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    NIC for PFSense

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • GrimsonG
      Grimson Banned
      last edited by

      @johnkeates:

      Have not had 'fake' cards, which AFAIK are not fake, but simply 'hacked' cards that use old chipsets and they just change the PCI ID's to make them appear as better cards than what they actually are.

      No, the fake cards are not manufactured by Intel. They use the "core" chip from Intel, but the remaining components on the card are very cheap, tend to fail rather quick (sometimes in less than a year) and can damage the mainboard in the worst case.

      @OP

      From personal experience, don't use Realtek with pfSense.

      Best bet would be to look at the NIC chipsets used by the official pfSense hardware and then get a card with one of these chipsets. This way you can be pretty sure that driver bugs will be found early and resolved fast.

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      • W
        whosmatt
        last edited by

        @dryteletubby:

        I have an old Dell Optiplex 390 SFF pc running proxmox. I want to run PFSense as a VM on proxmox but I am not sure what NIC should I choose. It seems that Intel NICs are the safer choice. Will this NIC work?  or can I just use any single port NIC with the built in Realtek NIC?

        The NIC in the link will work fine, but it's a bit pricey.  I just bought 2 NC360Ts for $18 US shipped on ebay, for reference.

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        • ?
          Guest
          last edited by

          Intel i340-T4 or Intel Pro 1000 PT cards ware really matching well if you are searching some refurbished cards
          and for sure you will be able to get faked once over each available place in the Internet as well as you will be able
          to get server pulled once too or original card from elsewhere. It is a try and error game cross the Internet, but there
          are also well known dealers over amazon.de or.com that are selling since years refurbished products that are tested
          before selling in good conditions and with a really good reputation. So I would be also tend to go over amazon,
          more then eBay in this case.

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          • ?
            Guest
            last edited by

            @BlueKobold:

            Intel i340-T4 or Intel Pro 1000 PT cards ware really matching well if you are searching some refurbished cards
            and for sure you will be able to get faked once over each available place in the Internet as well as you will be able
            to get server pulled once too or original card from elsewhere. It is a try and error game cross the Internet, but there
            are also well known dealers over amazon.de or.com that are selling since years refurbished products that are tested
            before selling in good conditions and with a really good reputation. So I would be also tend to go over amazon,
            more then eBay in this case.

            Also check those WEEE remarking companies. They often have shops on eBay and Amazon and they basically exist purely to recycle server hardware. I think http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk and http://stores.ebay.com/7digitsshop/ are examples, but depending on your country you can probably find local resellers.

            Check this out: http://stores.ebay.com/7digitsshop/Network-Interface-Adapters-/_i.html?_fsub=1396722016 a whole bunch of tested working pulls with warranty, but about 10% of the price of a new one. Now, this is only a third option, and not the cheapest option either, as you can still find I3xx and I2xx series dual and quad port cards elsewhere for as little as $15 but they can be a hit-and-miss deal. With those remarketing/recycling/WEEE companies, at least you know it's tested and warranted.

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            • Raffi_R
              Raffi_
              last edited by

              Not to say this is an issue exclusive to Ebay, but I have seen fake intel cards on Ebay. When I say fake, the circle around the intel logo looked like it was hand drawn. At least the seller was nice enough to zoom in really close on that, so they weren't even trying to hide it. My rule of thumb is to avoid the "brand new" or "new" ones that come directly from China. Ebay has a filter that lets you only see products based in the US. The other giveaway is the low price on a brand new two port Intel nic.

              I just ordered two that were used off Ebay, link below. I might still be getting duped, but I feel better if it's a US based seller, with a description that states pulled from new system never in service. Also, the price is in the ball park of what I would expect to pay for a one port Intel Gigabit NIC.
              https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-EXPI9301CT-CTPL-Gigabit-PCI-e-Network-Adapter-OEM-F3-M/352147586727?epid=1377015223&hash=item51fda1bea7:g:XOIAAOSwvOdZnE8I#rwid

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              • ?
                Guest
                last edited by

                @raffi30:

                Not to say this is an issue exclusive to Ebay, but I have seen fake intel cards on Ebay. When I say fake, the circle around the intel logo looked like it was hand drawn. At least the seller was nice enough to zoom in really close on that, so they weren't even trying to hide it. My rule of thumb is to avoid the "brand new" or "new" ones that come directly from China. Ebay has a filter that lets you only see products based in the US. The other giveaway is the low price on a brand new two port Intel nic.

                I just ordered two that were used off Ebay, link below. I might still be getting duped, but I feel better if it's a US based seller, with a description that states pulled from new system never in service. Also, the price is in the ball park of what I would expect to pay for a one port Intel Gigabit NIC.
                https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-EXPI9301CT-CTPL-Gigabit-PCI-e-Network-Adapter-OEM-F3-M/352147586727?epid=1377015223&hash=item51fda1bea7:g:XOIAAOSwvOdZnE8I#rwid

                I have never actually bought a card from a USA seller, it's too far away and too expensive. Most of my cards come from the UK and Germany but there have been a few China sellers with good reputation that got me some good working pulls.

