10 gbps ethernet adapter (Intel 82599 / ixgbe) on slower network - "Link is not ready"

▲
0
▼

Perhaps this is a newbie problem - I know nothing about 10 gbps networking hardware. I purchased a motherboard for building a new computer and I'm trying to get it online. Its onboard 10 Gbps adapter doesn't get past "Link is not ready". The networking setup is fine - I just tested it with my laptop. But the computer doesn't see the link, whether with a stock linux setup or with the Intel ixgbe driver installed. This despite the cable lighting up when plugged in.

The ixgbe docs are very confusing to me, but it sounds like a person may need to do something special to make it work with a non-10gbps network. Any thoughts on what I should try?

Ed: 

# ethtool eno1
Settings for eno1:
        Supported ports: [ FIBRE ]
        Supported link modes:   10000baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric
        Supports auto-negotiation: No
        Advertised link modes:  100000baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric
        Advertised auto-negotiation: No
        Speed: Unknown!
        Duplex: Unknown! (255)
        Port: Other
        PHYAD: 0
        Transceiver: external
        Auto-negotiation: off
        Supports Wake-on: d
        Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
                               drv probe link
        Link detected: no

Um, wow, that doesn't look good. Especially only "supported ports: fibre"; I'm 99% sure that my cables are copper. No support for copper? .... this might explain why my attempts to set the speed (e.g. "ethtool -s eno1 speed 1000 duplex full") were failing with "invalid argument", it's saying it doesn't support anything other than 10000baseT/Full.... But the docs say the card is supposed to support both fibre and copper, or at least it sounds that way... hmmm...

networking
linux-networking
asked on Server Fault Jun 25, 2017 by KarenRei • edited Jun 25, 2017 by KarenRei

2 Answers

▲
3
▼

So, I heard back from Intel. Basically, the base 82599 does not support anything less than 10 Gbps; however, manufacturers can modify it to add other kinds of support, which apparently must be what my board's manufacturer did. So I'd need to contact my board's manufacturer and figure out what would be needed to get 10/100/1000 ethernet working.

answered on Server Fault Jun 27, 2017 by KarenRei
▲
1
▼
   Supports auto-negotiation: No

You need to manually set your link speed which you've already figured out

(e.g. "ethtool -s eno1 speed 1000 duplex full") were failing with "invalid argument", it's saying it doesn't support anything other than 10000baseT/Full

This is plausible - there are 10GbE network devices out there that do not support anything except 10GbE connections (i.e. they won't negotiate down to a lower speed). Plausible, but unlikely.

Importantly you don't actually mention which exact NIC is in your computer - 82599 covers an entire class of Intel NICs. Is it connected via TwinAX DAC, or via an SFP connector?

Although this is not really an answer, it was too much for a comment - can you try a totally different operating system (say, Windows) temporarily to see if it works under a different OS?

answered on Server Fault Jun 25, 2017 by Mark Henderson

User contributions licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0