I've just ordered an internet upgrade. The new cable modem includes a 2.5 GBE LAN port, so my trusty OPNsense firewall is going to need an expansion card to connect. What is the consensus on good hardware? I know some users have reported problems with certain Intel chipsets, and I'm not interested in cheap hardware a la Realtek, TP Link or whatever.
Here are my priorities:
- Compatibility (currently using a Cisco ASA 5525-X with a PCIe slot)
- Stability
- Performance
- Efficiency
- Upgradability (10 GBE compatibility?)
- Price
What do people recommend? Alternatively, am I better off just ditching the ASA for something with 2.5 GBE on board? I don't want to spend a bundle, but I know the ASA isn't super power efficient. I do like having lots of physical ports though.
When you look at the Cisco ASA-IC-6GE-CU-B interface card it seems to include a proprietary 90 degree PCIe adapter.
To use another NIC you would need a matching 90 degree adapter.
I have the adapter, so it's ready for a PCIe card. I've been doing some reading on the i225 and i226 cards from Intel. It seems people are having mixed results with these, so I'm loathe to drop money on them.
Intel's X550 adapters are 10/5/2.5/1 GBE capable, but pretty pricey. There doesn't seem to be much for affordable used hardware on ebay either.
Any other brands worth looking at? I'm guessing the 10/5/2.5/1 models are going to be expensive as they're still current tech, but if there are any 2.5 GBE adapters that are known to work well then I'd like to hear any recommendations.
There's a brand new Intel I226-T1 NIC with the I226-LM controller, maybe they fixed the issues in the latest revision. But the issues I read were only in relation to consumer mainboards with Intel 700 Series chipsets.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/225771/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-i226t1/specifications.html
The only other 2.5 GBit/s NICs I know are with Aquantia (now Marvell) chipsets.
https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-edge-ethernet-controllers.html
Broadcom doesn't seem to have 2.5 GBit/s NICs because they propbably aim more towards business users.
I'm currently running an actual Intel i225 card with no problems. Prior to that I was running an off brand card that used the i225 chip, again with no problems.
I have no idea what version i225 I'm using as none of the commands I've tried have provided anything regarding that. I would have gone with an i226 but I couldn't find any PCIe versions except for one i225 card that was supposed to be using the i226 chip.
From what I can tell, the majority of the i225/i226 issues are with embedded versions and on windows. I wasn't able to dig up any real info regarding people using PCIe NICs.
That said, I only have a gig connection so the most I've seen on the card is 1.2g, but I don't think you needed to max the traffic in order to see the issues.
If you're in Austria, Germany, Swiss or Belgium you can already buy it, I also couldn't find it anywhere else.
I226T1BLK
GTIN/EAN: 5032037262668
https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/4394281832
https://shop.scheuss-partner.ch/de/products/5114445-i226t1blk-intel-ethernet-network-adapter-i226-t1
https://www.lasystems.be/fr/intel-i226t1blk
I226T1
GTIN/EAN: 5032037250399
https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/4394280207
https://shop.scheuss-partner.ch/de/products/5114443-i226t1-intel-ethernet-network-adapter-i226-t1
https://www.lasystems.be/fr/intel-i226t1
That looks exactly like the off brand i225 NICs I was seeing and what I initially tested with. I saw one that claimed to be a i226 chip in an i225 board but I didn't want to chance it.
That said, both the official and off brand i225 PCIe NICs worked for me with no issues.