No VLAN tags on em0 interface, works with igb0

AWeidner

Prerequisites:

pfSense Appliance, 6 onboard NICs which used the igb driver
Appliance died due to high voltage during a thunderstorm.

Replacement (temporarily):

Fujitsu server, 2 onboard NICs that use the igb driver,
2x 2Port NICs that use the em driver
reused config.xml from dead appliance, reassigned NICs.
Several branch offices connected via OpenVPN in tap mode.
Multiple VLANs shared between main and branch offices

Problem:
No VLANs transmitted on the em driven interfaces. The office connected via the igb driven interface works fine, the offices connected to the em driven interfaces receive no VLAN tags (checked with tcpdump).

What could be the problem?

AWeidner

Reassigned an interface connected to a branch office that was using an em driven card to an igb driven card. Instant transmit of VLAN tags. I suppose something is wrong with the em driver or the NICs.

The cards in question:
igb0@pci0:7:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x11ce1734 chip=0x15218086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'I350 Gigabit Network Connection'
class = network
subclass = ethernet

vs

em0@pci0:2:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x125e8086 chip=0x105e8086 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82571EB/82571GB Gigabit Ethernet Controller D0/D1 (copper applications)'
class = network
subclass = ethernet

jimp

VLANs on em(4) work fine in general, I'm using them on both real hardware and VMs in my lab.

Odds are that it's something with either that specific variant/chipset or that hardware implementation. Not saying it's this, but we've seen similar things in the past when the driver detected that the hardware is advertising a capability the OEM didn't implement or enable. Sometimes doing a BIOS or firmware update from the OEM can help.

There may be some ways to fiddle with the interface flags for things like VLAN checksums or hardware filtering but I wouldn't trust those long-term. You're better off replacing the hardware with something much more recent.

AWeidner

@jimp said in No VLAN tags on em0 interface, works with igb0:

VLANs on em(4) work fine in general, I'm using them on both real hardware and VMs in my lab.

Odds are that it's something with either that specific variant/chipset or that hardware implementation. Not saying it's this, but we've seen similar things in the past when the driver detected that the hardware is advertising a capability the OEM didn't implement or enable. Sometimes doing a BIOS or firmware update from the OEM can help.

There may be some ways to fiddle with the interface flags for things like VLAN checksums or hardware filtering but I wouldn't trust those long-term. You're better off replacing the hardware with something much more recent.

Thank you for the explanation. I just did not expect such an odd behaviour. I have two other pfSense boxes that use the em driver, but neither of them deals with VLAN tags.

Replacement hardware is on its way