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                • H
                  Harvy66
                  last edited by

                  The first thing you do when you get your NIC or other Intel device is check the YottaMark and make sure all of the serial numbers match and Intel has a site to validate serial numbers and YottaMarks.

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                  • Raffi_R
                    Raffi_
                    last edited by

                    @Harvy66:

                    The first thing you do when you get your NIC or other Intel device is check the YottaMark and make sure all of the serial numbers match and Intel has a site to validate serial numbers and YottaMarks.

                    I received my NIC's. They don't have a YottaMark. I think that's normal on the model I have (EXPI9301CT). I couldn't find a place to validate the serial number on the Intel site, so I checked the warranty on it instead. That also requires the serial number. So in case anyone has the same trouble I had validating their Intel NIC, check the warrant info on it. If it's legit, it should come up with some kind of warranty information.

                    Another tip, if you purchase a "pulled from OEM system" NIC card on Ebay or elsewhere, check the gold plated fingers for wear. It should have at least a tiny mark on them indicating they were actually in a system at one point. That's actually a good thing in this case! Also, when checking the Intel warranty information, it should state something along the lines of contact the system manufacturer for support. This means it was in fact an OEM card that came with a system.

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                    • H
                      Harvy66
                      last edited by

                      It could be because of OEM, but according to https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007074/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html Intel® Gigabit CT NICs should have a yottamark.

                      https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007074/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html

                      This article applies to:
                      Active Products

                      Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T2 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-T2 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR2
                      Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-QDA1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-LR1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-DA2 Intel® 10 Gigabit AF DA Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter  Intel® Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 CT Network Connection Intel® PRO/1000 CT Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter Intel® PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 PM Network Connection Intel® PRO/1000 PM Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 T Desktop Adapter Series Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-F4 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-T4 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T4 Intel® Gigabit EF Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET2 Quad Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter Intel® PRO/1000 GT Quad Port Server Adapter

                      The only official way to tell if you have a "Genuine Intel® Network Adapter" is the yottamark, according to their website. There may be exceptions, but their website makes it sound like no yottamark means it's not genuine.

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                      • Raffi_R
                        Raffi_
                        last edited by

                        @Harvy66:

                        It could be because of OEM, but according to https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007074/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html Intel® Gigabit CT NICs should have a yottamark.

                        https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007074/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html

                        This article applies to:
                        Active Products

                        Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T2 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-T2 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR2
                        Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-QDA1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-LR1 Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-DA2 Intel® 10 Gigabit AF DA Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Server Adapter Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter  Intel® Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 CT Network Connection Intel® PRO/1000 CT Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter Intel® PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 PM Network Connection Intel® PRO/1000 PM Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter Series Intel® PRO/1000 T Desktop Adapter Series Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-F4 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-T4 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2 Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T4 Intel® Gigabit EF Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET2 Quad Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET Dual Port Server Adapter Intel® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter Intel® PRO/1000 GT Quad Port Server Adapter

                        The only official way to tell if you have a "Genuine Intel® Network Adapter" is the yottamark, according to their website. There may be exceptions, but their website makes it sound like no yottamark means it's not genuine.

                        Interesting, I actually was a bit worried about not seeing the YottaMark. I did a little more homework though. I had a chat session with an Intel support rep. He said the PBA number I gave him indicated it's a retail card and not an OEM. The seller stated it was pulled from a new system and title stated OEM. It may have been a retail card installed in a system… maybe... who knows, but not according to the Intel rep. He then was nice enough to check an actual EXPI9301CT card he had in his lab. He confirmed it did not have a YottaMark sticker on it. He said they probably started to implement the YottaMark sticker after that model card.
                        I also mentioned to the rep that the warranty information based on the model and serial number checked out as valid, but I found it odd that it had a warranty till 2067. He didn't seem concerned about the 50 year warranty. He said all Intel cards have a lifetime warranty.
                        I also checked a major reseller like Newegg. The same EXPI9301CT retail card shipped and sold by newegg did not have a YottaMark sticker on it. I doubt they would resell fakes. Maybe a third party seller on Newegg might, but not Newegg themselves.

                        I do feel much better about it not having the YottaMark and the fact that the warranty info checked out. FIY, in case anyone else has these concerns.

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                        • H
                          Harvy66
                          last edited by

                          Nice to know. Annoying that Intel lists that NIC as supporting the yottamark when it does not come with one. It's quite confusing.

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                          • Raffi_R
                            Raffi_
                            last edited by

                            @Harvy66:

                            Nice to know. Annoying that Intel lists that NIC as supporting the yottamark when it does not come with one. It's quite confusing.

                            I agree, it was confusing. The page on Intel's site about the Yottamark even shows the "Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter Series" as a model which that article applies to. The EXPI9301CT is one of those. I should have mentioned that to the rep to clear that up on the webpage.

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                            • ?
                              Guest
                              last edited by

                              I ordered a bunch of Intel NICs (actually Desktop PCI adapters) a while back, some had the mark, some didn't, yet they all were identical (except production date).
                              It seems some older cards were produced around the time the YottaMark was introduced and that's why some simply don't have that sticker.

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