Anybody using a 2.5G ethernet adapter? Which one? How to install?

[harry]

I upgraded my cable modem to an Arris S33, which has a 2.5G Ethernet port. On a good day, I can measure very close to 1Gbps through my fanless Intel i7 mobile CPU-based Nethserver with plenty of CPU left. Anybody used a USB 3 2.5G Ethernet adapter? Which brand? Did you have to install a driver?

[pike (Michael Kicks)]

AFAIK NethServer use latest CentOS 3.10 kernel. If your adapter declare to have a driver for CentOS 7, you’re onboard.

Otherwise, you can go for ElRepo, which contains some kmods supporting severals devices, including older or newer drivers and/or adapters.

ELRepo | HomePage

useful also for older network cards for dummy tests

3 network cards hardware, only 2 on admin interface

Hi pals, on my tiny-and-useless-test server there are 3 network cards lspci |grep Ethernet 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03) 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8071 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 16) 04:05.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 05) but only two are showed and configurable on admin interface ifconfig enp2s0: fl…

[harry]

pike, thank you. I haven’t decided what I want to do yet, but if I decide to add to my system, I will provide the results.

[harry]

Update: I bought a FENVI brand USB 2.5G Ethernet adapter on Amazon that has a RealTek 2.5G Ethernet chip in it. I plugged it into a USB 3.0 port on my small Nethserver server that has an Intel i7 4600 XPU, and without installing a driver, and with all default config parameters I immediately got up to 1050 Gbps download with Speedtest-CLI, on my cable internet service. The Ethernet connection on the LAN side of my Technicolor/Xfinity cable modem/router is rated at 2.5G, but my internet service is advertised at 1Gbps download, so I don’t know what the max speed of the adapter is.

It is slower on Windows 11.

[pike (Michael Kicks)]

Hi @harry, thanks for the update.
Would you please post the output of lsusb |grep Ethernet and lsusb ?
I’d love to know how kernel and modules are detecting the adapter.

According to FENVI website, driver proposed is named for Realtek 8152, 8153, 8156 . According to Realtek website, the chip number doesn’t match the lineup so closely.
https://www.realtek.com/en/products/communications-network-ics/category/usb3-0
Who knows: maybe the module was backported from recent kernel due to multiple NIC chips support?

[harry]

Here is the output of lsusb. I didn’t understand your command, but I am including the verbose output for the ReallTek device below.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:8156 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 058f:6387 Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Drive
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 8087:0032 Intel Corp.
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0764:0501 Cyber Power System, Inc. CP1500 AVR UPS
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:8156 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 3.20
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 9
idVendor 0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
idProduct 0x8156
bcdDevice 31.04
iManufacturer 1 Realtek
iProduct 2 USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN
iSerial 6 4013000001
bNumConfigurations 3
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 57
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 64mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 3
bInterfaceClass 255 Vendor Specific Class
bInterfaceSubClass 255 Vendor Specific Subclass
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 1x 2 bytes
bInterval 11
bMaxBurst 0
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 104
bNumInterfaces 2
bConfigurationValue 2
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 64mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 2 Communications
bInterfaceSubClass 13
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 5 CDC Communications Control
CDC Header:
bcdCDC 1.10
CDC Union:
bMasterInterface 0
bSlaveInterface 1
CDC Ethernet:
iMacAddress 3 1CBFCEFBE1F7
bmEthernetStatistics 0x0031501f
wMaxSegmentSize 1518
wNumberMCFilters 0x8000
bNumberPowerFilters 0
CDC NCM:
bcdNcmVersion 1.00
bmNetworkCapabilities 0x2b
8-byte ntb input size
max datagram size
net address
packet filter
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0010 1x 16 bytes
bInterval 11
bMaxBurst 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 0
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 1
iInterface 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 1
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 1
iInterface 4 Ethernet Data
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 98
bNumInterfaces 2
bConfigurationValue 3
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 64mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 2 Communications
bInterfaceSubClass 6 Ethernet Networking
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 5 CDC Communications Control
CDC Header:
bcdCDC 1.10
CDC Union:
bMasterInterface 0
bSlaveInterface 1
CDC Ethernet:
iMacAddress 3 1CBFCEFBE1F7
bmEthernetStatistics 0x0031501f
wMaxSegmentSize 1518
wNumberMCFilters 0x8000
bNumberPowerFilters 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0010 1x 16 bytes
bInterval 11
bMaxBurst 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 0
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 1
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 4 Ethernet Data
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
bLength 5
bDescriptorType 15
wTotalLength 22
bNumDeviceCaps 2
USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 2
bmAttributes 0x00000002
Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 3
bmAttributes 0x02
Latency Tolerance Messages (LTM) Supported
wSpeedsSupported 0x000e
Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)
Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
bFunctionalitySupport 2
Lowest fully-functional device speed is High Speed (480Mbps)
bU1DevExitLat 10 micro seconds
bU2DevExitLat 2047 micro seconds
Device Status: 0x001c
(Bus Powered)
U1 Enabled
U2 Enabled
Latency Tolerance Messaging (LTM) Enabled