Topic: Realtek RTL8111 Driver Issues

[guyverdan]

Hi All,

I am reasonable new to setting up SME so please feel free to call me an idiot if this is in the instruction.

I have a Supermicro board running an Atom 1.6GB and Dual Realtek RTL8111C-GR GB Network Cards.  The SME server seems to recognise the cards and tries to use the in built Realtek 8168 drivers.  Now no matter what configuration or Realtek driver I try to use SME never finds a network card for eth0 or 1 on start up.

So I am guessing there is no driver for this card, so here's the real question which driver from http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false should I download and what is the best plan to go about installing this driver into SME.

Thanks for any help you can provide me.

Dan

[cactus]

Already stated often before for this type of card, which would undoubtetly have turned up using a search that this is not supported by default. You will have to compile drivers manually and for every kernel update agian. In general this is not worth the effort and defies the focus on reliability and stability.

As this manual process will cost you a lot of time and effort you are far better of buying supported NICs and putting them in your server.
Have a look here for pointers: http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:Administration_Manual:Chapter4#Hardware_Requirements_of_the_SME_Server

[guyverdan]

Thanks for the response.

That document wasn't the most informative as it only state the ethernet card must be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise 4.  Which I have to admit through me little as according to the Red Hat web site version 4 seems to support that particular RealTek chipset.

Either way I have decided its not worth the aggro especially if there are as many people as you state having issues.  So now I am looking at getting a new Supermicro board that will work, would you mind helping me one last time and tell me if this board will be OK?

http://212.83.253.36/products/motherboard/xeon3000/946/pdsbm-ln2_.cfm

Its has 2x Intel® 82573 PCI-e Gigabit ethernet cards, do you or can you point me too anyone who will know if this are OK.

Thanks for all your help.

[Stefano]

That document wasn't the most informative as it only state the ethernet card must be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise 4.  Which I have to admit through me little as according to the Red Hat web site version 4 seems to support that particular RealTek chipset.

can you post here the link to rh hcl list for this chipset?

thank you

[guyverdan]

Honestly I can't remember where I found and I don't have the time to go hunting again, which is why I posted in the forum in the first instance. 

I am happy with the response from "Cactus" and will therefore look for another board which is no real hardship as I would rather have one that works from the start without any mucking around.

I have now found another board as mentioned which has an Intel chipset, I also found this post "http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,39064.msg184423.html" which has a comment of:

"e1000  is the driver for Intel Chipsets   used by Intel, Super Micro,hp, Dell Optiplex &PowerEdge
the Chipno/-labels are: 82540 or 82541 or 82573
there are Dual and Quadsolutions for pci and pcie which contain 2 or 4 independent chips "on board"
both then work with the same driver and give independent ports  (Quad isn't that useful for SME  )"

Would you be able to vouch for this or be able to point me to the right place to confirm if it will work?

[guyverdan]

Hi There,

For those of you in the same situation as me, who isn't getting correct or helpfull answers out of the forums regarding which network cards to use.

I can now categorically say that the Intel® 82573 PCI-e Gigabit ethernet card works without fault or mucking around with SME 7.4, even though there is no mention of this card on the Red Hat Enterprise 4 HCL https://hardware.redhat.com/list.cgi?product=Red+Hat+Hardware+Certification&quicksearch=82573.

I have used the Supermicro board mentioned above which has 2 of this cards built in and I have no issues with my SME install.

So I think the moral of this story is "Don't use RealTek stick with Intel NIC's"

[Stefano]

I can now categorically say that the Intel® 82573 PCI-e Gigabit ethernet card works without fault or mucking around with SME 7.4, even though there is no mention of this card on the Red Hat Enterprise 4 HCL https://hardware.redhat.com/list.cgi?product=Red+Hat+Hardware+Certification&quicksearch=82573.

good

regarding

For those of you in the same situation as me, who isn't getting correct or helpfull answers out of the forums regarding which network cards to use.

you should remember that this is a forum, not an helpdesk..

next time, please, take some time to search the forums and the wiki; you could find something like this

[guyverdan]

Thank you Stefano,

That is information I can use (that sites now bookmarked), if only I was shown something like that first.  As the forums didn't have anything about the RealTek cards I was using and only one post about the Intel.  Which is why I was hoping someone could confirm my last request about the Intel, rather than me spending another £150 on a board and processor just on the off chance it might work, which luckily it did.

I understand this is a forum not a helpdesk, but if people are going to try and answer a question shouldn't they attempt to help answer it rather than just complain that I didn't search long enough in the first place.

[cactus]

I understand this is a forum not a helpdesk, but if people are going to try and answer a question shouldn't they attempt to help answer it rather than just complain that I didn't search long enough in the first place.

I did not complain that you did not search (long enough), but explained the problems and offered advice.

Please do not shoot yourself in the foot as you could offend people with incorrect statements like above.

[CharlieBrady]

cactus, I believe that OP was responding to Stephano. See above.

[ramasule]

I just had the same issue.
Basically you have to rebuild with the kernel with diferent drivers, or use a rpm package to update the drivers (cant remember what one)
BUTTTTTTT....
SME 8b3 works fine right out of the box, and thats what I ended up doing.
This is what I suggest you do.

[bbialy]

It is maybe little off topic but this is my expieriences with rtl8111DL
i've obtained intel board with atom D510 on it. it has RTL8111DL NIC

after hours of googling i found soltution - very easy and it worked in my case
rember you are doing it on your own RISK!!!!!

download latest driver from realtek website.

download and install kernel-devel sufficiant for your instaled kernel

download and install gcc gcc+

instruction can be found

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,35435.msg157436.html#msg157436
step 3

if you are using smp kernel rember that you need kernel-smp-devel`uname -r`

then correct file as decribed

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,35435.msg163254.html#msg163254

in case file was called r8168.c

then just run script from driver directory and
signal-event post upgrade signale-event reboot

log as admin
and configure your server

in my case it worked

[Stefano]

bbialy:

the matter is not "does it work or not" but is about the fact that everytime you'll upgrade your kernel you will loose your lan connection..

anyway, thank you for your how-to

[guyverdan]

Thanks bbialy,

I will have too say that's a great answer and I have also found out that yes the chances are you will have to recompile whenever a new kernel is released, but that is only a chance its not guaranteed.

Honestly I feel its best to stick with a card that works out of the box, as it allows SME to get on with its job, without over complicating the install.  I would therefore say for most newbees or people who just want it to work, stick with an a card that works with the Intel e1000 driver as there is no mucking around in that instance.

Thanks everyone for some good response, I hope others also find them helpful.

[bbialy]

Stefano,
i don't think you are 100% right.
if you build system on mini-itx platform there is reason why you do it. in that case there can be problem to add another card (NIC) even when you use PCI riser. when the system has strange NIC you have to make it working with all consequences of this fact.

you are 100% right that after kernel update you have to compile module again. but... with little work you can compile driver for new kernel before you run system on it. i mean install kernel, compile new driver change grub.conf to run new kernel.

reviewing my experiences the most difficult thing is.... remember to compile new driver especially on remote servers.


Best for all,
Bbialy