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    Adding NICs

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    • P
      Peter847
      last edited by

      I am having a problem adding extra NIC's to my pfSense system.

      I have a Supermicro motherboard with 2 NIC's, em0 & em1, that works just fine. However if I add an Intel 4 x NIC PCIe card, pfSense stops working. Everything looks OK, the new NIC's are recognized as em2 - em5 but no data comes out of any port. I have tried rebuilding pfSense from scratch (ie from a USB stick to a clean disk) but nothing works. If I remove the Intel card everything is fine, add it back in and no pfSense will not talk on any interface.

      I have two of these motherboards and another single NIC Intel card that behaves exactly the same way so I don't think it is the hardware at fault.

      What am I doing wrong?

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      • KOMK
        KOM
        last edited by

        What model of card do you have? FreeBSD support for Intel is usually good, but maybe you have an oddball? Any BIOS updates for the mainboard?

        https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/tuning-and-troubleshooting-network-cards.html#intel-igb-4-and-em-4-cards

        Maybe try increasing nmbclusters as per the tip and see if that helps.

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        • DerelictD
          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
          last edited by

          Are you sure the new NICs are being added as em2-em5 and they're not being enumerated as em0-em3 and pushing the on-board NICs to em4 - em5?

          I'd note the MAC addresses of the existing NICs then watch the boot log dmesgs and match them up.

          If that is the case you can just re-patch to the new em0 and em1 in the new locations or reassign the NICs to the new numbering as em0 and em1.

          Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
          A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
          DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
          Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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          • P
            Peter847
            last edited by

            KOM - the card is an Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port and I updated the BIOS. Many thanks for your replies, I'll follow the link.

            Derelict - without the 4 x NIC card the onboard NIC's come in at em0 & em1, I just presumed they would stay there but I see what you mean, I'll try using the autodetect feature.

            Many thanks, will report back after some more trials.

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            • P
              Peter847
              last edited by

              Solved!!!!

              The new card pushed the onboard NIC's to em4 & em5, all works now.

              Just wish I'd have thought of that a few hours ago!

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              • DerelictD
                Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                last edited by

                Glad you got it sorted.

                Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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