NC522SFP DP 10GBE SVR ADAPTER

Quite a value at current discounts... But probably should be avoided by less tech savvy.These cards need their firmware upgraded to run with any OS released in last 10 years and a card in pristine condition, probably will need this done.The update can be quite challenging. After digging around on net, I was to apply the firmware update by setting up a legacy OS just for purpose of the update. The firmware patches were made to run against OS's that are now past end of support or near (RHEL5-6, Windows Server 2008r2, and SLES of same vintage).I eventually loaded an old Linux 2.6 kernel using CentOS 6, downloaded a firmware build package from the chip OEM, and edited a build script to correct for a bug in later 2.6 kernels that was preventing a driver in the OEM firmware build package from being built.So... I spent several hours spent upgrading firmware... For some buyers this would have been easier than it was for me, but for some much harder, perhaps beyond their resources.With firmware now upgraded, it has performed well. Like all adapters of its kind and vintage, it runs rather warm.

Unfortunatley the item is not compatible with BSD. It uses an older discontinued QLogic chipset and QLogic doesnt offer much BSD support. However, This will work find a place in a dedicated cluster control and monitoring workstation on the 10GE Layer of my network so I am still pleased with the purchase. This was initially meant to be placed in a server that is being used as a dedicated router running a hardened version of FreeBSD which is probabley the most secure thing you can use.

5/5