High Bandwidth NIC Support

_Adrian_

Hey guys…
Looking for a solution that will allow easy integration into my network.
Im running 10GB SX from the server to the 2 ProCurve 2910al Switches and ....
I was wondering if any of the 10GB NICS are supported ??

If not... is there support for fiber channel ??

stephenw10

pfSense 2.0 is built on FreeBSD 8.1 and as such supports the same hardware.
There seem to be quite a few 10Gb cards listed, here, though I don't have any personal experience with them.

Steve

_Adrian_

Well hopefully my QLogic QLA2344 will pop up as a valid interface ethernet interface and allow me to run LACP

The reason why I'm considering this is fiber is a "final solution" once in place the only upgrade required is the devices connected to it to increase throughput.
And with the price of fiber these days its well worth it considering no interference and faster response compared to copper.

Also decent switches these days support 10GB backbones with an additional modules.

I have 2 WAN's with 250MBit internet service on them ( Gigabit Connections )

So…
My network will be setup as follows :

Modems to Firewall - 2 x RJ45 gigabit - LACP
Firewall to Server - 2x LC-LC 62/125 2GB Fiber - LACP
Server - Switches - 2x LC-LC 50/125 10GB Fiber - STP

OR

Modems to Firewall - 2 x RJ45 1GBe - LACP
Firewall to Switch1 - 2x CX4 10GB - LACP
Server - Switches - 2x LC-LC 50/125 10GB Fiber - STP

I think route 2 is better suited

stephenw10

Have you used that card as an ethernet adapter before?

It is listed as supported by FreeBSD but only as a fibre channel card for connecting storage.
A quick search of the forum shows others not being able use it for ethernet. Here and here.

Steve

Edit: Hmm some quick googling has not shown any support for IP over fibre channel at all in FreeBSD. At least I now know the term and why others are trying to use similar hardware. ::)

_Adrian_

I haven't yet
I have 2 cards kicking around here at work, and my DL360 i was going to use got damaged in shipping ( thanks a lot UPS )
Also I remember seeing a pci-x card with cx4 connectors, so i gotta go to the server room and lookthrough the spares bins…

Also there will be 4 VLAN's on there
1 - Admin
2 - User
3 - WAP
4 - VOIP/SIP
Ill be back in a bit and ill post my findings

_Adrian_

Sorry for the late reply…
But did found that card, and its a Mellanox Infiniband 10G dual port card
Time to go hunting for some CX4 XFP's

stephenw10

Hmm, Mellanox provide their own FreeBSD drivers for their cards but only for 7.X. You might be lucky!

Steve

_Adrian_

Great :)
the 10G network switch out of the c7000 has 4 XFP's.

This way everything is on a 10GB backbone.
Firewall - HP DL360 G4 ( Dual Xeon 3.6Ghz 8GB RAM 2x72GB U320 Drives Running RAID 1 )
Server - HP c7000 Blade Enclosure - Currently 2 x BL480c G6's - 2x Intel X5460 - QC 3.16GHz, 24GB DDR2 667MHz Fuly Buffered ECC SDRAM, 4x 72GB 10K SAS Drives
DAS - HP MDS600
Switch 1 - HP ProCurve 3500al-24G-POE
Switch 2 - HP Procurve 2910al-24G-POE

Basicly I'm doing some home reno's and ran a 60' 12 strand 9/125 Single mode fiber drop from attic to basement utility panel into a 24 port Wall mount fiber enclosure, from where there is a second 50' 12 strand 9/125 Single mode fiber drop from the utility panel to my office where the server is. The reason why this was done is for future expansion as FTTP ( Fiber To The Premisses ) is due to arrive in the next coming months in my neighborhood for gigabit internet connections.

At this time i only have Switch 2, and might be buying a second one instead of the 3500