Re: 10Gb on budged with fiber — what should IP choose?

[wonko at 4amlunch.net]

How good is FreeBSD's mellanox support? You can get a ConnectX-2 EN for $15 on eBay and they are amazing cards.

-brian

> On Jan 15, 2017, at 05:03, Kevin Bowling <kevin.bowling at kev009.com> wrote:
> 
> Intel is overpriced and still riding their Ethernet reputation from well
> over a decade ago with little to show for it.  I would recommend cxgbe
> anything, so Chelsio T420 and up.  The T520-SO-CR is within reason for
> demanding home office/small office users to purchase new and I've deployed
> over a thousand of these at work with flawless performance.  T420 are a bit
> cheaper on i.e. US ebay if that is viable to you but not by too much.  I
> bought a T420-BT that way for home use and have no complaints.  For non-TOE
> use at 10g, the difference between T4 and T5 doesn't matter too much, pcie
> 2.0 vs 3.0.
> 
> You can use DAC twinax cables to connect 10G SFP+ ports together.  This
> will save several watts of power and heat on each side vs 10G Base-T.
> Sometimes DACs have interop problems, usually with switches.  Optics are
> more forgiving, although again the switch side may have extra hoops like
> approved vendors.
> 
> As far as a switch, I got a good deal on the beta UniFi version of
> https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgeswitch-16-xg/ for my home network.  Now
> that it is full price, I would recommend the EdgeMax version unless you
> have other UniFi gear.  They are inexpensive as far as the physical
> connectivity versus the rest of the market but not quite cheap yet.  These
> aren't exactly pro grade, the interop seems pretty poor in general, but
> that's the price you pay for the price you didn't pay :)
> 
> Regards,
> 
>> On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 2:32 AM, Lev Serebryakov <lev at freebsd.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello Freebsd-net,
>> 
>>  I want to attach my DIY-NAS (FreeBSD-based) to my desktop (Windows-based)
>> with 10Gb link. I could not afford 10Gb switch for sure. So, it will be
>> point-to-point connection only for my desktop and not other computers in
>> my
>> house.
>> 
>>  Also, I could not use my current twisted pair wiring, as I need
>> connection
>> to router for my desktop too :) Cable ducts ion my house is overcrouded,
>> so, I think only fiber is way to go, there is no chance to add CAT6 cable
>> between my room and storage room with server, and copper SFP-to-SFP
>> patchcord is out of question!
>> 
>>  So, I need cheap PCIe cards with SFP+ slots which is not very picky about
>> modules (I'm on budget!), with good FreeBSD support and drivers for
>> Win'10 (which is another problem with very old cards).
>> 
>>  What should I choose? There are A LOT of old 10Gb cards on eBay. Should I
>> choose Mellanox ConnectiX-2? Chelsio-T3? Something else? Intel X520 looks
>> as safe variant, but it is much more expensive and, as far as I know, it
>> supports only expensive branded SFP+ modules, too.
>> 
>> 
>> P.S. You could never stop upgrading your home NAS.
>> 
>> --
>> Best regards,
>> Lev                          mailto:lev at serebryakov.spb.ru
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