How to install a QNAP QXG-5G2T-111C NIC?

[Bert-Jan]

I've received a QNAP QXG-5G2T-111C nic, PCIe 3.0 x2 (model number QXG-5G2T-111C) and would like tot use it in my Proxmox 7.2-7 server. The server is running on an Asus B350 Plus motherboard with a Ryzen 1 1700. The board has two free PCIe 2.0 slots. I found what is supposed to be the driver here, but I'm not familiar with building applications in Linux. I tried to follow the instructions in the readme file but got a long list with errors. There is a build-deb.sh file in the tarball, but running that also gave a lot of errors. I'm out of my depth.. 1: Is this card known to work with Proxmox? 2: Is there a better/easier way to install the driver? If 'no' on both questions; is there a good 5GB nic that will work with Proxmox 'out of the box'? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[shrdlicka]

Hi,

the easierst thing to check is if ip l already lists some new interfaces.


The a bit more complicated approach is this: Chances are good that the Linux kernel already has some drivers for this card in it. You can call lspci -v and look your "Ethernet controller"

Mine looks something like this:

00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V (rev 10)
    DeviceName: Onboard - Ethernet
    Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 125, IOMMU group 8
    Memory at a2200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: e1000e
    Kernel modules: e1000e

This tells me that it is using the e1000e driver for the card.

 

[Bert-Jan]

Hi shrdlicka,

Thanks for your reply! I most likely made a mess of the system after trying several times to get the driver installed, so I first did a clean install of Proxmox. I fthen tried ip l and , after disregarding all the virtual nics from my VM's, was left with one nic, 'enp4so' and 'vmbr0' which, as I understand, is the bridge.

Then I tried lspci -v which returned a lot of devices but, as far as I can tell, only one nic:

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. PRIME B450M-A Motherboard
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 30, IOMMU group 14
    I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
    Memory at f6504000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Memory at f6500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 01
    Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=4 Masked-
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-00-00-00-68-4c-e0-00
    Capabilities: [170] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Capabilities: [178] L1 PM Substates
    Kernel driver in use: r8169
    Kernel modules: r8169

Which seems to be the nic on the motherboard.
Also, if a driver had been installed, I'm guessing I would have seen some lights flickering on the nic once a cable is attached?

I then tried the driver package again. In the driver package is a .deb file and a build-deb.sh file. I first tried to run de .deb file that was included. That resulted in an error:

dpkg -i atlantic_1658418212.deb
dpkg-deb: error: archive 'atlantic_1658418212.deb' uses unknown compression for member 'control.tar.zst', giving up
dpkg: error processing archive atlantic_1658418212.deb (--install):
 dpkg-deb --control subprocess returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 atlantic_1658418212.deb

I then used the build-deb.sh file file, which created a second, larger .deb file without issue. I ran that .deb file but without success:

dpkg -i atlantic_1658580847.deb
Selecting previously unselected package atlantic.
(Reading database ... 119839 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack atlantic_1658580847.deb ...
mv: cannot stat '/lib/modules/5.15.39-1-pve/aquantia/atlantic.ko': No such file or directory
rmmod: ERROR: Module atlantic is not currently loaded
Unpacking atlantic (1658580847) ...
Setting up atlantic (1658580847) ...
make -j4 CC=cc -C /lib/modules/5.15.39-1-pve/build M=/var/build_aq_drv/1658580847/Linux modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/5.15.39-1-pve/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:72: all] Error 2
chmod: cannot access 'atlantic.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'atlantic.ko': No such file or directory
insmod: ERROR: could not load module atlantic.ko: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package atlantic (--install):
 installed atlantic package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 atlantic

Not a long list of errors like before, so I must have really messed up something somewhere that fist time. But still no luck; no new nic (checked ip -l and lspci -v again)The errors (last time and this time) mention a missing /lib/modules/5.15.39-1-pve/aquantia/atlantic.ko. The directory /lib/modules/5.15.39-1-pve/aquantia/ exists, but it is indeed empty.
I have the feeling I'm missing something, or forgetting to do something. I'm still quite the newbie.
If another 5GB card is a better option, I'd love to hear suggestions.