Ubuntu 18.04 on XG-7100 platform
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I needed to re-purpose a xg7100 for a server project.
Ubuntu 18.04 is running but the Intel x553 backplane enp6s0f0 and enp6s0f1 interfaces both point to ETH1, the WAN interface. Furthermore, according to the datasheet, there is supposed to be Marvell 88e6190 switch chip on the board, exposing the physical ports ETH1-ETH8 to the outside world. However, the 4.15.0 kernel does not seem to detect that switch chip, even if I load the mv88e6xxx/ dsa_core modules.
What am I missing?
Any suggestions how I can expose the switch NICs to the kernel and start configuring the 8 ports ETH1-ETH8?
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You would probably have to patch the switch driver for the particular chip in the XG-7100.
I don't think anybody has ever tried.
Steve
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The Marvell 88e6190 switch chip is according to the source code included in mv88e6xxx module - unless the particular switch chip in the XG-7100 is actually not a 88e6190 switch chip. Does the XG-7100 have different hardware generations? Do you have a more detailed hardware specification of the XG-7100?
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Well I haven't actually pulled the heatsink to check but as far as I know that's exactly what it is. Specifically: 88E6190-A0-TLA2C000. That has not changed with any production XG-7100.
How does the dsa module expect to 'see' the switch? There are often several ways to talk to switch chips when I've looked into this before. Perhaps it's not using the right way.I assume Ubuntu detects all 4 NICs as expected? Do the internal NICs link at 2.5G?
Steve
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@bnaef said in Ubuntu 18.04 on XG-7100 platform:
However, the 4.15.0 kernel does not seem to detect that switch chip, even if I load the mv88e6xxx/ dsa_core modules.
You probably need a much more recent kernel, especially for the 2.5G uplink to work.
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the mv88e6xxx mod is dependent on the dsa_core mod and here is where my understanding gets a bit fuzzy... I am all ears to learn more about other ways to communicate with the switch chip.
Yes, U18.04 detects all 4 NICs, as expected: 2 x fiber enp5s0f0/1 and 2 x backplane enp6s0f0/1 (tied to ports 10/ 9 on the 11-port Marvell switch chip) and it seems that ports 9/10 are both mapped to ETH1 (the WAN port).
The former 2 are at 10GB each and the latter 2 are at 2.5GB each. Exactly what the XG-7100 switch overview is explaining. I am assuming that the switch LAGG and the pfsense LAGG is equivalent to 802.3ad bonding.
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Hello @Grimson thanks for chiming in. I'll check whether I can get a more recent kernel from the Ubuntu repo.
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@bnaef said in Ubuntu 18.04 on XG-7100 platform:
I am assuming that the switch LAGG and the pfsense LAGG is equivalent to 802.3ad bonding.
It is using the load-balance type static LAG. It is not LACP.
Steve
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Thank you for the clarification. Still a mystery how to apply bonding (and bridging) configuration to the switch ports (i.e. port 9/10 and ETH1-ETH8, as opposed to the pfsense ports - see XG-7100 switch diagram overview).
Furthermore, the enp5s0f0/1 and enp6s0f0/1 interfaces are managed by the ixgbe k-mod (clean dmesg output). I tried to setup FVs (added necessary kernel boot params...) via ixgbefv, but conceptually that does not make sense and seems only relevant when you want to map VM IFs to one of the enp5/6xxx interface pairs. Unless the switch ports are somehow virtualized... Feels like throwing dirt at the wall and see what sticks - not a very educated and targeted approach... I know.
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You need to configure the switch ports to be lagg using a switch driver of some sort then configure the internal ix NICs to be the lag of the same type.
You don't have to do that though you could just configure the links separately to, say, two groups of 4 ports. Still requires configuring the switch though.Steve
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Any update on this? I'm in the same boat but using Debian and trying to figure out how to be able to use ETH1-8.
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Why are you trying to do that on the XG-7100?
It's a specialist appliance, it was never intended to run Linux of any flavour.
Steve
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@stephenw10 some people are just more familiar with Linux/ Debian/ Ubuntu, plus I needed more flexibility than what the pfsense box is offering.
Sure I could have purchased a similar unit from supermicro, but I figured that the Netgate/ pfsense/ netBSD community might be interested and have the knowledge to help adjust the hardware platform for other use cases.
The hardware platform is pretty cool and sooner or later somebody will figure out how to run Linux fully functional on the box and make all IFs configurable.
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If I were attempting that I would start out using OpenWRT as that's setup to talk to switch ICs by default. If the code exists anywhere already it will be there. Once it's working there you will know what modules are required and you can see what Ubuntu is missing.
Steve
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@stephenw10 I truly appreciate your help and pointer!
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@bnaef @stephenw10 did you ever end up getting Debian or Ubuntu to run properly on the XG-7100 appliance?
Any tricks on how you did it?
And is it easy to restore stock pfSense afterwards?
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I have not seen anyone do it.
It would be easy to restore pfSense though, just boot the installer and install as normal.
Steve
