RealTek 2.5 GbE (RTL8125) support?

[Chris Gordon]

> On Jun 24, 2020, at 10:08 PM, Mel Pilgrim <list_freebsd at bluerosetech.com> wrote:
> 
> On 2020-06-18 16:43, Chris Gordon wrote:
>>> On Jun 18, 2020, at 10:40 AM, Mel Pilgrim
>>> <list_freebsd at bluerosetech.com> wrote:
>>> Are RealTek 2.5 GbE NICs () supported?  I don't see RLT8125 parts
>>> listed in if_re(4) or if_re.c, and that appears to be the only
>>> driver for RealTek gigabit NICs?
>> I don't know if that specific chipset is supported, but based on
>> experience with re(4) 1 Gbps NICs, I would avoid it like the plague.
>> I have several home "servers" with on board re(4) NICs (disabled in
>> firmware now, so I can't get the specific chipset).  I would have
>> random connectivity problems such as samba shares randomly
>> disappearing or systems becoming unresponsive over the network,
>> especially during a file transfer (size didn't matter).  While
>> annoying, I never spent the time to get to the bottom of it.  One day
>> I actually paid some attention to /var/log/messages and saw frequent,
>> random link state changes (DOWN then UP) across all of the machines.
>> From some googling, this seems to be a common issue.  Replaced them
>> all with some Intel em(4) NICs and things have been solid since.
>> Hope that helps.
> 
> I appreciate your feedback, but I'm not sure how complaining about other hardware is answering whether or not this one is supported?


I agree that doesn't answer the specific question of "is this particular RealTek chipset supported".  The point I was really trying to make is that, in my experience, RealTek NICs have performed so poorly that I would avoid them completely thereby making the status of their support irrelevant.  Again, my anecdote was intended to direct you away from a path that may have more pain in it than you want.

Chris