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Hardware and Performance / Re: Help with Intel X553 and 1G SFP
« on: October 30, 2024, 03:26:34 am »
So I had some time today and decided to get back to this, I actually kind of regret it.
Since my last attempt I decided to get a static IP address, which should make a few things easier for me since the ISP allegedly doesn't need to have the MAC address anymore.
That said, here is what happened.
1. Connected the twinax cable to port ix0
2. Connected the fiber sfp module to port ix1
Ran ifconfig -v ix0 - showed the twinax connected
Ran ifconfig -v ix1 - showed nothing
Ran ifconfig -v on ix2 and ix3 and ix3 shows nonexistent interface while ix2 showed no module.
Digging around dmesg, showed that ix3 had an unsupported transceiver. Now I have "hw.ix.unsupported_sfp=1" configured in my /boot/loader.conf.local so that shouldn't happen. I unplugged all the transceivers and powerd off/on.
During startup and in dmesg, the issue with ix3 came up again and it is the only one with the unsupported message. Odd since nothing is plugged in. I attached the twinax to various ports and tried ifconfig -v until I found the one that showed the twinax attached. Various times, the command would show the twinax while other times nothing.
I tried the same thing with the fiber and at some point, it actually showed the SFP module, brand, temperature, voltage, etc.
Thinking I figured it all out, I went forward with the configuration using the ix numbers that had the twinax and fiber attached. I was able to get to the GUI to do some of the final configuration and at that point I configured what I thought to be the correct settings:
My ISP assigns a VLAN, so I configured a new VLAN with tag 85 in the settings as it should be.
Assigned the VLAN to the WAN interface
Set my static IP address and gateway in the WAN configuration.
I wasn't able to get an internet connection so I rebooted, thinking maybe the SFP needed to be in the port, etc.
On startup, I wasn't able to get to the GUI.
I went back to the SFP ports and did the same ifconfig -v ix? command and the ports that had the cables attached either showed nothing, or, in one case, the twinax showed on ix1 instead of ix0.
I moved interfaces around for the fiber, same issue, the port changed, I am able to get the module information, but each time, the interface moves.
I have a suspicion that when the ix3 shows an unsupported module, it is causing some sort of interface renumber. In fact, it may be that each time, a different interface is treated as ix3. As I write this, I didn't check the MAC addresses to see if they move around with the interface numbers or not. Unless of course Intel is dynamically setting the MAC addresses?
I am stumped and I can't reliably troubleshoot at this point. I might go ahead and try pfSense tomorrow just for kicks unless someone has an idea what might be happening (other than flaky as hell hardware).
As for my configuration for the ISP, am I doing things correctly with the VLAN?
If this fails, I have a VEP4600 I might try. Overkill for sure but I have a bit of a crunch to get something that has BGP support. My Dream Machine supports BGP, but, there is so little memory it takes the machine down.
Thoughts? Ideas are appreciated.
Since my last attempt I decided to get a static IP address, which should make a few things easier for me since the ISP allegedly doesn't need to have the MAC address anymore.
That said, here is what happened.
1. Connected the twinax cable to port ix0
2. Connected the fiber sfp module to port ix1
Ran ifconfig -v ix0 - showed the twinax connected
Ran ifconfig -v ix1 - showed nothing
Ran ifconfig -v on ix2 and ix3 and ix3 shows nonexistent interface while ix2 showed no module.
Digging around dmesg, showed that ix3 had an unsupported transceiver. Now I have "hw.ix.unsupported_sfp=1" configured in my /boot/loader.conf.local so that shouldn't happen. I unplugged all the transceivers and powerd off/on.
During startup and in dmesg, the issue with ix3 came up again and it is the only one with the unsupported message. Odd since nothing is plugged in. I attached the twinax to various ports and tried ifconfig -v until I found the one that showed the twinax attached. Various times, the command would show the twinax while other times nothing.
I tried the same thing with the fiber and at some point, it actually showed the SFP module, brand, temperature, voltage, etc.
Thinking I figured it all out, I went forward with the configuration using the ix numbers that had the twinax and fiber attached. I was able to get to the GUI to do some of the final configuration and at that point I configured what I thought to be the correct settings:
My ISP assigns a VLAN, so I configured a new VLAN with tag 85 in the settings as it should be.
Assigned the VLAN to the WAN interface
Set my static IP address and gateway in the WAN configuration.
I wasn't able to get an internet connection so I rebooted, thinking maybe the SFP needed to be in the port, etc.
On startup, I wasn't able to get to the GUI.
I went back to the SFP ports and did the same ifconfig -v ix? command and the ports that had the cables attached either showed nothing, or, in one case, the twinax showed on ix1 instead of ix0.
I moved interfaces around for the fiber, same issue, the port changed, I am able to get the module information, but each time, the interface moves.
I have a suspicion that when the ix3 shows an unsupported module, it is causing some sort of interface renumber. In fact, it may be that each time, a different interface is treated as ix3. As I write this, I didn't check the MAC addresses to see if they move around with the interface numbers or not. Unless of course Intel is dynamically setting the MAC addresses?
I am stumped and I can't reliably troubleshoot at this point. I might go ahead and try pfSense tomorrow just for kicks unless someone has an idea what might be happening (other than flaky as hell hardware).
As for my configuration for the ISP, am I doing things correctly with the VLAN?
If this fails, I have a VEP4600 I might try. Overkill for sure but I have a bit of a crunch to get something that has BGP support. My Dream Machine supports BGP, but, there is so little memory it takes the machine down.
Thoughts? Ideas are appreciated.