Odroid H2+ - Realtek RTL8125B ethernet

[lox]

Hello,

I am running OpnSense on an Odroid H2.

I want to upgrade to an Odroid H2+ which has Realtek RTL8125B ethernets. On the Hardkernel wiki they explain how to compile it for Linux, but I have no idea on how to do it for OpnSense (FreeBSD).

Is it possible ? If so how to do it ?

[dancwilliams]

Did you ever test this out?

[rc222]

No this does not work. Had it esxi and then shimmed in the realtek drivers (the old H model)- it just was buggy and dropped out frequently. Bare metal doesn't work at all with ubuntu, pfsense or opnsense.

as a win10 media box- it is wonderful, very fast, silent.

Super disappointed in Odroid for cheap'ing out and not getting intel nics. This would be a game changer if a box like this was out at around that pricepoint.

currently looking for a little box with ddr4 and a 6th gen intel cpu with a couple intel nics.
Thinking this;
https://qotom.net/product/23.html

Mini PC Q600S
Support Skylake-S and Kabylake-S FCLGA1151 desktop processor, dual Gigabit Intel network card, dual HDMI display, dual DDR4 memory,

[chemlud]

...This would be a game changer if a box like this was out at around that pricepoint.

...and that's why it is never going to happen. ;-)

[zzzkeil]

Hi,

since opnsense version 20.7.4 - 2,5GB NIC drivers supported,

BUT to install you have to plugin a supported USB NIC, because the installer is still version 20.7 without 2,5GB NIC support.
With the USB NIC, you can upgrade to the current version and your H2+ 2,5GB NIC fully work.

My odroid H2+ opnsense build works without any issues in my case.

And a new 4 port network add-on card is out now.

https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?p=317595#p317595

i ordered one, delivery date is February. 

[testo_cz]

Hi

How the CPU load looks like when these new "2.5Gbps RTL8125B ethernet" chips run with a high network throughput ?

Is it still very high (>50%) interrupt load on CPU ?

My experience is with many of the 1GbE Realteks, that they are simply not designed for throughput operation and when they are network-loaded they kill CPUs with interrupts (and as the result they are not recommended for serious projects ).

Thanks
T.

[zzzkeil]

Hi

How the CPU load looks like when these new "2.5Gbps RTL8125B ethernet" chips run with a high network throughput ?

Is it still very high (>50%) interrupt load on CPU ?

.......

Is this helpful ?
Scroll down a bit for there performance charts with 4 extra 2,5 realtec NICs

https://wiki.odroid.com/accessory/connectivity/h2_net_card

 

[testo_cz]

Hi

How the CPU load looks like when these new "2.5Gbps RTL8125B ethernet" chips run with a high network throughput ?

Is it still very high (>50%) interrupt load on CPU ?

.......

Is this helpful ?
Scroll down a bit for there performance charts with 4 extra 2,5 realtec NICs

https://wiki.odroid.com/accessory/connectivity/h2_net_card

Yes, it is. Thanks

Not that it is clear how the depicted CPU load is distributed (e.g.: %usr, %sys, %interrupt....) but otherwise the graphs look as one would expect: 50% of the four cores of the CPU is busy with doing iperf3 (75% when reversed).

So it seems to me these new 8125's perform much better than those old 1Gigs.

If interested, see the attachment of a bad example: 2x iperf3 clients over two 1GbE links and 'top -P' (or 'top -1' , if Ubuntu) shows that both CPU cores are 50% busy with handling interrupts. And so there's not much of resources left for iperf and so this box with a two RTL8111 NICs simply does not perform.
This is, IMHO, the main reason why network appliances should avoid them.

T.

[Wirehead]

For information, with the Odroid H2+; I have no issues with the upcoming 21.1 release. It works out-of-the-box.

Routing (ipv4-nat / ipv6) with RTL8125b's: 15.1% interrupts at 1gbit. 16% system load with shaping.

[zzzkeil]

opnsense H2+ build with 6 ports 2,5GbE running - check

https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?p=320588#p320588

running on 20.7.8_4
i´m upgrading to 21.1 tomorrow

[zzzkeil]

i´m upgrading to 21.1 tomorrow

update 21.1 successful without any trouble,  no issues right now 

[rc222]

was digging around and found basically the same chipset/board but with Intel nics-
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/review-odyssey-x86j4105-a-mini-pc-for-makers-and-builders/
https://www.seeedstudio.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?cat=814&q=odyssey

and the case is nicer.

[mater]

i´m upgrading to 21.1 tomorrow

update 21.1 successful without any trouble,  no issues right now

Do you have the hardware acceleration active?
Do you use Vlans?

[zzzkeil]

Here my Settings.

[mater]

Here my Settings.

Thank you! I have the same settings. It's working flawlessly!

When I Change the settings in the first picture (removing the Checkmarks) then my Cablemodem goes nuts and restarts ist self.

So I assume Hardware acceleration isn't working with these NICs