SFP network cards?

guillem

Hi,

I'm building a machine to use as a pfSense firewall and I need to connect it to a single mode fiber (LX). As such, i'm looking for some nic's with SFP cages that will allow any optics to be used. Ideally 2 or 4 ports. Turns out, it seems quite difficult to find those, so I was wondering if i can use a SFP+ NIC with SFP optics and if anybody has any experience with NICs that will work on pfsense with SFP optics and 2 ports. Btw, it needs to be pci-e.

Thanks

NogBadTheBad

AFAIK you can't

VAMike

Should work, but you'll have to test the specific combination.

Derelict

Another (possibly) easier alternative might be just putting it through a switch to go from copper to SFP. Or (gasp) using a media converter.

GruensFroeschli

I've had very bad experiences with mediaconverters.
Either they are very expensive (as in a switch would be cheaper) or the cheaper ones produce a lot of packetloss.

@guillem: What do you mean with "Turns out, it seems quite difficult to find those"?
A quick google got me lots of results for dual/quad SFP network cards.
(e.g. https://www.cozlink.com/network-interface-cards-c111-2158/product-70652.html)

Derelict

Yeah, that's sort of what the gasp was for. I would use a switch probably before I used an SFP server card. igb copper ports are tried and true.

guillem

@GruensFroeschli what i meant is that compared to the copper choices and even 10GbE there's only a handful of options (also some of them have fixed optics) and if you reduce that to dual-quad cards, even less. On top of that, unfortunately i'm in Europe and the options here are way less, although i've seen that cozlink does deliver to Europe, so thanks for the suggestion.

Looks like i've found a decently priced option also for a 4 port i350 based card, which looks really nice.

My experience with media converters is also kind of bad, so i'll avoid them if possible.

Thanks for your comments guys. If anybody else has experiences with specific cards, let me know.

ctirado

Hmm… Maybe I am not understanding the question, but how about something like:

https://ark.intel.com/products/39776/Intel-Ethernet-Converged-Network-Adapter-X520-DA2

Paired with something like:

https://www.fs.com/products/29849.html

I think the chipset on this card is supported by pfSense and Intel cards are not picky about the transceiver brand.

Edit:

Or better yet:

https://www.fs.com/products/36432.html

Compatible with both 1 Gig and 10 Gig.

Carlos