Hi all, I have a small home lab and I’m migrating away from VMWare to XCP-NG. I have a couple of HP EliteDesk 800s that I was using with some USB NICs based on the RTL8156 and Fling drivers, which was working great and was surprisingly stable. I was trying to get a similar setup to work on XCP-NG but I was having a hard time finding any documentation or guides on getting these NICs to work. I guess I’m wondering if anyone has written a guide, or knows of one, that explains the process of compiling the NIC drivers, which seems to be the first step to get this to work; or if someone knows of an up-to-date list of compatible USB NICs? I looked through the XCP-NG documentation and HCL but it seems a little outdated. Any help would be appreciated but just fyi I’m extremely space constrained so getting different lab equipment isn’t an option. Thanks all!
Realtek NICs aren’t desirable or recommended. Especially USB NICs. I haven’t seen much documentation either regarding what is fully supported, but by experience and what others say.
Intel NICs are preferred. I’m not sure what that means for your setup. I personally wouldn’t use a USB NIC even for a lab. I think you’ll be having a bad time in the long run.
I would buy some used Intel cards, you’ll need the low profile bracket. I think you have 2 slots in those, but I might be wrong and might depend on the generation.
If possible, go for a 4 port Intel i350 for your lowest level, once in a while you can get them for $25, but common price is closer to $40-$50 on ebay ($80 brand new for 10Gtek). The Pro 1000 work, but I think I looked up and they are only good for a total of 2.5gbps so you can’t get gigabit when using 4 ports. I have a couple of the Pro 1000 and definitely see a difference when all 4 ports are doing work.
Alternate is buy some 10gbps stuff, again used for a lab has been pretty good to me and again in that $35 to $50 price range. For new the 10Gtek card I recently installed seems to be working fine, around $80.