I consider buying a new SFP+ card, eventually to take the opportunity to upgrade the nas by replacing the actual SFP+ card (intel x520) in my TrueNas System.
For that reason I wonder what it would bring to upgrade my actual x520 card to a newer more advanced card like:
X710
E810
Connect X3
Connect X4
Connect X5
Note that the SFP+ interface is used as VLAN trunk.
Does TrueNas (scale) use the more advanced NIC-features?
Does it improve performance?
Any experiences with these kind of upgrades?
I’d wager this is extremely use-case specific. I’d provide the demi-gods that wander the halls here a bit more information about what you’re doing with with your NAS, to what extent the current trunk is saturated, what network equipment the NAS would be attached to, etc. for these folk to be able to better answer your question.
but I have no idea about ddp / E810
Would it be a good idea to update the x520 of my pfSense system with a E810!?
(and why)
Problem is that the only cards I can really buy cheap are the x520. But since I intent one extra SFP+ card, I wonder if it is wise to buy another x520 or should invest a bit more in a modern card. Which I can use for my NAS or pfSense freeing an x520 for the less important machine.
Prices here for a x710 are a bit below the 200€ and for an ConnectX4 or E810 a bit above 200€ . That makes that an x710 is not interesting.
X520 are really cheap around 50€ . But they are old design, PCIE2 many lanes needing a 16bit PCIE-slot (!) more power consumption / heat. So despite the low price not the preferred card.
Yes if you’re on 25gbps internet connection, that you need to route or NAT on CPU. I ran it in my Opnsense and ddp definitely helps to handle 25gbps traffic.
Buying e810 for NAS is waste of money, it won’t give anything extra than a cheap connectx4.
As I said in my post before, connectX 4 lx costs $50 or cheaper, its low power, works up-to 25gbps, has dual ports and RDMA.
I did not make a decision yet (I am not in a hurry).
for pfSense / OpnSense the E810 is the only recent option, since both firewalls are based on freebsd pf and Connect4 does not support FreeBSD
I did not found a ConnectX4 card for a price of around €50 . Not even close. Not refurbished. Lowest prices refurbished on AliExpress. But I do not regard AliExpress as a trustworthy supplier
and also very relevant, I am using consumer main boards, having a very limited number of pcie-lanes. Lets say … I would love to have more!
(I am NOT considering refurbisched server boards) As a consequence the interface cards are not main performance limiting factor. So its not the first priority to replace them (but I would not buy X520 today any more)
