On Fri 29 Nov 2013 16:19:26 GMT, Kapetanakis Giannis wrote:
On 29/11/13 18:05, Andy wrote:
We bought the Intel x520-DA2 cards as they gives you the flexibility
of using any SFP+ transceiver.. If you buy the SR2 you are locked to
using short range fibre and the optics for the other end can get
expensive!
NB; Their is a whole world of compatible optics out there which are
just as good but wont have support from the switch vendor and will
need careful testing with your kit..
If you get the DA2 card, also buy a couple of the Intel optics which
when added to the order cost the same as the SR2 and you end up with
exactly the same product, but with the flexibility of being able to
use 'SFP+ Direct Connect cables', SR optics, LR optics etc..
http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/sb/CS-030612.htm
We bought the optics for the link to the WAN provider, and SFP+
Direct Connect cables for the link to our HP 8206zl switches.
Intel cards support most of the official branded Direct Connect
cables (don't get real cheap ones) so get Cisco branded as you have a
Cisco switch.. Much cheaper than Cisco optics but the same end result.
Andy.
Unfortunately on the Cisco part I don't SFP+.
I have XENPACK option only which give me 3 options:
SR ~ 3K GPL
LRM ~ 1.5K GPL (I can't find any LRM GBIC for Intel side)
CX4 ~ 600 GPL
I'd avoid CX4, you wont find a CX4 NIC working well with OpenBSD nor
would you want one tbh.. Stick with well known supported cards for
OpenBSD..
At a guess, I'd use an SR XENPACK on the Cisco side and connect to the
Intel Optic Transceiver on the OBSD side, and use an LC to SC OM4 fibre
etc..
NB; Try a 'Cisco compatible' XENPACK SR if you can't afford it, for
example;
http://www.gbics.com/xenpak-10gb-sr/?gclid=CKv_96G-irsCFSX4wgodQDEAdA
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/product-brief/ethernet-sfp-optics-brief.pdf
Note the standards compatibility; 10GBASE-SR
You will need to spend some money on a pair to try it (I don't know if
these work but they look like they do), if it works get the others..
It'll either work perfectly or it wont at all..
Good luck, Andy
I'm going probably for the CX4 option so I have to find an Intel
server card that has CX4.
My options for CX4 so far look like these:
82599EB which support all kinds of interfaces. I don't know if this is
a server adapter or not (looks very cheap)
Also it might need an CX4 interface to be attached.
http://ark.intel.com/products/32207/Intel-82599EB-10-Gigabit-Ethernet-Controller
Is 82599 chip the same on all the adapters? (EN, EB, X520, X540). Is
it the same card
with different optics?
Also there is this NetEffect Ethernet Server Cluster Adapter CX4
http://ark.intel.com/products/55362/NetEffect-Ethernet-Server-Cluster-Adapter-CX4
but I don't know OpenBSD's support on this. Also it's PCIe v1.1 but
I think this is my least problem.
G
ps. thanks for the reply
