New to Opnsense/Looking for Hardware suggestions

[dbollendorf]

I've been using a PfSense router for a couple years and I'm looking to add some NICs to my server and switch to Opnsense. What I'd like to do is add is 2 cards, a 1gb card for the WAN port and a 10gb card for the network port/ports, and I'm looking for what cards are the best bang for the buck. From some looking around I found the MCX311A-XCAT CX311A for $25 on eBay for the 1 port version and $40-$50 for a 2 port version for the 10gb card but I'm not sure if there's a best card for a 1gb card or if anything with a supported chip set is good. My server isn't super powerful, an older 8 core i5 with 32gb or ram, but I'm only planning to run Opnsense, Home Assistant and Ubuntu Server to run Pi-Hole and Plex or Jellyfin on. Are there better cards than the Mellanox I should be looking for and what should I look for in a 1gb card?

[Starrbuck]

The Mellanox cards have less support in BSD. With that said, I have one and it works fine. If you want to be safer, stick with Intel. I recently got an X540 and it works great. Good luck finding the bargains and building your rig!

[dbollendorf]

Thanks, after doing a little bit more looking around on the forum I found the Intel i225. 2.5gb and 10gb are both overkill for the network and internet I have now but they would allow me to upgrade to whatever I want when the time comes.

[Starrbuck]

I've heard of although not experienced myself issues with some i225's:

https://www.google.com/search?q=intel+i225+issues+bsd&oq=intel+i225+issues+bsd&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQLhhA0gEIMzczMGowajGoAgCwAgA

[cookiemonster]

I'm pretty sure I saw someone recently on this forum started a thread to list the diferent revisions of these and the problematic ones.
Try to go for i226 if possible. If not, see the revision of i225 that is not/less problematic.

[CJ]

The Mellanox cards have less support in BSD. With that said, I have one and it works fine. If you want to be safer, stick with Intel. I recently got an X540 and it works great. Good luck finding the bargains and building your rig!

Unless it's been changed, there's a setting you need to configure in order to get Mellanox cards to be recognized.  I'm surprised you say they have less support, as I've always seen Mellanox and Chelsio as recommeded brands for BSD based systems.

I'm pretty sure I saw someone recently on this forum started a thread to list the diferent revisions of these and the problematic ones.
Try to go for i226 if possible. If not, see the revision of i225 that is not/less problematic.

That was me and unfortunately it hasn't gotten any traction.  https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=38055.0

The hardware you're connecting to seems to be as important as the version, as depending on how it operates you may not even have a problem.

[cookiemonster]

Ah, that was it! Thanks. I can't imput, my host for OPN has i226

[Starrbuck]

Unless it's been changed, there's a setting you need to configure in order to get Mellanox cards to be recognized.  I'm surprised you say they have less support, as I've always seen Mellanox and Chelsio as recommeded brands for BSD based systems.

By less support I mean they come right up in Linux with no extra commands needed to get recognized, and the X3 and below are getting long in the tooth.  X4 and up are better options due to age.

That was me and unfortunately it hasn't gotten any traction.  https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=38055.0

The hardware you're connecting to seems to be as important as the version, as depending on how it operates you may not even have a problem.

Solid advice. Hope you get some traction on your issues.

[CJ]

Ah, that was it! Thanks. I can't imput, my host for OPN has i226

You definitely can provide input in that thread.  It's intended to cover i225 and i226 since i226 is really just another revision of i225.  I just didn't have a handy pdf for i226 like I found for i225.

Post your info in there including what's on the chip.

By less support I mean they come right up in Linux with no extra commands needed to get recognized, and the X3 and below are getting long in the tooth.  X4 and up are better options due to age.

All the setting does is tell BSD to load the module for the cards.  It's an additional step but not something unique to the Mellanox.  Linux has similar things.  Not sure where X3 vs X4 came from.

Solid advice. Hope you get some traction on your issues.

You quoted the wrong person.  Also, I don't have any issues.  My setup runs great.  I started the thread to try and help others.

[Starrbuck]

Well, thanks for setting the record straight.