Intel i210 NIC in 2.1
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I built my own image with haswell nic support, but it wasn't exactly trivial - that is to say, the changes necessary aren't hard, but getting a working build environment took some effort.
Is it posible to get this image?
I have I210AT on my ASUS P9D-I -
…bleeding-edge hardware that wouldn't be properly supported for 6 months....
The Intel ET2 Server NIC's, among others using this same driver as the i210 are also having issues, has been out since Q3 2010.. 4 Year old hardware is definitely not bleeding edge.
Quite frustrating considering these NIC's were shipping as upgrade options directly from Dell and HP for their rack mount servers almost 4 years ago.
You wouldnt think for a second that there should be an issue with enterprise class hardware that has been in the field for this long, but this is indeed the case.I wouldn't get your hopes up for this issue to be resolved any time soon. It first cropped up this summer during beta testing, and would involve Intel developing a current driver on FreeBSD 8 which they no longer seem to do, they are building for the 9.x Kernel. Its safe to say that unless something is changed with Altq there will be no solution till 2.2 based off the newer version of FreeBSD.
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In which way are altq broken?
Are it a fatal brokage (eg leading to panics, crashes and such) or are it simply that altq just dont work, it will behave like altq didnt exist and all traffic are prioritized equally? -
I'm getting a lot of requests for the custom pfSense 2.1 ISO with the i210 driver installed. It's not feasible for me to re-build the image and send it to everyone, but below I documented the process. It's not that bad. The hard part was the first part (downloading the Intel driver source code, downloading the FreeBSD 8.3 ISO, building it in VirtualBox, transferring the compiled driver back out of the virtual disk image…)
(Below tools are Windows oriented. The same tools may also be available on Mac/Linux.)
1. Download the 2.1 Release ISO.
2. Extract the ISO to a folder using something like 7-Zip.
3. Copy if_igb.ko to /boot/kernel
4. Add the line if_igb_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf
5. Make a new custom ISO. I found a tool called UltraISO. That, or I might have used WinImage to inject the files (I don't remember which tool I used).
6a. Burn this custom ISO to CD if you want that installation method. (Or PXE boot, etc.)
6b. If you need to convert the ISO to be used like a memstick .img file, I used UNetbootin and was able to burn the ISO directly to USB flash drive. -
I'm getting a lot of requests for the custom pfSense 2.1 ISO with the i210 driver installed. It's not feasible for me to re-build the image and send it to everyone, but below I documented the process. It's not that bad. The hard part was the first part (downloading the Intel driver source code, downloading the FreeBSD 8.3 ISO, building it in VirtualBox, transferring the compiled driver back out of the virtual disk image…)
(Below tools are Windows oriented. The same tools may also be available on Mac/Linux.)
1. Download the 2.1 Release ISO.
2. Extract the ISO to a folder using something like 7-Zip.
3. Copy if_igb.ko to /boot/kernel
4. Add the line if_igb_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf
5. Make a new custom ISO. I found a tool called UltraISO. That, or I might have used WinImage to inject the files (I don't remember which tool I used).
6a. Burn this custom ISO to CD if you want that installation method. (Or PXE boot, etc.)
6b. If you need to convert the ISO to be used like a memstick .img file, I used UNetbootin and was able to burn the ISO directly to USB flash drive.Thanks i will try.
The part i cant get to work is the burn/convert/memstick part.
I always get "cant load kernel" when i boot from the memstick.But thanks again for th how to.
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Yes, thanks for the tutorial. I was able to burn the ISO, but when starting up the installer, I also get the "can't load kernel" message. :(
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Did you guys rename if_igb.ko.txt to if_igb.ko ? Sorry if that sounds silly, heh. Also, you're using the 64-bit pfSense release, right?
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Yes, I did rename the file and also using 64bit release.
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Yes, I did rename the file and also using 64bit release.
Same here.
I tried all thing i know but still only got "cant load kernel" with the modified iso.i have tried in VirtualBOX Oracle also.
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Has anybody got this working?
I would like to install my new server since i soon getting GB connection to internet and the old server cant hold up.
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Just install the standard 64bit ISO and then load the kernel module afterwards. If you only have i210 NICs then that makes it slightly more complicated to get the module onto the box but still much easier than producing your own custom ISO. Perhaps you have another NIC you can add temporarily.
Steve
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Just install the standard 64bit ISO and then load the kernel module afterwards. If you only have i210 NICs then that makes it slightly more complicated to get the module onto the box but still much easier than producing your own custom ISO. Perhaps you have another NIC you can add temporarily.
Steve
I only have the i210's with no option to put another nic, so how would I go about loading the module when the stock ISO won't even install?
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Ah OK, because it finds no NICs at all?
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Can you boot pf from CD and make the necessary changes by adding the driver from a USB key and modding loader.conf before you reboot?
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If you can't temporarily add a supported NIC then you could install to a hard drive in a different machine (with a compatible NIC) add the kernel module and then move the drive back.
Steve
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Just install the standard 64bit ISO and then load the kernel module afterwards. If you only have i210 NICs then that makes it slightly more complicated to get the module onto the box but still much easier than producing your own custom ISO. Perhaps you have another NIC you can add temporarily.
Steve
This would be the easiest way, but without any recognized NICs, pfSense/FreeBSD won't fully load. The "Escape to Shell" isn't the full FreeBSD shell at all, so it doesn't even recognize mounting anything like a USB drive. And the text editors are all funny looking too, graphically as well as keyboard layout.
Can you boot pf from CD and make the necessary changes by adding the driver from a USB key and modding loader.conf before you reboot?
pfSense/FreeBSD won't load without recognized NICs, sadly, making a custom ISO almost mandatory.
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have you tried the 2.1.1 snapshot?
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I got this working by install PFsense with a intel GB nic i had here and uploaded the files with winscp and edit the conf file.
Then i take out the intel gb pcie nic and bootet up :) -
Like Gonzopancho said above the i210 drivers are now in the 2.1.1 snapshots so just use that. It is still, at this point, a development snapshot and not a release of course so bare that in mind. ;)
Steve
