Drivers for recent homelab NICs in XCP-ng 8.2

Strebor

nhurion

Hi,

I'm new to xcp-ng and coming back to linux after about a 20 years break (so my knowledge is either very recent, or very old).

I have a new fanless computer with intel i226 chips, I'm trying to install xcp-ng on it but I can't find out how.

I have the 8.2.1 iso on a bootable usb, already used it to install on 2 older hosts.
I have downloaded the rpm and added it to the Packages directory but the installer refuses to go because I have no ethernet cards.
So I guess I need to somehow add the driver with the F9 menu on the first screen, but I have no clue how. When I try it say that no drivers were detected.

I've also tried extracting the ko file from the rpm and put it on the usb, but it is not automatically loaded and not detected by the F9 menu, so I guess it's in wrong location

Is there a guide somewhere on how to do that ?

Andrew

@nhurion Use the new 8.3 version. It has newer drivers.

nhurion

@Andrew
Thanks, I know this is an option.
However, I already have 2 hosts with 8.2.1 that I do not want to upgrade yet.
And even if I install another iso, I would still like to know how to be able to load a driver or add a driver to an existing iso.

Andrew

@nhurion If you boot 8.3 does everything work correctly? Just as a test.

The official 8.2 boot ISO does not have i225/i226 drivers. I did build an unofficial one that has drivers...

nhurion

@Andrew
Yes, installing from 8.3-apha2 does work.

Now if there is an option to load an additional driver, I guess there is a way to get that driver added.
How do I do that ?

Andrew

@nhurion You can give my Test 3 ISO a try. I have not updated it in a few months so it does need updates. Don't use the ALT kernel...

olivierlambert

I would recommend against going for a custom solution: you might have more issues than going to XCP-ng 8.3. Despite it's alpha, it's already very stable. And a first beta version is around the corner!

nhurion

@olivierlambert

Well the 8.3 is installed now, so I will give it a try.

But are you telling me it is not possible to install the 8.2.1 with 226 drivers at all ?

Because then I don't get the backporting that this thread is referring to.
What is the point of backporting if it cannot be used ?

nhurion

@nhurion Trying to add the new host to existing pool, the host is not compatible.
Is it possible to downgrade 8.3 to 8.2.1 ?

olivierlambert

8.2 is an LTS, and it's not planned to make major modifications or use drivers that are a bit too recent for it. We strongly suggest, in your case with this kind of hardware, to stay on 8.3.

Right now, I don't see any reason to go on 8.2 with non-server grade hardware anyway

nhurion

@olivierlambert
I understood what you said.
Please understand that when people make a homelab it’s essentially to learn.

What I’ve learned is that when you need an extra driver to install xcp-ng, this case have been covered but:

the doc does not help
Google does not help
chatgpt does not help
YouTube does not help
xcp-ng forum does not help.

Quite an unpleasant learning experience.

Andrew

@nhurion Relax.... It's the weekend (US holiday too). You can give my test ISO a try. The new IGC driver is an update in the 8.2 repository.

wilsonqanda

8.3 beta is definitely a huge improvement as in 8.2 LTS it didn't even detect the RTL card lol
Interesting it seem like some are getting the 1Gb/s for the RTL8125 (should be 2.5Gb/s) my for some reason is stuck at 100Mb/s

Running on XCP-ng 8.3 beta

Issue: running on 100Mb/s instead of 2.5Gb/s

lkernan

@wilsonqanda
It's saying Link partner advertised link modes 10 and 100baseT. I'd check what the other end of the cable is plugged into.

wilsonqanda

@lkernan Ahh ic let me double check. Thanks hopefully that is the case.

Ok the linked partner was the issue. Thanks for clarifying that issue makes total sense now

stormi

So, @Andrew contributed new updates for the igc-module and r8125-module drivers (other drivers being in the process of being reviewed and/or updated).

These version of the igc and r8125 drivers are intended to be the ones we ship in the upcoming refreshed installation ISOs for XCP-ng 8.2.1.

If you have actual hardware which makes use of these drivers, on XCP-ng 8.2.1, please update them from the xcp-ng-testing repository and report here about your successes and, if any, failures.

Stay also ready to test the refreshed installation ISOs once they will be built.

IGC

yum update igc-module --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing
reboot

R8125

yum update r8125-module --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing
reboot

ajpri1998

@stormi

I'll be testing the r8125 drivers.

Able to install r8125-module-9.012.03-1.xcpng8.2.x86_64
Able to reboot host and have Dom0 networking.
Speed negotiated to 1000Mb/s. I don't have any 2.5G switches so can't test that.
VM (Fedora Server 36) able to get an IP on untagged network
- VM able to ping Internet IP (1.1.1.1)
- VM able to ping internet DNS (xcp-ng.org)
Changed to other network (VLAN 10 - my "Guest" Network)
- Able to get IP from DHCP
- Able to ping internet IP (1.1.1.1)
- Able to ping internet DNS (xcp-ng.org)
Able to migrate VM to host

stormi

Refreshed installation ISOs for XCP-ng 8.2.1, with added drivers and other fixes, are available for public testing at https://xcp-ng.org/forum/topic/8026/xcp-ng-8-2-1-refreshed-installation-iso-better-hardware-support.

wilsonqanda

@wilsonqanda For those that see this thread in the future the 8.3b work with the RTL cards and I see 2.5G speed. Been running on this since the start of XCP-ng 8.3b release and it work great. Move on from 8.2LTS as at the time I used it 8.2LTS didn't support it.