Brocade BR-1020 Windows 10 drivers?

Zarathustra[H]

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
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Hey,

These Brocade adapters became popular because they were relatively cheap used for 10gbit adapters.

I've been using a couple of these to speed up my network file transfers between my workstation and my NAS server.

While Qlogic (who bought brocade) does not support client operating systems with drivers, their Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 drivers worked well respectively in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Now that the driver model has changed in Windows 10, is anyone aware of drivers for these that work?

Is there driver model the same in Windows 10 as it is in the upcoming Windows Server 2016? Maybe if they release Windows Server 2016 drivers they will work?

Much obliged,
Matt
 
I have Win10 and that HBA working just fine. I think I used the 2008 drivers, which works just fine...
 
It's a CNA. They're more designed to work with FCoE networks in conjunction with traditional ethernet networks. Really solid cards. Super finicky with transceivers though. They'll only take brocade or fiberstore-brocade compatible cards.
 
bwebb94 said:
It's a CNA. They're more designed to work with FCoE networks in conjunction with traditional ethernet networks. Really solid cards. Super finicky with transceivers though. They'll only take brocade or fiberstore-brocade compatible cards.
Click to expand...

Yep, I have those already. I've used them in the past, just want to make sure it will work in Windows 10 :)

For me I've just used it as a straight up 10gig ethernet card for CIFS/NFS access to my Storage Server.

I've never quite understood the point of Fibre Channel (or even iSCSI) over more traditional network file systems.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041923735 said:
I've never quite understood the point of Fibre Channel (or even iSCSI) over more traditional network file systems.
Click to expand...

You can't multi-path an NFS connection like you can with FC, FCOE or iSCSI.
 
Nate7311 said:
You can't multi-path an NFS connection like you can with FC, FCOE or iSCSI.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is a limitation, but only of older versions of NFS. 4.1 supports "Session Trunking", and thus true multipathing.

I believe the latest version of CIFS can do this too. (Not that I would really want to use CIFS for anything mission critical.

To me, iSCSI is the biggest fail though.

You lose so much functionality by having exclusive access to one OS at a time, and if your iSCSI image develops a problem, it affects the entire image, not just one or two files. And then there's the problem that an iSCSI image by its very nature needs to be thick provisioned, so if you misjudge your original space needs, you have to start over. That and iSCSI is asynchronous, and thus lends itself to data loss.

Not sure why anyone in their right mind uses iSCSI.
 
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SMB3 can, yes. MS is aven allowing Hyper-V connection to VHD's over SMB under certain circumstances. Although that's been very recent.

More on-topic, I'll be curious to see how your BR1020 reacts under Windows 10. I've got a pair between my lone ESXi box and a Windows 2012 R2 Server connected with Twinax. The 2012R2 server has served up NFS and iSCSI to the ESXi box for almost 2 years now w/o issue. Given what I've heard about other Windows 10 driver structure, I'll be it'll be fine. My main workstation is now 10 and I've been tempted to grab another BR1020 and run fiber to it.
 
Nate7311 said:
SMB3 can, yes. MS is aven allowing Hyper-V connection to VHD's over SMB under certain circumstances. Although that's been very recent.
Click to expand...

I actually edited the above right after posting it.

Turns out NFS 4.1 does now too. I'm going to have to play with that.
 
bwebb94 said:
It's a CNA. They're more designed to work with FCoE networks in conjunction with traditional ethernet networks. Really solid cards. Super finicky with transceivers though. They'll only take brocade or fiberstore-brocade compatible cards.
Click to expand...

I bought fiberstore compatible tranceivers and they wouldn't work in the cards. They do however work fine in the brocade converged ethernet switch I have. How did you get your cards to accept them? Is there more then one type?
 
rsq said:
I bought fiberstore compatible tranceivers and they wouldn't work in the cards. They do however work fine in the brocade converged ethernet switch I have. How did you get your cards to accept them? Is there more then one type?
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I just popped mine in and they worked.

Are you sure you got the right ones?
 
Zarathustra[H];1041925790 said:
I just popped mine in and they worked.

Are you sure you got the right ones?
Click to expand...

Yeah I was able to pop mine in and have them work without issue. If you use the HCM software from brocade you can check the status of the card and see if it's actually reading the transceiver. In windows, you might have to change the VLAN ID to 1 in the advance device settings.
 
rsq said:
The cards are not in windows machines. I ordered these:
http://www.fs.com/new-brocade-10g-s...fp-850nm-300m-transceiver-module-p-31443.html

I suspect that the firmware files loaded by the linux kernel module are outdated/different from the windows drivers.

I did manage to find the official brocade modules on ebay, but they were 30% more expensive then the fiberstore modules.
Click to expand...

I use mine in Linux too.

I had problems with older kernels. Forget the version, but the one that originally shipped with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS would not work with these Brocade adapters at all. After updating the kernel everything works just fine. I am currently on 3.16 with no problems. I believe 3.13 was the one with issues for me.
 
Oh, and to follow up, The Windows Server 2012 R2 drivers do work fine in my Windows 10 Pro install.

At least the net drivers. Haven't tested the FC or FCoE, as I don't use that.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041930874 said:
I use mine in Linux too.

I had problems with older kernels. Forget the version, but the one that originally shipped with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS would not work with these Brocade adapters at all. After updating the kernel everything works just fine. I am currently on 3.16 with no problems. I believe 3.13 was the one with issues for me.
Click to expand...

That is good info thanks. I will try loading the new 15.10 with latest kernel. I do need to boot from them, and it seems that the bios of the cards also rejects the modules. Will update if I have time.
 
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