[tiny pc] m.2 pcie addon 2.5gbe nic

[bigfellasdad]

Hi,

Just thought id post my findings for an additional NIC for the tiny series pc's. Having one NIC, and only 1gbe is ok i suppose, but for additional flexibility ive just added an M.2 2.5gbe nic to one of my Lenovo M910q's (M.2 A+E 2.5G Ethernet Adapter 2.5G/1G/100M Multi-Gigabit M.2 Network Card 8M.2 4894870873675 | eBay)

No additional screw came with the item so a bit of hunting in my 'bits tin' have got around the issue, a little fiddly to get the m.2 card in place but even with my ham fisted approach to everything it was installed in a few minutes and in no way effects the installation of the ssd.

Performance is very much acceptable allowing these non pcie expansion devices to become little firewall boxes or better esxi machines with more network performance....... i may contact the seller to see if a dual nic option has been thought of!

Power consumption has gone up maybe less than 2w so in line with a USB realtek NIC. Powertop is reporting that C-States havent been effected, C8 is still achievable. result!

Im running Proxmox 7 on this little server , upon first boot the device is recognised

root@unix-kn-l1:~# lspci | grep Ethernet
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 05)

And Proxmox seems to find the correct driver, or at least a functioning one! without any interaction

root@unix-kn-l1:~# inxi -n
Network: Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM driver: e1000e
IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 6c:4b:90:4b:20:7f
Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: 1c:fd:08:75:15:ec
IF-ID-1: bonding_masters state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
IF-ID-2: vmbr0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: unknown mac: 6c:4b:90:4b:20:7f

And for performance

C:\Users\h2004664\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3.exe -c 10.0.0.1
Connecting to host 10.0.0.1, port 5201
[ 4] local 10.0.0.2 port 52111 connected to 10.0.0.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 281 MBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

C:\Users\h2004664\Downloads\iperf-3.1.3-win64\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3.exe -c 10.0.0.1 -bidir
Connecting to host 10.0.0.1, port 5201
[ 4] local 10.0.0.2 port 52130 connected to 10.0.0.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 282 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 283 MBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.76 GBytes 2.37 Gbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

HTH

 

[Marsh]

Please post picture of the rj45 mounting.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Please post picture of the rj45 mounting.

Here you go... on my phone and low light so not the best. For interest, ive asked the seller for a dual card, WITH SCREWS! You can get dual cards, but the nics are on a shared M/B, ive asked if two separate nics are possible so they will fit the pop out's on any of the tiny's.

 

[amalurk]

Do you have a link for the dual card?

 

[abq]

Do you have a link for the dual card?

Yes! ...Dual ethernet m.2 card, with separate RJ45 modules would be awesome for TMM firewall.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Not yet, awaiting reply.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Not yet, awaiting reply.

The seller has passed on my request to the manufacturer.

 

[jameszy]

This may be a superjank solution.. but why not wire an ethernet cable directly to the card "plugs"? You'd have the Ethernet cables coming out of the back of the computer instead of having a port.. or have the cable come out and wire a keystone rj45 jack.. then 3d print a cover for it?

Jameszy

Yes! ...Dual ethernet m.2 card, with separate RJ45 modules would be awesome for TMM firewall.