Dell Intel Ethernet Network Adapter X710-T4L 2.5GB and 5GB Negotiation

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I have a dual E5-2620 v2 2.1GHz Supermicro server running OpenWRT 23.05 and am adding a Dell Intel Ethernet Network Adapter X710-T4L. Using the kmod-i40e package the card is recognized and negotiates fine with 1GB or 10GB network components. The card specs show 2.5GB and 5GB should also work, but forced connections at these speeds fail to connect while auto-negotiation downgrades to 1GB.

Could this be an issue with differences between Dell branded vs Intel cards (hardware or drivers) or should either brand work with the kmod-i40e package?
If I swap out the Dell branded version for an Intel X710-T4L card, should 2.5GB and 5GB connections work with the available kmod-i40e package?

Thank you

2

what does ethtool say about available port speeds ?

3

eth3 is connected to a 2.5GB device

ethtool eth3
Settings for eth3:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: 1000Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Auto-negotiation: on
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	MDI-X: Unknown
	Supports Wake-on: d
	Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
                               drv probe link
	Link detected: yes
4

but driver doesn't see/support the 2.5 and 5 speeds, it would seem.

5

Yes, that appears to be the case. So are the options to switch to an Intel brand card to match the Intel drivers I assume are complied into kmod-i40e or alternatively find Dell specific drivers and compile them into a custom kmod-i40e package?

6

I would be surprised if Dell would cripple these cards and not offer 2,5 and 5 GbE speeds, but there definitely seems to be something wrong here. I do recall there being an issue with 2,5 Gbps not being advertised, and fixed with this commit in netifd:

It looks like the netifd in 23.05 should already have that though, since the one in the 23.05 release should is a snapshot from September. Could you test a main image instead of 23.05 and see if that works?

7

@Borromini, yes I can test a different release. Just to make sure, you are suggesting 22.03 which worked for Trozmagon before the upgrade to 23.05, right?

8

Looks the same.

OpenWrt 22.03.0 r19685-512e76967f / LuCI openwrt-22.03 branch git-22.245.77528-487e58a

ethtool eth3
Settings for eth3:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: 1000Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Auto-negotiation: on
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	MDI-X: Unknown
	Supports Wake-on: d
	Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
                               drv probe link
	Link detected: yes
9

As it's going to be an easy test, please boot a Fedora, arch, OpenSuSE or Debian/ Ubuntu (only one, whatever you prefer) live medium (e.g. from USB) on this hardware and compare the ethtool readings, the newer the kernel, the better.

1 Like
10

This doesn't look good. Ubuntu with ethtool package.

cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 23.10"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="23.10"
VERSION="23.10 (Mantic Minotaur)"
VERSION_CODENAME=mantic

ethtool enp134s0f3
Settings for enp134s0f3:
	Supported ports: [  ]
	Supported link modes:   100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        10000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: Unknown!
	Duplex: Unknown! (255)
	Auto-negotiation: off
	Port: Other
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
netlink error: Operation not permitted
        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
                               drv probe link
	Link detected: no
11

Indeed, that looks as if the driver/ hardware really doesn't want to know about 2.5/ 5 GBit/s, which -in general- wouldn't be that surprising for a server card (2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T are rather new and consumer oriented, rather than being designed for the data centre), except that https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/189464/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-x710t4l/specifications.html suggests the option…

The only 'good' aspect, your issue is no longer OpenWrt specific…

12

Yes, it's time to move on from this card. Thanks to all for the assistance working through this problem.

13

Main = master. Snapshot if you'd like.

14

Have You tested with windows? I have similiar card but i run those on 40gig link, very nice cards. And if You have good card then why nor to może to 10gig? Or to split vlans on multigig switch?

15

In Windows 10 the driver lists all options from 100M to 10G but when connecting to a 2.5G device it negotiates 1G.

I may exchange the card for an Intel version to see if it works, but also considering switching out the 2.5G device.

Had not considered throwing a switch in there. That's probably the easiest option.

Thank you for the suggestions.

16

If you "only" need 2.5GbE, perhaps the Realtek based cards could be an option ?

17

Nah Realtek is poor, go with Intel i226.

18

No fan of Realtek, but AFAIK i226s are still buggy ?

19

Don't know, lots of time passed thru, i have one and i can check newer openwrt build and pfsense.

20

I need 1G and 10G. 2.5G is a convenience that would make things easier.