SFP+ 10G network card for a new Proxmox setup

[Michael Andreasen]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what SFP+ 10G network card to buy for a new Proxmox server.
Is there any compatibility page?
Or is there a standard recommendation?
The server setup is on a budget

 

[LnxBil]

Is there any compatibility page?

PVE is using an Ubuntu LTS kernel, so their hcl hopefully answers your question.

Or is there a standard recommendation?
The server setup is on a budget

Every standard enterprise hardware should work. For my setup, I bought used-enterprise parts from ebay all well under 100 € including the GBIC. Over the years I used Intel 82599ES, various Broadcom, QLogic Corp. cLOM8214 and many more. Haven't had any NIC that didn't work.

 

[ucholak]

i only highly dont recommend intel x520 / 82599ES, it has always problems with some gbics and

options ixgbe allow_unsupported_sfp=1 # OR modprobe ixgbe allow_unsupported_sfp=1

not works on proxmox

 

[zodiac]

I shopped for surplus on EBay and found an inexpensive card based on an old Marvel FastLinQ QL41000 chipset. It's automatically supported by the "qede" driver. Despite being relatively dated hardware at this point (~5 years old), it works just fine and the price was right. The only problem was that I had to disable some of the hardware offloading. My VLAN and bridges didn't do the right thing until I turned off hardware transmit checksums. I now have 4 ports that all can do 10GigE.

 

[emunt6]

Hi!

Use Broadcom (BCM) chipset based cards.

Do not use any INTEL chipset based cards, the newer kernels ( 5.x ; 6.x ) has many problems (Intel 5xx , 7xx , 8xx series cards) with these, because using some new "redesigned" driver.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025890/ethernet-products.html

 

[ucholak]

Hi!

Use Broadcom (BCM) chipset based cards.

Do not use any INTEL chipset based cards, the newer kernels ( 5.x ; 6.x ) has many problems (Intel 5xx , 7xx , 8xx series cards) with these, because using some new "redesigned" driver.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025890/ethernet-products.html

pls can you link or post some more info on these problems? tnx much

PS: i have X710 (module i40e) and have strange problems, that are very hard to diagnose and point, maybe this is one of them

 

[Michael Andreasen]

Thank you so much everyone, very nice with fast replies.
I will go thru the Ubuntu list when I find a bargin on a 10G SFP+ card.

 

[emunt6]

pls can you link or post some more info on these problems? tnx much

PS: i have X710 (module i40e) and have strange problems, that are very hard to diagnose and point, maybe this is one of them

It has many forum topics about it.
Other possibility, your card is "counterfeit" - not original - you can check the difference between "fake" or "original" cards as described here:

https://www.servethehome.com/identifying-risky-counterfeit-intel-gigabit-ct-network-adapters/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/intel-x540-t2-fake-chinese-counterfeit.9715/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/comparison-intel-i350-t4-genuine-vs-fake.6917/

 

[etnicor]

It has many forum topics about it.
Other possibility, your card is "counterfeit" - not original - you can check the difference between "fake" or "original" cards as described here:

https://www.servethehome.com/identifying-risky-counterfeit-intel-gigabit-ct-network-adapters/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/intel-x540-t2-fake-chinese-counterfeit.9715/
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/comparison-intel-i350-t4-genuine-vs-fake.6917/

Aren't most of these so called "counterfeit" cards just Intel chipsets which are put on own designed pcb's. Like x710-bm2 chipsets which are sold in bulk by Intel, which is later sold as X710-DA2 cards which is semi incorrect though.

Don't have any experience of x710 yet, but have bought chinese x520 card which have no problems. They are definietly not Intel genuine cards though..

I would choose x710 over x520 though since X520 do not support aspm.

Have a genuine intel X710-da2 running in a machine and don't have any issues. My chinese X520 cards don't have any problems after 2 years 24/7 action either.

 

[Ramalama]

Aren't most of these so called "counterfeit" cards just Intel chipsets which are put on own designed pcb's. Like x710-bm2 chipsets which are sold in bulk by Intel, which is later sold as X710-DA2 cards which is semi incorrect though.

Don't have any experience of x710 yet, but have bought chinese x520 card which have no problems. They are definietly not Intel genuine cards though..

I would choose x710 over x520 though since X520 do not support aspm.

Have a genuine intel X710-da2 running in a machine and don't have any issues. My chinese X520 cards don't have any problems after 2 years 24/7 action either.

I had an x520 fake, the card worked actually without any issues, it just runs hotter as an genuine one and the speed is limited to 5/6 Gbps max with jumbo frames, without ~4 Gbps
Original ones reach over 9 Gbps without jumbo frames already.

