nber.org [66.251.72.79]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C70E12FEE; Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:00:01 +0000 (UTC) Received: from nber3.nber.org (nber3.nber.org [66.251.72.73]) by mail2.nber.org (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id r6QKxpAQ066313 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:59:52 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:59:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Daniel Feenberg To: "Alexander V. Chernikov" Subject: Re: Recommendations for 10gbps NIC In-Reply-To: <51F2A313.9070105@FreeBSD.org> Message-ID: References: <51F0386D.2000709@acm.poly.edu> <51F16A07.9030505@FreeBSD.org> <1374852658.90079.YahooMailNeo@web121601.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <51F2A313.9070105@FreeBSD.org> User-Agent: Alpine 2.03 (LRH 1266 2009-07-14) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Anti-Virus: Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server 5.6.39/RELEASE, bases: 20130726 #10689482, check: 20130726 clean Cc: Barney Cordoba , "freebsd-net@freebsd.org" X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:00:02 -0000 On Fri, 26 Jul 2013, Alexander V. Chernikov wrote: > On 26.07.2013 19:30, Barney Cordoba wrote: >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> *From:* Alexander V. Chernikov >> *To:* Boris Kochergin >> *Cc:* freebsd-net@freebsd.org >> *Sent:* Thursday, July 25, 2013 2:10 PM >> *Subject:* Re: Recommendations for 10gbps NIC >> >> On 25.07.2013 00:26, Boris Kochergin wrote: >> > Hi. >> Hello. >> > >> > I am looking for recommendations for a 10gbps NIC from someone who has >> > successfully used it on FreeBSD. It will be used on FreeBSD 9.1-R/amd64 >> > to capture packets. Some desired features are: >> > We have experience with HP NC523SFP and Chelsio N320E. The key difference among 10GBE cards for us is how they treat foreign DACs. The HP would PXE boot with several brands and generic DACs, but the Chelsio required a Chelsio brand DAC to PXE boot. There was firmware on the NIC to check the brand of cable. Both worked fine once booted. The Chelsio cables were hard to find, which became a problem. Also, when used with diskless Unix clients the Chelsio cards seemed to hang from time to time. Otherwise packet loss was one in a million for both cards, even with 7 meter cables. We liked the fact that the Chelsio cards were single-port and cheaper. I don't really understand why nearly all 10GBE cards are dual-port. Surely there is a market for NICs between 1 gigabit and 20 gigabit. The NIC heatsinks are too hot to touch during use unless specially cooled. Daniel Feenberg NBER