I'd like to buy 2 SFP+ cards and this HP 581201-B21 is dirt cheap compared to the alternatives. Last year it was 2.5x more expensive, so it looks like a really good deal. Idk why it became that cheap, probably it is retired. I am curious if I could use this with the latest FreeBSD? It would be awesome, because I could have 2x10Gbps between my server and PC...
On a card like this you have to figure out who makes it for HP
In this case an indepth search reveals that this is an Emulex card.
We do have Emulex driver but I am unsure if this card is supported.
Looking at this post it don't look good:
Hello, I have installed FreeNAS 11.2U6 on one of my machines - but the HP NC550SFP does not show up after the install. It is initialized during the boot, but seems like the driver is not catching it. Please help :)
www.truenas.com
But I don't see jgreco telling the user to load the firmware on boot.
That is usually required on 10G cards. /boot/loader.conf
if_oce_load="YES"
This setting is found on the manpage for Emulex OneConnect card.
The key to your question is to find the underlaying OEM device and use its drivers.
HP does not manufacture cards they simply rebrand them.
According to this post the HP NC550SFP is indeed a OneConnect device. So there is a driver for that.
Maybe it will work. Buy just one and see.... For twenty $USD you wont find a 10G card much cheaper.
I have a couple questions about the oce driver. The cards are HP NC550SFP 10 gigabit dual adapters, which are really Emulex OneConnect devices. FreeBSD server is an older IBM x3650 server. 1: I don't see oce anywhere in FreeBSD 9.x. Has it been dropped or is Emulex being slow in getting a...
forums.freebsd.org
Personally I like jgreco's advice. Buy Chelsio. T-3 cards are pretty cheap.
Do remember that most older cards require alot of cooling.
On a card like this you have to figure out who makes it for HP
In this case an indepth search reveals that this is an Emulex card.
We do have Emulex driver but I am unsure if this card is supported.
Looking at this post it don't look good:
Hello, I have installed FreeNAS 11.2U6 on one of my machines - but the HP NC550SFP does not show up after the install. It is initialized during the boot, but seems like the driver is not catching it. Please help :)
www.truenas.com
But I don't see jgreco telling the user to load the firmware on boot.
That is usually required on 10G cards. /boot/loader.conf
if_oce_load="YES"
This setting is found on the manpage for Emulex OneConnect card.
The key to your question is to find the underlaying OEM device and use its drivers.
HP does not manufacture cards they simply rebrand them.
According to this post the HP NC550SFP is indeed a OneConnect device. So there is a driver for that.
Maybe it will work. Buy just one and see.... For twenty $USD you wont find a 10G card much cheaper.
I have a couple questions about the oce driver. The cards are HP NC550SFP 10 gigabit dual adapters, which are really Emulex OneConnect devices. FreeBSD server is an older IBM x3650 server. 1: I don't see oce anywhere in FreeBSD 9.x. Has it been dropped or is Emulex being slow in getting a...
forums.freebsd.org
Personally I like jgreco's advice. Buy Chelsio. T-3 cards are pretty cheap.
Do remember that most older cards require alot of cooling.
In theory I can send them back for 2 weeks if they don't work and I have 1 year warranty. At least that's the European law. They are sold for $60 here and they were $160 a year ago. So I would rather go with this one instead of buying a Chelsio for $200 with questionable warranty.
One thing to remember is that the cards themselves are only part of the puzzle.
Also consider you will need SFP modules. These are commonly specific to one series.
Plus don't forget some fiber cables. They are pretty cheap here in the US.
There are also Direct Attach cables called DAC cables with a SFP transceiver built in.
The reason I mentioned only buying one is that should at least let you evaluate whether the oce(4) driver will work with these without sinking too much money into them.
One thing to remember is that the cards themselves are only part of the puzzle.
Also consider you will need SFP modules. These are commonly specific to one series.
Plus don't forget some fiber cables. They are pretty cheap here in the US.
There are also Direct Attach cables called DAC cables with a SFP transceiver built in.
The reason I mentioned only buying one is that should at least let you evaluate whether the oce(4) driver will work with these without sinking too much money into them.
I can buy tranceivers for less than $10 here second hand. I am not sure about ebay. I live in Europe and importing it would add +30% taxes plus delivery isn't cheap either. I found a HP NC523SFP for $30 second hand here. Sadly they are already sold, but every now and then there are SFP+ cards on the forum I follow, typically in the $50-$100 range, rarely cheaper.
Somebody told me, that I should rather go with the Mellanox MCX311a. It has newer chipset and has a 4W power consumption idle, vs the 15-17W the HP has. The price is around $40 from aliexpress, delivery $3 instead of $23 from the USA and maybe they can avoid taxes too. One thing puzzles me though. Here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001202914405.html somebody writes in the reviews that it does not work with MacOS. Since it is a BSD based OS too, I wonder if it works with FreeBSD. I found only this in the hardware database: https://bsd-hardware.info/index.php?id=pci:15b3-1003-15b3-0055 Does it mean that it works with FreeBSD? Why is that some of the cards have just "detected" instead of "works" status?
...One thing puzzles me though. Here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001202914405.html somebody writes in the reviews that it does not work with MacOS. Since it is a BSD based OS too, I wonder if it works with FreeBSD...
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