 

[muhammadlkm]

I had an x520 fake, the card worked actually without any issues, it just runs hotter as an genuine one and the speed is limited to 5/6 Gbps max with jumbo frames, without ~4 Gbps
Original ones reach over 9 Gbps without jumbo frames already.

hi,

im using x520 also.. on our hpe dl360 gen9, i use finisar sfp but somehow it not works (I use ethtool --module-info and the transceiver is not giving tx power properly, it always shows -18 to -20 dbm on tx output power so the other end is not receive any rx) could you please tell me what transceiver you are using ?

 

[Ramalama]

hi,

im using x520 also.. on our hpe dl360 gen9, i use finisar sfp but somehow it not works (I use ethtool --module-info and the transceiver is not giving tx power properly, it always shows -18 to -20 dbm on tx output power so the other end is not receive any rx) could you please tell me what transceiver you are using ?

We/i dont have anymore any x520 cards, however if you want transceiver recommendations, it's hard, because almost everything worked here great.
For the most part, we use flashable transceivers from Flexoptix.
Those are amazing, because you can reflash them to any brand you need.

If it has to be cheap, we use FS "Generic" branded tranceivers, they work also great, but they have often issues not supporting FEC.
Means even if the Switch and Server supports FEC, you cannot get FEC working. (Its not thaat big of a deal anyway)

By far the best expirience i have with DAC, 99% of the DAC-Cables here are Generic FS Cables.
We use DAC, whenever possible, even 7 Meter long DAC Cables if the Distance is not too far or need to go to another Building....
The reason is simple, DAC always works and Supports everything, never had any issues with FEC or anything else.
For me/us DAC is superrior to transceivers in every situation, as long as the Distance is fine.

Cheers

 

[muhammadlkm]

oh Hi, thank you for the reply..

I posted new thread in here

M

Thread 'Issue with INTEL X520 NIC Adapter'

Feb 21, 2025

Hello,

Im using PVE 8.3.0 in our HPE DL360 Gen 9..
So I have issues where our NIC Adaptor can not up and negotiable with others..
Im using Intel X520 DA2 or SR2 (I dont know which, in BIOS it shows 2p Adaptor) NIC Adapter and using Finisar FTLX8571D3BCL SFP+ 850nm module

The proxmox shows the NIC normal, here the pics
~# lspci


~# ethtool


It should works fine..

But when I insert the Finisar SFP, the output tx power shows high dbm (-18 to -20dbm) which is not proper and the other end is not receive any rx power)
I tried to plug in loopback scheme 1 SFP in Port 1...

• muhammadlkm
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Proxmox VE: Networking and Firewall

the issues is,
when I use sfp+ module (Mikrobit, Cloudtronics, Qonitech and Finisar) the ethtool module info is not showing any proper laser output.. only Finisar shows -18dbm in output laser.. but its very high in optical power

the NIC shows well in the Proxmox system (lspci and dmesg ixgbe)

So I havent got the solution for the adapter to UP..

We/i dont have anymore any x520 cards, however if you want transceiver recommendations, it's hard, because almost everything worked here great.
For the most part, we use flashable transceivers from Flexoptix.
Those are amazing, because you can reflash them to any brand you need.

If it has to be cheap, we use FS "Generic" branded tranceivers, they work also great, but they have often issues not supporting FEC.
Means even if the Switch and Server supports FEC, you cannot get FEC working. (Its not thaat big of a deal anyway)

By far the best expirience i have with DAC, 99% of the DAC-Cables here are Generic FS Cables.
We use DAC, whenever possible, even 7 Meter long DAC Cables if the Distance is not too far or need to go to another Building....
The reason is simple, DAC always works and Supports everything, never had any issues with FEC or anything else.
For me/us DAC is superrior to transceivers in every situation, as long as the Distance is fine.

Cheers

 

[zodiac]

When talking about transceivers, I want to call out the 10GigE SFP+ transceivers that are currently sold by Amazon under the WiiTek brand. It's very competitively priced (regularly on sale for less $50). Make sure to get the 100m version, which comes with a much more modern chipset than the older 80m version of this transceiver.

This is a copper transceiver. Normally, I wouldn't recommend installing new 10GigE copper, if you have the option. But sometimes it is simply more expedient. And this transceiver is amazing. It sips so little power, it barely gets warmer than 50°C. That addresses the biggest problem with 10GigE over copper. And in my experience, it works completely uneventfully over existing CAT6a or even just CAT5e.

It's such a nice addition to my toolbox. I just upgraded a long run of wiring from one side to the other side of the house to 10GigE. Now my switches all use 10GigE for their backhaul, without me having to open up any walls. What an easy upgrade.