Protectli 2.5Gb devices seem to work

[junglechuck]

Hi everyone,

I would suspect most of us who use Protectli devices are home users, but for what's it's worth, I have a VP4650 connected to an USW-Enterprise-24-PoE and the LAN port connects at 2.5Gb speeds without a problem. I did run into the WAN Balance bug (https://forums.untangle.com/forum/ng...over-interface), but I'm sure they are working to fix that one pretty quick. Happy routing and Merry Christmas.

[gravenscroft]

This script fixes the WAN Balancer issue in 16.6: https://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/...ng_not_working

[jcoehoorn]

Side note: I've seen a LOT of 2.5 Gb stuff start to show up over the last six months. If momentum there continues to build through 2023, I see it going fully mainstream in 2024, where just about every new network port will be a 2.5 Gb network port, with the exception being very low cost or low end IoT devices.

This means NOW is the time to start thinking about switching needs on larger networks.

[junglechuck]

Side note: I've seen a LOT of 2.5 Gb stuff start to show up over the last six months. If momentum there continues to build through 2023, I see it going fully mainstream in 2024, where just about every new network port will be a 2.5 Gb network port, with the exception being very low cost or low end IoT devices.

This means NOW is the time to start thinking about switching needs on larger networks.

jcoehoorn, Yes. Seems a bit over the top for home use unless you are running fiber channels and editing video, but in my little part of the world, the ISP's installation of fiber optic service has made bottlenecks in networks more noticiable.

[junglechuck]

This script fixes the WAN Balancer issue in 16.6: https://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/...ng_not_working

Awesome- thank you! I appreciate the work (and stress) it took to patch this.

[junglechuck]

When I say "seem to work", there was a discussion earlier in the year about 2.5Gb ports not being supported by the version that NGFW runs. I have no understanding of Debian, but if both NGFW and the UBNT switch indicate a happy 2.5Gb connection, I think that's good news.

[flynhawaiian]

If it uses the intel ixgbe it doesn't support multi-gig anymore with 16.6 It's due to intel giving debian an older version of the driver. Either you'll have to complie the drivers yourself after each update, or NGFW will have to incorporate them as a patch or in future versions. I would recommend staying on 16.5.2 if you want a working multi-gig connection.

[junglechuck]

If it uses the intel ixgbe it doesn't support multi-gig anymore with 16.6 It's due to intel giving debian an older version of the driver. Either you'll have to complie the drivers yourself after each update, or NGFW will have to incorporate them as a patch or in future versions. I would recommend staying on 16.5.2 if you want a working multi-gig connection.

flynhawaiian, Hmm, Protectli doesn't explicitly identify the network ports other than "Intel 2.5Gb" ports. Forgive my ignorance, but is it possible for both the Ubiquiti switch port and the NGFW to auto connect at 2500Mb while the real port speed is actually less? As for staying on 16.5.2, I thought people were waiting for the version 17+ where a potential debian update would include drivers for faster NICs.

[flynhawaiian]

It would just connect at 1gb. 16.6 has the newest Debian version but the intel drivers for the cards are older, which only support 1gb and 10gb.

[junglechuck]

The NICs sure seem to connect at 2.5Gb.

[flynhawaiian]

Glad it's working. Must be a different driver 🤷♂️

[defcomllc]

I picked up one of the latest i7 Procteli 4x2.5Gbe devices months ago to play with and use for shop/bench testing....

I have my WAN in ETHO (Inseego FW2000e 5G CPE) connected via there 5Gb port and NGFW auto-negotiates I to 2.5Gbe and I have an ASRock Industrial NUC with its 2.5Gbe port plugged into ETH2 and its also connected at 2.5Gbe...

[Creeper]

I picked up one of the latest i7 Procteli 4x2.5Gbe devices months ago to play with and use for shop/bench testing....

I have my WAN in ETHO (Inseego FW2000e 5G CPE) connected via there 5Gb port and NGFW auto-negotiates I to 2.5Gbe and I have an ASRock Industrial NUC with its 2.5Gbe port plugged into ETH2 and its also connected at 2.5Gbe...

That's because those are intel 225v-b3 cards. They use a different driver.

# modinfo igc
filename: /lib/modules/5.10.0-10-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/igc/igc.ko
license: GPL v2
description: Intel(R) 2.5G Ethernet Linux Driver
author: Intel Corporation, <[email protected]>

Out of curiosity are you only running untangle on that box?

[miles267]

Just picked up a Protectli VP4650 (16 GB RAM, 120 GB m.2 SATA). Am upgrading from a Qotom Q355G4 that is several years old. It couldn't quite support 1 Gbps symmetrical fiber; especially with the Untangle NGFW packages I'm running (Bandwidth control, App Control, QoS, Firewall, Thread Prevention, Tunnel VPN, WAN Failover, WAN Balancer, Wireguard, and Intrusion Prevention. I'll repurpose the Q355G4 for another location.