Marvell/Aquantia AQ1 & AQ2 Drivers | Official kmod

[Seimus]

Hey all,

Since release 26.1.6 OPNsense has in the package repository a kmod that supports both AQ1 & AQ2 based NICs.

This means;
1. You can potentially run with OPNsense NICs such as the AQC113 family and others.
2. Drivers can be easily installed via CLI on OPNsense

The driver was made e.g completed by albb0920 which deserves all the credit for the effort, communication and taking our (user) feedback to fix bugs, tune and implement features.

Driver details and full documentation can be found on albb0920's repo.
albb0920 ~ aqtion-freebsd-aq2

The technical discussion as well testing and results can be found in, example of user testing the AQC113C at 10G speed using iperf3.
aqtion-freebsd ~ discussion and testing

Potentially supported NICs

AQ1 (Legacy)

• AQC100
• AQC107
• AQC108
• AQC109
• AQC100S
• AQC107S
• AQC108S
• AQC109S
• AQC111
• AQC111S
• AQC112
• AQC112S

AQ2 (New Series)

• AQC113DEV
• AQC113
• AQC113C
• AQC113CA
• AQC113CS
• AQC114CS
• AQC115C
• AQC116C

Supported features

Driver should support all the features needed for proper implementation and network operation.

• VLAN
• Jumbo frames
• RSS
• LAGG
• HW offloading
• Interface counters
• Interrupt moderation
• WoL
• netmap
• Vlan filtering
• Host Boot
• etc.

The Driver should support both of the classes AQ1 & AQ2.
The AQ2 was mainly tested by users on the AQC113 family and its working wonderfully.

Installation

1. To lookup the availability of the driver in OPNsense use:

Code Select Expand

# pkg search aqua
aquantia-atlantic-kmod-0.2.0.1403000 Aquantia AQtion (Atlantic) Network Driver (Development Preview)

2. To install the driver use:

Code Select Expand

# pkg install aquantia-atlantic-kmod

3. To check if the driver is installed use:

Code Select Expand

# pkg info | grep -i aqua
aquantia-atlantic-kmod-0.2.0.1403000 Aquantia AQtion (Atlantic) Network Driver (Development Preview)

You should as well see the package installed in the GUI


The NICs should after installing the kmod appear in the GUI as well in CLI

Code Select Expand

# ifconfig | grep -i aq
aq0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500
aq1: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500



T-shooting

If for some reason the NICs do not appear after reboot of the system add a Tunable via OPNsense GUI

1. Go to System > Settings > Tunables,
2. click +
3. add:

Code Select Expand

Tunable: if_atlantic_load
Value: YES

Summary

I am currently running this driver on Qotom Q11032H6 which is a N355 based system using 4xi226-V NICs and 2xAQC113C NICs.
The i226-V is used for WAN (single port) and 2x1G LAGG/LACP is used for Management VLAN.
The AQC113C is used for LAN 2x1G LAGG/LACP and its used with dozens of VLANs.
On both types of NICs I am running netmap via ZA in Emulated mode.

I run this setup with AQC113C and the drivers for couple of months now in production. All is stable, performing well.
I didn't find any problems on day-to-day operation.

Regards,
S.

[Nullman]

How are these Aquantia chips when it comes to stability and reliability ?

[Seimus]

Solid and pretty stable at least that is my experience with the AQC113C.

As mentioned I didn't had any problems since I put it into PROD so since 24th Feb.
The AQC113C and as well the Driver is working on OPNsense/FBSD seamlessly, honestly its hard to believe at first. But after months running these and not hitting any problems its just amazing.

Also this potentially unlocks 2nd option for NICs as to the Intel ones. AQC113C for me performs way better than any realtek NIC on OPNsense/FBSD.

Regards,
S.

[Nullman]

Solid and pretty stable at least that is my experience with the AQC113C.

As mentioned I didn't had any problems since I put it into PROD so since 24th Feb.
The AQC113C and as well the Driver is working on OPNsense/FBSD seamlessly, honestly its hard to believe at first. But after months running these and not hitting any problems its just amazing.

Also this potentially unlocks 2nd option for NICs as to the Intel ones. AQC113C for me performs way better than any realtek NIC on OPNsense/FBSD.

Regards,
S.

This is very good to hear. There are some very nice mini pcs out there that have combination of 2.5G Intel 226 NICs along with Aquantia 10G NICs. I was hesitant to buy them because i had terrible experience with everything not Intel. Thank you very much for sharing this information. I appreciate first hand experience.