Question Looking to upgrade my desktop homelab to a 10gb network.

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pinkdonutholes

Junior Member

Sep 12, 2024

3

0

6

• Sep 12, 2024

• #1

Hello all.

I am looking to upgrade the internal network of my homelab to 10gb by using SolarFlare cards. End goal besides speed, is to also create my own PTP Grandmaster.

I have two beefed up desktops that I use for my homelab which sit in a different room.

Having said that, I am not familiar with this kind of hardware. Would the following hardware work? If not, is it possible to recommend an alternative? I do however want to be using the SolarFlare cards.

The cable
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX8YBKU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AE2OZG2NN3099&th=1

The switch
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CP8P6L57/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A100FJPV9L8WR6&th=1

The NICS
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HQGPDF2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AE3YR9AX5P25J&psc=1

Thank you.

 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member

Oct 9, 1999

6,114

475

126

• Sep 13, 2024

• #2

Wow, I wouldn't go anywhere near that NIC at that price just for having more accurate time server. Seriously no one needs that unless you are running multi-system real-time applications that need to sync together (these are things that are typically only seen in advanced robotics control systems for manufacturing lines or systems used in the aerospace/defence industries).

If you just want 10gb, you can get NICs for around $40. Heck you can get 40gb NICs for about the same....

 

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pinkdonutholes

Junior Member

Sep 12, 2024

3

0

6

• Sep 13, 2024

• #3

Thats the thing though. I do want solarflare cards to mess around with the Onload features. Its a home lab.

 

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lantis3

Senior member

Oct 18, 2023

279

56

61

• Sep 13, 2024

• #4

$70

Sfn8522 Plus for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for Sfn8522 Plus at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

But it's so old, does it still have drivers for current OSes?

https://www.xilinx.com/content/dam/xilinx/publications/product-briefs/SFN8522-plus-product-brief.pdf

Operating Systems• RHEL 6.7 - 7, MRG; SLES 11, 12, SLERT; Debian 7.x, 8.x, Ubuntu14.04 LTS; 14.10, 15.04; other Linux; Windows Server 2008 R2,2012, 2012 R2

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2024

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pinkdonutholes

Junior Member

Sep 12, 2024

3

0

6

• Sep 13, 2024

• #5

lantis3 said:

$70

Sfn8522 Plus for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for Sfn8522 Plus at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

But it's so old, does it still have drivers for current OSes?

https://www.xilinx.com/content/dam/xilinx/publications/product-briefs/SFN8522-plus-product-brief.pdf

Operating Systems• RHEL 6.7 - 7, MRG; SLES 11, 12, SLERT; Debian 7.x, 8.x, Ubuntu14.04 LTS; 14.10, 15.04; other Linux; Windows Server 2008 R2,2012, 2012 R2

Click to expand...

Gah. You right its too old and RedHat7 is no longer supported either by RH themselves :\ The newer NICs are way more expensive

 

L

lantis3

Senior member

Oct 18, 2023

279

56

61

• Sep 14, 2024

• #6

Seems Mellanox ConnectX adapters have low latency kernel bypass VMA technology similar to SolarFlare's OnLoad

ESPCommunity

enterprise-support.nvidia.com

Plenty Mellanox ConnectX adapters on eBay

 

Reactions: pinkdonutholes

M

MangoX

Senior member

Feb 13, 2001

604

128

116

• Sep 16, 2024

• #7

Is this also your account/thread?

Question - Can you please recommend a SolarFlare/xilinx NIC for a desktop setup?

Hello. For my home lab I want to buy two fully licensed SolarFlare NICs but it has to be a for my desktops I don't have an actual server. Just two mutants for desktops I build my self. End goal is for me to build my own PTP GrandMaster. Any recommendations for a SolarFlare NIC that will fit in...

forums.anandtech.com

Technically it should still work. That price on Amazon is ridiculous, I would buy it off ebay instead. There's nothing wrong with buying used NICs, you can actually save a lot of money this way, especially with 10+ gbit.

If anything, you can run it under a Proxmox/Vmware/HyperV host, and setup a bridge if necessary.

 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member

Oct 9, 1999

6,114

475

126

• Sep 16, 2024

• #8

lantis3 said:

Seems Mellanox ConnectX adapters have low latency kernel bypass VMA technology similar to SolarFlare's OnLoad

ESPCommunity

enterprise-support.nvidia.com

Plenty Mellanox ConnectX adapters on eBay

Click to expand...

Mellanox are what I have in most of my home systems (and are the 40gb cards I was referring to in my previous post). ConnectX-3 VPI Pro are the ones I am using in my main VM/storage server and my pfsense system.

 

Reactions: lantis3