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    Drivers for recent homelab NICs in XCP-ng 8.2

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    • stormiS Offline
      stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
      last edited by stormi

      Context: various recent devices on the consumer market require network drivers which are not present in XCP-ng 8.2.

      Based on the work made with @Andrew for XCP-ng 8.3, I've finally found some time to backport the drivers to XCP-ng 8.2.

      The following optional driver packages will soon be updated on the default repositories:

      • igc-module (backported from kernel 5.10.150): adds support for Intel I225/I226.
      • intel-e1000e-alt (updated to 3.8.7): adds support for Intel I219-V.
      • r8125-module (updated to 9.010.01) for RealTek r8125. Quoting @Andrew:

        Note: This 8125 driver has SG/TSO, PTP, RSS enabled by default.
        Note: This 8125 driver has (optional) firmware loading enabled. Please manually download the rtl8125 firmware and install in XCP in /usr/lib/firmware/rtl_nic .
        Note: The 8125 Chipset/PCI-E card/driver has been known to cause system problems and crashes (not an XCP problem).

      These are Additional packages, which means only best effort support is provided for them.

      Update (2023-05-03): packages now moved to the xcp-ng-updates repository, which means they can be installed with a simple yum install name_of_package, without the need for extra parameters.

      A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
      • stormiS Offline
        stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
        last edited by

        Right now, the updated RPMs are in the xcp-ng-testing repository. Which means you need to add the --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing parameter to yum if you want to install or update them.

        I will now need feedback before I move them to the xcp-ng-updates repository to make them more easily available.

        A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • A Offline
          Andrew Top contributor @stormi
          last edited by

          @stormi Thanks for supporting 8.2 LTS with some new drivers!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • planedropP Offline
            planedrop Top contributor
            last edited by

            Just wanna say thanks for the awesome work here, I'm not in a position to test these at the moment but wanted to say thanks nonetheless!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • L Offline
              loopway
              last edited by

              Thank you @stormi, really appreciate it! Updated today from the testing repo and have had no issues so far on my nuc11 (NUC11PAHi5) with I225-V NIC.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • A Offline
                Andrew Top contributor @stormi
                last edited by

                @stormi Will the drivers be added to the alt kernel too?

                stormiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stormiS Offline
                  stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team @Andrew
                  last edited by

                  @Andrew It's not planned. See https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/61142.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • stormiS Offline
                    stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
                    last edited by

                    So, can anyone test the intel-e1000e-alt and r8125-module drivers on real hardware?

                    ajpri1998A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • ajpri1998A Offline
                      ajpri1998 @stormi
                      last edited by

                      @stormi
                      I can test the r8125 driver, but I already use the @Andrew drivers from his pre-renamed ISO. What do I need to do to “uninstall” his and switch to the testing?

                      stormiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stormiS Offline
                        stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team @ajpri1998
                        last edited by stormi

                        @ajpri1998 Yes, you need to make sure the kernel package is up to date (for the display fixes, if you need them), boot the main kernel, remove Andrew's drivers, and install our package instead.

                        This may help: https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/61095

                        ajpri1998A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • ajpri1998A Offline
                          ajpri1998 @stormi
                          last edited by

                          @stormi
                          Thank you! I think I got it working. Previously had version 9.009. Now:
                          1d1e5832-187e-4274-854c-d81982c53a80-image.png

                          e4fef5e5-3899-4cb4-86a8-d9458e10b9fb-image.png

                          acda3e2e-c890-48c6-a9cc-84ee8a6bd03b-image.png

                          stormiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • stormiS Offline
                            stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team @ajpri1998
                            last edited by

                            @ajpri1998 Is this after a reboot, to make sure the new driver is loaded?

                            ajpri1998A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ajpri1998A Offline
                              ajpri1998 @stormi
                              last edited by

                              @stormi yes, this is after a reboot.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • ajpri1998A Offline
                                ajpri1998
                                last edited by

                                So far my R8125 is still working.

                                Also my Dell Optiplex 5040 does have a I219-V. It did work out of the box without issues with a iso downloaded last week. Does the alt driver add any additional features/functionality?

                                stormiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • stormiS Offline
                                  stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team @ajpri1998
                                  last edited by

                                  @ajpri1998 I don't know. I assumed @Andrew built version 3.8.7 for a reason since we already had version 3.8.4 by default in 8.2.

                                  He wrote it adds many device IDs, so I believe that if your NIC was already working, the updated driver is not necessary for you.

                                  However, your feedback would remain useful: if the NIC works with the updated driver, it helps validating the build. Then you can remove it and go back to the main driver to avoid unnecessary customizations.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stormiS Offline
                                    stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
                                    last edited by

                                    I moved the drivers RPMs mentioned above to the xcp-ng-updates repository, so it's not necessary anymore to add --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing to install them.

                                    Being in xcp-ng-updates doesn't mean they will get installed automatically next time you update. No dependency will pull them on your 8.2 hosts unless you explicitly ask to install them, with yum install.

                                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • S Offline
                                      Strebor @stormi
                                      last edited by Strebor

                                      @stormi
                                      Do you mean that if I install i225 driver, next time I do “yum update” within 8.2, I loose the driver (leaving host without network connection), or do you mean the driver will not be added when I in the future do an upgrade to 8.3 (or for instance 8.2.x)? As these drives are in 8.3, that should not cause a problem, correct?

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • stormiS Offline
                                        stormi Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
                                        last edited by stormi

                                        I only mean that, if you are on XCP-ng 8.2 and haven't installed the drivers, updating the hosts will not force-install the drivers to your hosts. In other words, it's not because a package is made available in the updates repository that it is necessarily selected by RPM dependencies to update all XCP-ng 8.2 hosts that install official updates.

                                        But if you choose to install such packages, then they will remain (at least until a full upgrade using the installation ISO).

                                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • S Offline
                                          Strebor @stormi
                                          last edited by

                                          @stormi
                                          Thanks!

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • N Offline
                                            nhurion
                                            last edited by

                                            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 ?

                                            A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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