quad port low profile nics
- Thread starter fnc1
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Here is one possibility...
IBM 1000 PT Quad Port Gigabit Ethernet PCIe NIC Card 39Y6137 | eBay
I keep a couple of the dual-port Intel PT's in my parts bin; only downside I'm aware of is that the quad PT's do not support hardware passthrough in esxi.
IBM 1000 PT Quad Port Gigabit Ethernet PCIe NIC Card 39Y6137 | eBay
I keep a couple of the dual-port Intel PT's in my parts bin; only downside I'm aware of is that the quad PT's do not support hardware passthrough in esxi.
Search nc364t, pro 1000 pt quad, etc, definitely under $100, getting closer to $50 these days.
I remember when I needed a full profile version, I couldn't stop tripping over the half heights. If you are lucky might even find one with both brackets not marked up.
I remember when I needed a full profile version, I couldn't stop tripping over the half heights. If you are lucky might even find one with both brackets not marked up.
82575/6 might work with passthrough and can usually be found under $100 as "pro 1000 VT" and various dell cards, but check carefully as lots of incorrect listings, can work in your favor as some are listed as older PT as well.
If you want to be sure, i340 or 350 is best bet as its a single controller for sure, not as cheap.
I also agree VT-d kinda sucks in general, very hacky and finicky.
If you want to be sure, i340 or 350 is best bet as its a single controller for sure, not as cheap.
I also agree VT-d kinda sucks in general, very hacky and finicky.
Here a couple of discussions regarding quad port nics and hardware passthrough...
esxi 5 Intet 1000VT quad passtrough - [H]ard|Forum
https://communities.vmware.com/message/2327290
I can verify that the Intel ET2 quad port works fine with esxi 5.1/5.5 in passthrough mode.
esxi 5 Intet 1000VT quad passtrough - [H]ard|Forum
https://communities.vmware.com/message/2327290
I can verify that the Intel ET2 quad port works fine with esxi 5.1/5.5 in passthrough mode.
I've been thinking about ordering one of these:
Winyao WYI350-T4 PCIe X4
Either through dealextreme or a taobao broker. Appears to be a 4-port intel i350 with full and low height brackets for under $100.
Winyao WYI350-T4 PCIe X4
Either through dealextreme or a taobao broker. Appears to be a 4-port intel i350 with full and low height brackets for under $100.
If they work its a great deal, half what a good price is for pulls, theres been some talk about them on pfsense forums.
I'm not afraid to buy things from china and get all sorts of wifi components airmailed to me way cheaper (sometimes ~1/4th price) than stateside as long as a 1-3 week wait is ok. I'm no dummy and know that a lot of the US resellers are buying from the same places.
Since these are different pcbs and not overstock/extra shift nics its a total unknown; The server pulls on fleabay are a well proven option as long as its not a bad seller, you would be one of if not the first guinea pig for these
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I got my Sun i350 quad-ports for just a little more than that a while back. They're fully supported in ESXi 5.1 and 5.5.
Best I ever managed was $150/ea shipped BO and that was probably offer attempt #30 to seller #20. Last I looked at completed listings $200+ sells nearly every time.
Damn though, if you need quad SFP and i350 for VMs, this is a steal if it works.
hagak: why would you avoid passthrough? (just wondering the thought process here?)
From what i understand things like PfSense work best that way?
i found some full height cards for 25 bux, posted in the deals section, vmware docs says they are supported.. so if anyone needs a cheap card check those out...
From what i understand things like PfSense work best that way?
i found some full height cards for 25 bux, posted in the deals section, vmware docs says they are supported.. so if anyone needs a cheap card check those out...
Having a passed through NIC means that VM can't be migrated.
There were also some issues with passthrough not working properly, last I checked. It's still not perfect. For example, I've got an LSI2208 controller which works with Solaris 11.1 natively, but not when passed through via ESXi 5.5. Passing the controller through with ESXi 5.1 works flawlessly. Pass the same controller through to Windows or OmniOS with either version of ESXi and it works just fine. It's just not perfect, and the headaches associated with it generally aren't worth the effort.
That being said, I've passed through individual ports on my adapters without issues before. YMMV.
Woop just got one of these http://www.sandirect.com/documents/netxen_NX3-4GBT.pdf
for 39.45 (now i need to find two more that work with esxi)
VMWare shows that its supported up through 5.5 - so keeping my fingers crossed it meets my needs...
VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search
for 39.45 (now i need to find two more that work with esxi)
VMWare shows that its supported up through 5.5 - so keeping my fingers crossed it meets my needs...
VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search
As stated reason for not passing through is you defeat one main point of a VM and that is hardware isolation. In particular there is very little reason to passthru a nic, sure a SAS controller for a SAN type VM makes sense since that VM needs specific control to do its job. But very few applications require hardware level control over the NIC. You can still get network isolation within your vswitch configuration without needing to passthrough the nic if that is a concern.
I can see a use for it with badly supported OS's like BSD. Paravirtual adapters have been known to work like chit over there.