Options for Connecting my FiOS WAN to the 8200's 10G SFP?

Zosh 0

@stephenw10 At my ISP? No way, but ensuring my LAN-based devices can reach back to the ISP edge modem as fast as technically possible is something I should be able to take advantage of given my available hardware. I simply want to connect my modem's 10G RJ45 port to my 8200's 10G Intel SFP+ port.

Can you please share with me which 10G RJ45 modules you've heard of working with the 8200? That's the big cookie I've been after all day today!

I was looking at one of these: https://www.amazon.com/10Gtek-SFP-10G-T-S-Compatible-10GBase-T-Transceiver/dp/B01KFBFL16 since this transceiver is strictly 10G-only, not multi-rate/auto-negotiate, I should be able to expect this to work on the Intel NIC, correct?

Moreover, can you share any further reading or specifications or resources on the Intel SoC and NIC installed onto the 8200 for me to continue my research on?

stephenw10

Here you go: https://forum.netgate.com/post/1096062

The 6100 has the same restrictions as the 8200 there. I would expect any module that works to work in either.

stephenw10

I've never tested any of those myself though so... I can't say for sure.

Zosh 0

@stephenw10 Sounds good, I'll give the one I linked earlier a try and report back and if that doesn't work I'll send it back and try the transceivers suggested in that post.

10G RJ45 to SFP+ transceiver module to use with a Netgate 6100max:

You might get lucky and find they work but many will not. You will probably find they can't be set to 1G and hence can only work at 10G. Intel specifically mention 1G modules in their notes for the C3K SoC NICs:
In addition, SFP+ devices based on the Intel(R) Ethernet Connection X552 and
Intel(R) Ethernet Connection X553 do not support the following features:
* Speed and duplex auto-negotiation.
* Wake on LAN
* 1000BASE-T SFP Modules

I'm still wondering though, where are you finding this Intel documentation regarding the NIC specifications?

stephenw10

A source is linked in the docs:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/netgate-8200/io-ports.html#networking-ports

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/732258/readme.txt

tman222

I have been using this particular transceiver in an SFP28 port with Fios service for the last few months and has worked out great:

https://www.fs.com/products/154916.html

It is on the expensive side, but was worth it given the reduced power budget. These SFP+ to RJ45 transceiver do tend to run quite hot as they consume more power than a regular SFP+ transceiver.

stephenw10

You're using that with a 6100/8200?

Zosh 0

@tman222 Hmmm SFP28 is 25G which neither appliances being discussed in this topic are equipped with?

tman222

@Zosh-0 said in Options for Connecting my FiOS WAN to the 8200's 10G SFP?:

@tman222 Hmmm SFP28 is 25G which neither appliances being discussed in this topic are equipped with?

My apologies I should have been more clear in my post: I'm using the linked transceiver in a Supermicro 1U system, not the Netgate 6100/8200. I'm not sure if it would work in the mentioned Netgate appliances, it was just a suggestion for a more efficient transceiver to try out. That being said, if a suitable SFP+ to RJ45 transceiver can't be found, using a fiber media converter is another option:

https://www.fs.com/c/copper-to-fiber-media-converters-1038

Hope this helps.

Zosh 0

Just to bring this post full circle...

I ended up purchasing 2 transceivers from 10GTek:

ASF-10G-T80 as recommended
ASF-10G-T

Surprisingly the recommended T80 did not work/didn't get recognized by my Netgate 8200 but the regular 'T' one did! My ix0 port recognizes the transceiver as 10Gbase-SR <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause> and I've named this my WAN_FiOS interface since it's connected via CAT6a directly to my Verizon ONT.

But oddly enough, now my latest issue is that previously I usually get speed tests of roughly 915Mbps download and 650Mbps upload, however ever since I re-did my network the last few days using the new Netgate 8200 I get atrocious speed tests of 560Mbps download and now 5Mbps upload... Not sure if the initial PfSense config just sucks for speed performance or the transceiver is throttling my connection somehow, but I'm going to be trying to isolate the issue moving forward.

stephenw10

A 5Mbps upload like that usually implies something pretty low level like a bad cable or a mismatched speed/duplex.

I would try running a test from pfSense directly to see where the restriction is.

Zosh 0

@stephenw10 That appears to be the case! Incredibly so, I moved the modem's CAT6a cable (confirmed good cable) from my WAN3/SFP+ port on the 8200 to its 1G WAN1 port, and my speeds are immediately way better:

I'm guessing this means the 10G transceiver I picked doesn't work?

Moreover, as an owner of this 8200 it looks like I could benefit from getting in the weeds with performance tuning, as outlined in this thread, correct?

stephenw10

That's not going to affect anything at 1G rates.

What is that port linked at on the modem? It's a 10Gbase-T port?

As I explained I would expect to find no way to set that adapter to 1G. It will only link correctly at 10G. That fact it works at all though seems to imply it probably is linked at 10G....