NIC choice

[kosta88]

I have an old-ish Supermicro Server based off of X11SPI-Tf, with TrueNAS on it, HBA, and my switch is Aruba Instant On 1930. I want to connect those two with twin 10G. My Mainboard does have twin 10G, but the heat the SFP adapter is exhibiting... I am wondering it didn't die yet. I don't want a 2nd one, I would rather go dedicated NIC and DAC cables. The length of those should most likely need to be at least 4m, maybe even 5. I need to go from the top of the 42U rack front side, to the server, which is at the bottom, and I have to be able to pull the server to the front.

What do I want to get?

Looking at (according to some research and eBay):

Mellanox MCX354A-FCCT (ConnectX-3) - €60

Mellanox MCX4121A-ACAT (ConnectX-4) - €60

Intel XXV710-DA2 - €70

Intel X540-T2 - €60

And then I need compatible DAC cables... so which one do I know would work?
Something like this?

Important thing would be that they are really pnp with Proxmox 9 (Debian 13), I don't really want to fuss with drivers and/or firmware, if I can avoid it.

Thanks

 

[ucholak]

IHMO, i would choose mellanox first. i have zero problems on any server, and few on this forum (search).
only donwside is that you need limit vlans in bridge (dont remember exactly, but max 256 vlans).

intel was always bad supprise, for me (search this forum).

 

[kosta88]

I am not using VLANs on the bridges directly, I use SDN capability, and there I have two zones, with one main zone having 6 VLANs.
My Supermicro does have built-in 3x Intel, so there's that.

 

[Salamandre12]

ConnectX 3 or ConnectX 4 is the safest choice, stable drivers and plug and play on Proxmox. For DAC just choose Mellanox branded passive DAC in the length you need and it will work.

 

[kosta88]

Ugh... what are these cables, made of gold? 50€+ per used cable?