Intel x540T on linux 5.2 :(

[Moe]

Hi

We have an old server, running kernel 2.6.18-92.el5 , which can't be upgraded because it's running a special software

Trying to get 10Gb/s networking to work on it, using intel x-540T card
The card has 2 port 10Gb/s and the server has 2 built in 1Gb/s interfaces ( eth0 and eth1 )

I installed an old driver ixgbe-3.23.2.1-1.x86_64.rpm , and it's now recognized by lspci,
however it doesn't show on "ip link" and lswh says it's unclaimed and can't find a way to configure or set an IP for it

Is this a driver issue ? or am I missing the obvious ?

Any help is appreciated


below is some commands output

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# lspci | grep -i ether
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 (rev 01)
01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 (rev 01)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

Code: Select all

# lsmod | grep ixgb
ixgbe                  83909  0 

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#  /sbin/modinfo ixgbe
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.18-92.el5/kernel/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe.ko
version:        1.1.18
license:        GPL
description:    Intel(R) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver
author:         Intel Corporation, <linux.nics@intel.com>
srcversion:     80FBD813EB7AA66651D6CED
alias:          pci:v00008086d000010DDsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00008086d000010C8sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00008086d000010C7sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00008086d000010C6sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        
vermagic:       2.6.18-92.el5 SMP mod_unload gcc-4.1
module_sig:	883f35048175a9c6e24e25c96667c371124d8a0a084bac49023664d76901c6d2d7592cbd1b8a74909f49cae87ef6d18264346ee4546776b30d0b9e1b

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# lshw -class network
  *-network:0 UNCLAIMED   
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: Ethernet Controller X540-AT2
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f7e00000-f7ffffff(prefetchable) memory:f7dfc000-f7dfffff(prefetchable) memory:fb880000-fb8fffff(prefetchable)
  *-network:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: Ethernet Controller X540-AT2
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0.1
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f7a00000-f7bfffff(prefetchable) memory:f79fc000-f79fffff(prefetchable) memory:fb800000-fb87ffff(prefetchable)
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 00
       serial: 00:25:90:7e:bc:26
       size: 1GB/s
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=0.5.18.3-NAPI duplex=full firmware=1.8-0 ip=172.17.2.129 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1GB/s
       resources: irq:177 memory:fbce0000-fbcfffff ioport:dc00(size=32) memory:fbcdc000-fbcdffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: eth1
       version: 00
       serial: 00:25:90:7e:bc:27
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=0.5.18.3-NAPI firmware=1.8-0 ip=192.168.1.129 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:169 memory:fbde0000-fbdfffff ioport:ec00(size=32) memory:fbddc000-fbddffff

[TrevorH]

Showing up in lspci means that the card is plugged in. It has nothing to do with there being a driver for it or not. And CentOS 5.2 is so old that it's completely unsupportable by anyone.

[Moe]

Thanks

It didn't show up properly before installing the driver

Does showing up in lsmod and lshw give some hope it may work ?

[TrevorH]

No. Showing up in lsmod means the module is loaded. Looking at dmesg might tell you if it did anything.

If it didn't show up in lspci before then the card isn't in the slot correctly or there is some other hardware problem stopping it from working. If you have CentOS 5.2 on this - and that dates from 2008 - then the hardware is likely to be similarly ancient so you need to beware of things like PCIe compatibility. Early PCIe cards were 5V and later were 3.3V and I suspect 2008 means PCIe 1.0 though I didn't look to check.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what a security nightmare this machine is either? It has unfixed security bugs dating back to 2008 - 12 years worth of them. About the only safe way to run this is in a locked basement room with no network cable attached!

[Moe]

Thanks, I will check in a different slot

And yes, I understand how outdated the system is and it's vulnerabilities, it will be used in a bit of isolated environment, without internet connection

[Moe]

you need to beware of things like PCIe compatibility. Early PCIe cards were 5V and later were 3.3V and I suspect 2008 means PCIe 1.0 though I didn't look to check.

I checked, the board is X9DR3-F , which is PCIe 3.0 , so this at least is ruled out

I recall being able to get intel 10Gb/s to work on CentOS 4.x some years ago, I hope to get this in a working state, even if performance is not the optimal

[Moe]

I got it to work, so posting here in case anyone has similar issue

It was a driver issue, I used a driver file called :

dd_intel_nic_3.18.7_linux_ivb

I had many driver versions, I think this one was from lenovo support site

https://support.lenovo.com/do/en/downloads/ds041619

Good luck to anyone facing this