Hello,
Can someone please let me know what the fastest ethernet NIC that is supported. The main reason I want to build my firewall is to overcome the speed limitations of commercially available hardware that don’t cost a billion dollars ;).
I’d like 10GbE, but 2.5 would be good enough. Intel is my first choice but all of those listed on the hardware compatibility list that I think are at least mulitgig are no longer supported by Intel. Help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
IDK.I would try to use hardware similar to the lighting wire labs equipment
Don’t know what 10G cards they are using.
But they are using Intel i350-AT cards for 1g
I bought this Solution with at least two 2.5GbE NIC. Thoughts? Even better suggestions? - #6 by raffe and it has 4 x Intel i226-V 2,5g LANs.
So far I have only had time to test to install IPFire, restore backup to it and test if it works with one green and one red. And i worked.
But I do not know if it worked at 2,5g mode or 1g mode, what I found was that it was a little slower (550m instead of 700m) when downloading and faster when uploading (900m instead of 700m).
After that I have not had time to figure out what to test and how to test it 
Hi,
I have bought this one : netword card Intel Corporation ‐ Ethernet Controller 10G X550T (ixgbe)
Thank you everyone!
Are you connected to a 2.5g switch or direct to a PC with a 2.5g+ card? Are you using something simple like Oookla speed test?
Does anyone know if this one might be supported/?
Amazon.com: Intel Corp X540T2 Converged Network Adapt T2 : Electronics
IPFire should support any NIC whose driver is listed here: Ethernet Device Drivers — The Linux Kernel documentation (unless it was stripped down)
Realtek drivers seem to be separate vendor drivers as they are not listed there.
You could try a used Mellanox ConnectX-3 NIC, either 10 or 40 GBit/s, for about $30.
You can even unlock the 10 GBit/s versions to 40 GBit/s by loading another firmware.
To allow flashing a firmware of another hardware version you have to use “-allow_psid_change”.
On this site you can see how to backup the old firmware and configuration.
In the Network Adapter Hardware Compatibility List on the wiki
https://wiki.ipfire.org/hardware/networking
there is a line with the following info
LAN Card Name — Intel Corporation 10-Gigabit X540-AT2
Type Mbps — 10000
ID — 8086:1528
Loaded drivers — ixgbe
Tested in Core — 175
Notes — X540 Chipset
In the current list that is the fastest one that has been reported by a user as working.
It would make sense to create an IPFire Fireinfo page with all NICs in the database first sorted by PCI/USB in class “network” and then sorted by “vendor”.
We already have all the data we just have to filter them.
https://fireinfo.ipfire.org/vendors/pci/15b3
PCI
Atheros
Broadcom
Intel
Marvell
Mellanox
Realtek
USB
ASIX
Marvell
Realtek
Only problem would it be it will also show Wi-FI devices and it won’t differentiate between an extension card and a controller chipset.
Thanks again everyone!
One thing I did come across that makes finding an Intel NIC is that, on Amazon at least, other manufacturers often use the name Intel in their product title so when you search for “Intel 10GB nic” you get a list that is mostly filed with non-Intel sourced cards.
I like Pascal’s idea… I think there should be an exacting entry for every card. If information is missing for a specific field, it should be shown as “” or something. But every entry should look identical. Chipsets and cards should be in separate lists.
For me i’d like to see an entry like this (please add whatever I might have missed):
Intel PCI Ethernet
<model> (exact model number so it can be accurately searched for)
<description>
<interface type>
<interface count>
<Min Link Speed>
<Max Link Speed>
<Link to description on manufacturer's website>
<Link to item on Amazon> (seems like the most universally used site :slight_smile: )
<ipFire core tested>??
<driver version tested>??
everything I put in <> was wiped… I’ll post it again tomorrow with some other characters for each field
EDIT: moderator updated above. I made it a code block.
I use Amazon in the US and on the left side there is a Feature Brands. Click on Intel
I am not sure if you are referring to Amazon search or the IPFire Wiki. If it is the IPFire wiki page, then the pages can be edited by users. You may make needed changes to those pages.
Thanks Jon!!
I do set that filter when I see it. I think it depends on what “department” you have selected.
I meant when you click on support->hardeware->network cards(?)
I don’t normally search via departments. It doesn’t seem to help me.
All I did is go to Amazon and search for Intel 10GB nic with
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Intel+10GB+nic
and the Feature Brands and Intel popped up.
“Intel Corporation 10-Gigabit X540-AT2” from this page:wiki.ipfire.org - Network Adapter Hardware Compatibility List
Can anyone comment on the dual port / single card vs using two NICs, each with one port?
I think A single is PCIE x4
And a Dual port is PCIE x8
Not sure of PCIE version required for max throughput.
i can confirm the DELL Intel X520-DA2 X520 10Gb SFP+ Network Adapter works
Intel Corporation ‐ 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection (ixgbe)
Thank you very much. I’m pretty much waiting until I find the fastest Intel cards that are known to be compatible (and don’t cost a ton), so thank you everyone!
