Upgrade to 10GB - How?

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pc-tecky

Active Member
May 1, 2013
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Looking at a local seller which has:

Dell PowerConnect 6224 which is stated to have up to 4x 10Gb ports? Living space quiet or move on to something else?
Chelsio CC2-N320E-SR Dual Port Network Adapter Card
Myricom 10G-PCIE-8A-S Network Adapter

Any advice on these parts? No cables, so will need a source as well.
 
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tullnd

Member
Apr 19, 2016
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Depends. Are you linking devices that are close by? In which case, SFP+ ports connected via DAC seems to be the easiest and usually most cost-effective solution.

How many devices do you need to connect? Do you really even need a switch?

Also, the OS involved may be an issue with support of some cards.
 
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pc-tecky

Active Member
May 1, 2013
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ESXi 6.7 (current) & 5.5 (needs to go)
Windows 10, maybe Windows 7 (anything older will become a VM)
Linux (Debian, RaspberryPi Desktop (Debian), PC Linux OS (Mandrake fork), others)
ReactOS (Windows 2k look and feel)

DAC cables, ok.. Do most 10GbE adapters have SPF+ ports or do some have fixed ports (transceiver modules)?
Is Fibre really expensive? ah, never mind, not really.. 5m (16.5') for $11/each.. so it's a matter of LC, SC, & ST (unlikely) and SingleMode or Multi-Mode. Just don't know if they flip or cross over so as to transmit on one and receive on other or if they are bi-directional (like Ethernet Cat5/Cat6/etc., unlikely).

Professional Cables is reasonably near, dealt with them before. They have bulk CAT 5/6/7 cables, Fibre (in Sm & MM using LC, SC, and ST), HDMI, & USB.
 
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aero

Active Member
Apr 27, 2016
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Most adapters have sfp+ ports. I have dealt with fixed transceivers on some very old Intel cards, but it's unusual these days.

There are also 10gbaset cards utilizing standard twisted pair Ethernet cable, but I would avoid that at all costs. The parts are more expensive, run hotter, and limit flexibility due to length restrictions.

You don't need to be concerned with crossover with DAC, there's no such thing. Nor with fiber... one strand of a standard duplex cable will be used for transmit, and the other for receive. Most cables have a clip that binds the ends together in the correct orientation. Otherwise, you can flip-flop them if link isn't coming up.

As was already mentioned, for short runs, passive twinax DAC are the best option.
 
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tullnd

Member
Apr 19, 2016
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USA
Which ones depends on OS level support. If you can find one model that all your OS's offer full support for, I'd buy two of those SFP+ cards. If you have to mix, make sure you look up information that people have successfully interconnected those two models before(not necessarily on the same OS mixture though, just physically).

The only other thing that would come into play is if you need any specific protocols supported...and again, you'd have to verify that those protocols are supported in that card(s) for each OS.

If multiple options remain, I'd buy either the cheapest or the most common(for continued support and easiest ability to find others doing similar things on the web).
 
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pc-tecky

Active Member
May 1, 2013
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Oh, and to answer the other questions.. All in the same office/bedroom ~12' x ~12'.
maybe 4 boxes? Windows 10, ESXi 6.7 (built on the Natex E5 combo), maybe ESXi 5.5, and maybe one or two more. Part of my problem is no particular direction. And it all becomes inter-twined..
 
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pc-tecky

Active Member
May 1, 2013
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How/Where do I find information on successful interconnect of HP, Intel, Myricom, and/or Chelsio? Getting all of one brand does help - but looking difficult. A quick search so far is getting me older cards on eBay or new cards with various resellers - not the info I'm looking for.
 
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