1000base rate support on HP 560SFP+ (Intel 82599/X520 OEM) ?

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marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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Hello, I bought HP 560SFP+ used on ebay and use it in esxi 6.7 box. Problem I have with it is that it doesnt support 1Gb link rate. So when I insert SFP, link doesnt come up. Forcing 1000/full duplex also doesnt work, card states it only supports 10000BaseX/Full.
I am wondering if there is any way of enabling 1Gb rate support, maybe using OEM drivers, or doing firmware update?

Card device and vendor IDs are following: 8086:10fb 103c:17d3

Code:
# esxcli network nic list
Name      PCI Device    Driver  Admin Status  Link Status  Speed  Duplex  MAC Address         MTU  Description
--------  ------------  ------  ------------  -----------  -----  ------  -----------------  ----  ----------------------------------------------------------------

vmnic130  0000:06:00.0  ixgben  Up            Down             0  Half    <mac removed>  1500  Intel Corporation 82599EB 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection
vmnic4    0000:06:00.1  ixgben  Up            Up           10000  Full    <mac removed>  9000  Intel Corporation 82599EB 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection
Code:
# esxcli network nic get -n vmnic130
   Advertised Auto Negotiation: false
   Advertised Link Modes: 10000BaseX/Full
   Auto Negotiation: true
   Cable Type:
   Current Message Level: -1
   Driver Info:
         Bus Info: 0000:06:00:0
         Driver: ixgben
         Firmware Version: 0x800008ea
         Version: 1.7.1.16
   Link Detected: false
   Link Status: Down
   Name: vmnic130
   PHYAddress: 0
   Pause Autonegotiate: true
   Pause RX: true
   Pause TX: true
   Supported Ports: FIBRE
   Supports Auto Negotiation: false
   Supports Pause: true
   Supports Wakeon: false
   Transceiver:
   Virtual Address: 00:50:56:55:af:92
   Wakeon: None
 

tsteine

Active Member
May 15, 2019
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83
28
Are you using a DAC or SFP optics?

The adapter only supports 10GbE with DAC.

It does support 1GbE with SFP optics. It also requires a supported SFP optical module.

I don't believe the ALLOW_UNSUPPORTED_SFP=1 which you would use in linux is available in ESXi, but if it is, hopefully someone around here could correct me.
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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I use SFP optical transceivers, no DACs. I think these HP OEM cards don't have vendor lock for SFPs.
 

tsteine

Active Member
May 15, 2019
167
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No, that is incorrect.
It uses the ixgben driver which is a driver made by intel, meaning the SFP optics used must be on the list of supported modules for the ixgben driver (ixgbe for non esxi).

This means that you're most likely limited to the optics listed here:
SFP+ Modules, SFP Modules, and Cables Compatible with Intel® Ethernet...

That is unless there is support for adding the ALLOW_UNSUPPORTED_SFP=1 parameter to the driver in ESXi for ixgben which is possible for the ixgbe driver in linux.

Edit: Having a look at FS.com and purchasing an Intel coded SFP module might also work.
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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from this thread I assumed that 560SFP+ adapter doesn't have vendor lock enabled. https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...nlock-all-sfp-transceivers.24634/#post-242952 I dont know if I can verify it from vmware since ethtool doesnt seem work in esxi 6.7.
I have there connected Cisco branded SFP-10G-SR module which works fine.

What I am asking about is 1Gb module, not 10Gb.

Edit: essentially, question is whether is it possible to enable 1000BaseT rate support on this card.